Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) has been an emerging issue in rural India. The Sreema Period Project focuses on raising awareness of adolescent girls and women on MHM. Training groups of women to prepare homemade reusable sanitary napkins and developing women enterprise on sanitary products is another key focus.
Through the project, a few development professionals and Sreema Mahila Samity are trying to reach out to the most underprivileged adolescent girls and women living in six Indo-Bangladesh border villages (Tangra Khal, Hazra Khal, Ramnagar, Kumari, Pakhiura, Chutipur) along the trans-boundary Ichamati river, under Hanskhali block of the Nadia district in West Bengal.
Around 500 adolescent girls from these six villages received donated reusable sanitary napkins on 11th June 2020 by the NGO that crowdfunded the initiative. The idea behind donating reusable napkins was to primarily reduce the cost incurred in maintaining hygiene as well as create awareness. Further, around 15 girls from the villages will be taught how to make these napkins that, according to the members of the organisation, can be used for at least two years.
Jyotirmoy Saraswati, Director of Sreema Mahila Samity, a Nadia-based NGO, says:
“This time, we are experiencing a very unique and unprecedented situation due to the novel coronavirus outbreak in our country. As the government announced a complete lockdown for over two months, the impact of the pandemic is going to be greater than what we could imagine. Due to zero cash flows or enough savings, it is difficult for marginal families to pay for menstrual products. Adolescent girls living along in remote Indo-Bangladesh border villages in Hanskhali block have zero access to menstrual hygiene, which caused infection in their urinary tract during the lockdown. We have been distributing commercial sanitary napkins among 500 adolescent girls in six villages free of cost for the past three months, but we feel it serves a purpose for only two to three months. Thus, we planned environment-friendly and sustainable menstrual hygiene management for them and started distributing reusable cloth pads that can last up to two years. A team of youth is helping us raise funds to run this project. Our volunteers are creating awareness among 500 adolescent girls and we aim to reach 1,500 more girls by the end of the year. We are planning to train 12-15 girls on making cloth pads over the next month.”
“I didn’t know how to manage my bleeding. When I got my first period, no one, including my mother, spoke to me about it. Through a friend, I learned that I had to use a cloth to absorb the blood. Not knowing how to get a cloth, I ended up using pillow covers and bedsheets. This angered my mother and I got beaten up for wasting money. I came to know of sanitary pads through a classmate. When I asked her for a few, she was snubbed by her family as they were expensive and could not be given away for free. I started falling sick because of fear of getting a period. With no access to sanitary products, I resorted to praying to God to stop my periods forever,” said Afsana, a 16-year-old girl from Pakhiura.
“Since earlier this year, volunteers of the Sreema Period Project started supporting us by distributing free sanitary napkins and organising regular awareness camps on menstrual hygiene in our village. This time, we are getting reusable cloth pads. They are unique and we hope they will solve our problems for the coming months,” Afsana added.
“During the lockdown, it has become difficult for people to procure food, so sanitary napkins are a luxury for them. Sreema Period Project is a unique, crowdfunded project that we are implementing in six remote villages (Chutipur, Pakhiura, Ramnagar, Kumari, Tangra Khal, and Hazra Khal) under Hanskhali block along the Indo-Bangladesh border. Initially, we were supporting 500 adolescent girls with free access to commercial sanitary napkins, but it was difficult to reach the villages during the lockdown. Many areas in Nadia were identified as a containment zone. So, we came up with an eco-friendly and sustainable solution for these girls. We started distributing reusable cloth pads that will last for at least two years. These pads are made by girls of Anahat, a self-help group,” says Ashish Mondal, one of the fundraisers of Sreema Period Project.
“A single woman can generate upto 125 kgs of non-biodegradable waste throughout her menstruating years. Studies have shown that one sanitary pad could take upto 500 years to decompose, which can lead to health and environmental hazards. So, our reusable solution will be an affordable and environment-friendly alternative for girls. As of now, we have raised Rs 1,42,000 through online and offline contribution. Our goal is to reach Rs 3,50,000, which will help us to serve 1,500 girls in the region. We received a seed grant from The Pollination Project to start this project and would like to collaborate with funding agencies,” says Tanmoy Bhaduri, campaign manager of Sreema Period Project.
Note: All photos have been provided by the author, and clicked by Tanmoy Bhaduri.