On the 30th April 2021, I joined Nawiri Sisters Foundation in a pad donation drive at Madaraka primary school and St. Aloysius Gonzaga high school. In this drive, we were donating pads to 106 adolescent girls, and conducting a survey about menstruation health management among adolescent girls.
I learnt a lot from interacting with the girls and listening to their narrations about their individual experiences in menstruation. The pad drive allowed me to put things into perspective as I also got to work on my personal development at the same time.
At St Aloysius Gonzaga high school, we sat in a circle and listened to the adolescent girls suggesting several business ideas and choosing leaders among them. They came up with ideas of projects which could collectively work on while still on holidays.
They weren’t collectively able to decide on a main project as they all had different interests but eventually, they agreed to ponder the ideas and arrive at a unanimous project.
We proceeded to Madaraka primary school where we donated pads to the girls and filled in the surveys and listened to them brainstorm ideas of generating income for them. Such ideas were selling mandazis at school from 4pm and onwards. The girls went ahead to include us and their headteacher in brainstorming and seeking guidance to develop their ideas. One of my fellow volunteers talked to the girls about starting and managing a business. The talk was informative and took a realistic approach because it covered the real risks that are involved in starting and managing a business. It was incredible that the girls had the drive to go ahead with the project.
From their narrations, some girls said that they were afraid of their menstrual cycles, since they believed that menstruation is an illness. Some of these adolescent girls did not know how to use sanitary pads when they were undergoing their periods. During their menses, some were ashamed and scared of playing with their friends. Some of them admitted that they would hide away during menstrual cycles due to fear and anxiety.
I never knew that girls could be so affected by periods to this degree, especially when it comes to such natural processes in their bodies. She explained that she feels like she has to hide when she’s at home because she’s always in fear and anxious during her cycle. Some of these experiences opened my eyes to how privileged I am, and the safe environment that I have at home which allows me to confidently announce that I am on my periods or decline any attempts made to hide my pads in a newspaper.
Other than that, it was astounding that many adolescent girls were genuinely afraid of their menstruation cycles, and the existing taboos, and misinformation in the communities where these girls lived. We do like to say that things are way better than they were in the past, but this doesn’t excuse the fact that these kinds of situations still exist and little is being done in their home communities to mitigate these alarming attitudes.
Even though I had an enlightening experience, I had a difficult time talking to the girls because of a slight language barrier between us, and I am not as fluent in Swahili as I’d like to be. To mitigate this, I encouraged them to talk to me in Swahili, and this somewhat helped but I wish I could have done more. On this day, my colleagues’ energy and enthusiasm pushed me to engage with the girls more. I found the whole experience generally educational and truly worthwhile. It is not everyday that you get to be a part of this kind of platform, therefore, I am grateful for the opportunity that Nawiri Sister Foundation has afforded me and I am mentally ready and excited for the ensuing projects to come.
WE ARE NAWIRI.