The Executive Director of Alwadata Lifeline Initiative, one of the NGOs, Winifred Yusuf, told journalists in an interview on the sidelines of the official launch of a project tagged “Period Reality” by four civil society organisations in the state that the first phase of the distribution will be done to the three local government areas of Dass, Bauchi, and Ganjuwa, with 1,000 pads given to girls in schools and those in the communities in each of the LGAs.
The NGOs are Kairos Initiative, Alwadata Lifeline Initiative, Attah Sisters Helping Hands Foundation, and Community Advocate for Rural Development.
Yusuf lamented the poor knowledge of menstrual hygiene among parents, schools, and communities, adding that besides the distribution of the pads, they would use their partnership for a massive campaign to create awareness for the public to know more about menstrual health management.
She said, “We’re passionate about menstrual hygiene management and menstrual health hygiene, and that is why we are part of this network pushing menstrual hygiene management in Bauchi State. we hope to go beyond Bauchi State. This is because NGOs for period reality, as we will be called, period reality, is something that will be here with us for life because it is a natural process for girls.
“We’ll be distributing reusable and disposable pads and menstrual products to girls in schools and in communities. We’re coming to getting and pulling resources among ourselves to do this; we don’t have any external sponsors. We’ll be distributing about 5,000 of these sanitary pads and products. We will start with three LGAs: Dass, Bauchi, and Ganjuwa and in each of them, we’ll distribute 1,000 pads free to the girls.
“Even though it is something that is natural and with us, it is something that is being overlooked, not just in Bauchi State alone, but in fact, all over the world. Menstrual hygiene, for some reasons, maybe, culturally, it could be taboos, it could be religion—but for whatever reason, people shy away from period reality, and we cannot run away from it.
“And that is why we decided to take the bull by the horns and go beyond distributing menstrual pads, period products like tampons, reusable pads, disposable pads, etc. We want to create awareness for the government to know that we cannot run away from this reality, and it’s something we cannot just push under the carpet, it’s something we must rise up to because it is the right of every girl and it is one of the SDG goals.
“We want to do this by going into the communities and schools and creating menstrual hygiene champions. We want to do menstrual hygiene-friendly schools, menstrual hygiene-friendly societies, menstrual hygiene-friendly clubs, menstrual health-friendly households and we do that by creating menstrual hygiene champions.”
She further said, “We’ll be telling boys not to stigmatise them because of period because they’ll one day be their wives; they should not stigmatise them; they should let every girl have a dignified menstrual flow.
“There’s a need for every girl to have a safe space and a dignified space to have her period in dignity, to be able to change her menstrual products in dignity whether she’s at home, in the school, in the community, or a woman working in the office. Wherever a woman is that still has her menstrual period, she should be able to know that she has a safe environment to have her period and change her period products and walk with her head held up in dignity.”
Also speaking, Team Lead, Kairos Initiative, Dr. Moji Iheme, encouraged girls to speak up against violence and stigmatisation against them. She said that menstruation should not be seen as odd in the community.
