Kinoru: An open conversation about menstrual health

In commemoration of the World Menstrual Hygiene Day, we traveled to Meru to teach and shared our dignity care packages with 300 girls of Kinoru primary school.

This year’s theme was “Making Menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.” and we played a part in realizing it by having open conversations about Menstrual health with the girls of Meru.

Menstruation is a huge part of womanhood and yet it is a fact of life that is surrounded by so much obscurity. It starts from buying sanitary products wrapped in opaque paper bags thus teaching us that those are things that should be hidden, to talking about it in low tones in a way that teaches us to keep everything that is related to our Menstrual health a secret.

Pulling a sanitary pad out of a bag without hiding it is still something that is unheard of. Women are not allowed to admit they are menstruating out loud. There’s a silent expectation that demands they treat it as a private and intimate affair and weirdly enough, women are always asked if they are menstruating in professional settings in a bid to shut them up.

To make periods a normal fact of life, we need to be open about menstruation. It involves speaking about it loudly and speaking about it some more until we move from a place of discomfort when the subject is brought up. A lot of women and girls around the world struggle with period poverty and they would have an easier time asking for help if the idea of menstruation wasn’t received with so much unease.

We thank the teachers of Kinoru primary school for their warmth and their willingness to be part of the change we hope for.

Special Thanks to all those who supported us financially. This day would not have been possible without the financial help that went towards buying the dignity care packages we distributed to tackle period poverty among school-going children. We are because you believe in the work we do.