Case Stories: “Changing the perception towards Menstruation”

Name: Jayaben

Age: 37 Years

Village: Borla, Talaja-Bhavnagar

Occupation: Accredited Social

Health Activist (ASHA) worker

“I got very scared and worried when I saw where the blood was coming from.”

Jaya Ben, 37 years old, is an ASHA Worker in Borla village in Talaja block of Bhavnagar district. She is the mother of 3 daughters. She works as an ASHA worker to improve the community health and facilitate in providing the health services to the villagers.

“I got very scared and worried when I saw where the blood was coming from,” says Jayaben, having started her period at the age of 16. She felt she could only talk to her grandmother to seek help, who gave her underwear and a piece of cloth to soak the period blood. She was also instructed by her grandmother to not to enter the kitchen or the temple and not to eat anything that was ‘khatta’ (sour) and to rest whenever the pain got unbearable.

She spoke about how it was embarrassing and shameful to talk to people about menstruation to the extent that she used to wash her period cloth and hang it out to dry in a discreet space where no one else was bound to see it. She also did not change her cloth often when there were people at home because she thought they would come to know, which was something to be ashamed of.

Being an ASHA worker, when CSPC came to deliver their first-ever module in Borla village, she was one of the first people to gather the women and girls with her. She claims to have learned a lot in her sessions about menstruation with CSPC. She learned about white vaginal discharge, its importance, and the role of period blood, what it indicates, and understood the menstrual cycle in detail. She also learned the different phases and how the body behaves in different phases of the cycle. A major behavioral learning was the hygiene that should be maintained during a menstrual cycle-right from the type of products (shifted from a timepiece to a reusable cotton pad) to the number of times the pad should be changed. She believes it is essential to talk about menstruation as it is a naturally occurring phenomenon and the importance of educating girls about the dos and don’ts.

She is one of the biggest supporters of what CSPC does in its Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) program. She also went on to demonstrate what she had learned in the modules by using the hand gestures and terms CSPC used to impart menstrual education. She is also the village in charge appointed by CSPC, responsible for selling reusable cotton pads to the women and girls of Borla village.

Jaya Ben is working towards empowering the women of Borla village by having open conversations and bringing everyone together for the betterment of the community. She herself has begun to impart education on menstruation by using the tools like the apron and period wheel given to her by CSPC to random groups of unaware women to make sure that no one gets left behind in this wave of change that ensures better health.

Name: Solanki Namrata

Age: 23 Years

Village: Borla, Talaja-Bhavnagar

Occupation: Homemaker

“My mother and I were shy to discuss this (menstruation) in public.”

Namrata Ben, a 23-year-old, is an Economics graduate and a proud resident of the Borala Village of Talaja block. Namrata Ben, due to circumstances at home, stopped her education and now works at home and helps her family by doing house chores. She, however, aspires to get back to studying and finish a course in nursing.

When asked about her first period, she recalled, “I was at my masi’s (aunt) place, and it was too terrified to see what had just happened to me.” She found comfort in sharing with her elder sister (her aunt’s daughter), who knew about menstruation and had experience with the same. She was given a timepiece which was very uncomfortable. She was fortunate enough to be in a family where no restrictions were imposed on her while she was menstruating. However, uncomfortable initially, Namrata ben and her mother broke the silence around menstruation and can discuss the same now.

Before attending CSPC’s module, Namrata Ben had prior knowledge about menstruation and the process through other initiatives by NGOs that visited her school back in the day. However, CSPC had much more to offer to her. She was introduced to CSPC by her aunt, Jaya Ben, who herself is an Asha worker.

While talking about the first module, she recalled, “My mother and I were very shy to discuss this in public, she came for the first session but didn’t show any interest in the following session as I was attending the same. However, personally we discussed it”.

With no expectations or preconceived thoughts, Namrataben came to attend the modules by CSPC and found herself knowing about her body more than ever. She goes on to elaborate on the new things she learned: about the different types of discharges and what is healthy and what is not, the ways to maintain hygiene while using a timepiece, and how very often, the colour of the blood is not visible on the timepiece, which leads to multiple infections.

After attending the sessions, she encouraged all her friends to stop using tablets to postpone or prepone their periods to be able to participate in religious functions or as painkillers.

Earlier she used to put a single pad on for the entire day. Post the session, she gained knowledge about the best practices to maintain hygiene during her menstrual cycle. Apart from all the learning, she also believed that such knowledge must be imparted to young boys and men also to make them sensitize enough to care of their daughters, sisters, and wives when they are menstruating.

