A few months back, we noticed one of our girls was regularly missing classes and activities every month for about a week, and then would appear the following. We decided to stop by her home and ask her mom where she had been. Her response was something to the extent of “she has the family curse that has been placed on all the women in our family. For about a week every month she bleeds, but the weird thing is, is that it stops and she doesn’t die. It has happened to the women of our family for generations.”
That simple statement lead to us asking more questions, only to find out that family after family were unaware of a menstrual cycle. Unaware of how you got pregnant and unaware of the regular workings of the female body.
Heartbroken for the generations of women in our villages that stayed silent, simply because they were afraid that people would know (think) they were “cursed.”
Our team began brainstorming and discussing how we could approach the topic without breeding shame, when a representative from Days for Girls reached out to come and share among our communities.
A few weeks later we agreed to partner with Days for Girls to host a 3 week class on menstrual care and the female body. Their mission: to turn periods into pathways. Increasing access to menstrual care and education by developing global partnerships, cultivating social enterprises, mobilizing volunteers, and innovating sustainable solutions that shatter stigmas and limitations for women and girls. Beautiful right?
Next, was who we were to invite. We sat down with our team and complied a list of women who we knew among the community that would trust us with this topic, but also who has influence with their neighbors to begin to teach and speak into the situation at hand, and encourage them to come to future classes.
The ladies filed in one by one. Until the last of the chairs were filled.
We received such great feedback from our first class and cannot wait to see how this simple class transforms not only their lives but an entire region in the months and years to come.
Thank you, Days for Girls, for investing in our community.