I am forced to run, while my menstruates decides to flow.

I have to run; I have to because my life depends on it.  On the way, I feel liquid flowing between my thighs. Damn!  Here is my period starting to flow well before the date, maybe the date has arrived? But I don't know, my brain is frozen! Maybe it's due to the stress caused by everything that's happening to me right now.

Alas, I have no choice for the moment but to keep running, but at some point, I can't go any further, my period starts to fall on my feet. My little brother asks me why I'm bleeding, \"are you hurt?\" he asks me. I ignore him because I know what it is. In the crowd of a thousand people trying to escape, I have to manage. But how do I do it?

Luckily for me, I have a Kitenge - An East African cotton fabric printed in various colors and designs with distinctive borders, used especially for women's clothing- on me, I take two minutes, go into the bush and tear off a piece of my Kitenge, fold it and put it in my underwear, hoping it will hold up to the destination.

After about 7 hours of walking, I arrive at my destination, my crotch in pain because of the wound caused by the piece of loincloth that had just made all the trips between my thighs.  Fortunately, I find a river, I take a shower, what a relief!

I am a young refugee; I am fleeing the volcanic eruption that took place in my region during the night of May 22, 2021.  It was a Saturday like others, except that in the evening, the sky turned red. Within hours, lava began to flow and there was total panic throughout the city of Goma, a city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I just traveled 20 km to escape the eruption and the toxic gases that emanated from it while I am on my period!

I have no sanitary facilities, I have no access to clean water, I have no underwear, I can only rely on my Kitenge that I cut into pieces. Many other Congolese women and girls are in the same situation as mine.

My name is Shukuru Bénédicte, I am 17 years old, I am a Congolese girl, I am a refugee and I’m having a difficult time with my period.  

Testimony collected and written by Nounou!

Thank you