Name: Champaben

Age: 32 Years

Village: : Gadhula, Talaja-Bhavnagar

Occupation: Aanganwadi Helper

& Diamond worker

“Girls in the village struggle with taboos and stigmas associated with menstruation”

Champaben, a resident of Gadhula Village of Talaja block, is a helper in Anganwadi Centre. She is also skilled at diamond crafting. She lives with her ten-year-old daughter, fourteen-year-old son, and husband, who also works in diamond crafting and designing. She studied till the ninth grade, post which she had to discontinue her education due to family issues. She has four siblings, a brother and three sisters.

“I felt scared, nervous, and weak,” recalls thirteen-year-old Champaben, describing her first menstrual cycle. She knew close to nothing about menstruation and whatever little information she had was from her friend. Her sister-in-law asked her to wear underwear and taught her how to use a cloth to manage the blood. Other information was limited to the duration and frequency of menstruating.

Girls in the village struggle to get menstrual health products to manage their period hygiene and lack a basic understanding of their sexual and reproductive health. Many struggles with the stigmas and taboos associated with menstruation. Champaben relates to this struggle. “My grandmother told me not to enter the kitchen, and my mother did not talk about it at all.”

She was introduced to CSPC modules by her friend, where she learned about the importance of menstrual health, hygiene, and proper sanitation. She was educated about menstruation through these modules, where periods are openly discussed as a natural biological function. This makes her feel comfortable and confident while she is menstruating. She lacked knowledge of the dangers of using an old cloth during that time. “I usually used an old absorbent cloth. That was what I was taught.” Champa Ben said. She now uses the cotton pads introduced to her in the modules. Hygiene and sanitation is maintained during her menstrual cycles by changing the pads in regular intervals and bathing more frequently, which has made her less prone to infections. She also learned about the importance of discharge in a female body, curtailing the stigma of discharge being dirty and bad for your body.

To explain the impact of CSPC modules in her life, Champaben drew a comparison between how she brushed off talking about menstruation with her younger sister when she was younger and how now she intends to educate her daughter when she menstruates for the first time. She wants to engage in open and honest conversation about menstruation with her daughter, educating her about the importance of menstrual health. She also believes it’s important to educate boys about menstruation.

Today, not only does Champaben effectively manage her menstrual period, but also, advocates it among her peers, telling them about the importance of educating oneself about menstruation.

Name: Preeti Ben

Age: 43 Years

Village: : Pavthi, Talaja-Bhavnagar

Occupation: Principal of Kasturba Gandhi

Balika Vidhyalaya-Pavthi

“I cried and cried until my mother came back from the school where she used to teach”.

Preeti Ben, 43 years of age, is the principal of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya, which houses 150 girls from classes 6th to 11th. The classes here take place only from class 6th to class 8th, the other girls go to the other school nearby for their education. She has been associated with the school for the last three years, which is where she herself resides, away from family. The girls studying here belong to the BPL (below poverty line) category and are children of single parents or orphans.

Recalling her own experience of when she got her first period at 14, she said, “I cried and cried until my mother came back from the school where she used to teach.” She knew nothing about menstruation, the first time she got it, but her mother had an open conversation with her and made her understand everything she knew herself. Being a Paliwal Brahmin, she was instructed not to touch the water stand, not to enter the temple or the kitchen, and to not touch anyone for the first two days ( days and nights). When she was young, her father used to cook in case all the women of the house were menstruating. But now since her husband does not know how to cook, she is the one who cooks even if she is menstruating.

Her 19-year-old daughter can now freely come up to her to talk about any issues that she has been facing after having attended the CSPC modules. That level of comfort has been established.

She recalls the first time her daughter got her period and came up to her and said, “I have begun to menstruate,” which evoked both a surprised and delighted reaction from Preeti Ben. She was happy to see the level of awareness her daughter has, who, unlike her, did not feel helpless or scared.

She spoke about the different ways in which the efforts taken by CSPC have helped the girls living in the hostel. The girls are now more vocal about any issues concerning personal hygiene and any infections that they might have. They practice better hygiene and use reusable cotton pads or sanitary napkins. They track their menstrual cycle better with the help of the period calendar given by CSPC. CSPC has also provided the hostel with an incinerator for the safe disposal of the used pads.

According to her, the visual aids used by CSPC have been very effective in imparting knowledge and helping the students retain it, increasing engagement and driving Q&As. She wishes she had the opportunity to attend modules like these back when she was an adolescent. She also hopes to see adolescent training happening for young adult boys sometime in the near future. She believes that it is equally important for boys to be educated on these delicate but crucial matters. Today, she believes it is because of CSPC that the girls in her school feel comfortable and aware enough to reach out to her in case of anything out of the ordinary related to their menstrual cycles and is glad to see this change.