MAKE MENSTRUATION A NORMAL FACT OF LIFE

my mother one day yelled at my sister on top of her voice because she thought she had sat on red paint i was only 7 at that time and my sister was 17 when she went to her room to change her dress and underwear thats when she came out screaming calling my mother mommy ! mommy! i'm hurt down there my mother was like what ! hurt down there only to found out its period thats when my mother told my sister it was not a big thing now that she was a teenager she will be shedding eggs every month , me being a kid i repeated what my mother said mommy did you say shedding eggs ! then i continue to say mommy i want to shade my eggs too. not knowing my dad was listening to my innocent talk ,my dad was like little miss your time is not yet! i was like why i want to shed my eggs like my sister . my mother help my sister use pads for the first time and told her she can use tampons once she was comfortable with them being a baby of the house i wanted to know what tampons are . my dad was hesitant to tell me but i told her mommy soon i will be a big girl once i grow up i will start my period so my parents decided to involve me on the period talk since then i have always been prepared to get my period . it didn't take long by the time i was 12 yo my first period came and because i was prepared it didn't bother me like it did to my big sister it was the best first period experience of my life i flash back on shading eggs talk my parents talked to me about. since then i had a packet of sanitary pads in my backpack because i knew i would save a girl who has no idea about period showing up in class full of boys .one day during class work there was a girl that started her period in class she was so afraid of going to bathroom but i knew she was going through something so i went and talked her out waited till everyone was out of the classroom and with the help of my school sweater she covered her butt so nobody would see the blood , with my help she cleaned up and use one of my pads and nobody noticed what had just happened. when the class session came to an end and our classmate rushing home my friend and stayed behind for period support chit chat and that really changed that girls confident she was like "girl you really help me from being embarrassed i would have been the talk of class the whole semester thank you . then she was like what if we form a period club for teens were we help other girls learn about period ,what if we talk to class teacher about it so she can help ask the school principal allow this group in all classes. i thought about it and we made a vision board about period club . as we headed home i told my mother about the period situation at school and also reminded my mother how she shouted to my sister my mother painted the picture on her head and immediately called my class teacher talked to her about what happened and our period club for teen girls idea . the next morning our period club was implemented on school parade announcement the principal agreed to the idea of making sanitary pads accessible in school bathroom and also sex education and period talk was introduced to girls every first friday of the month . before the end of the semester there was a great feedback and huge impact from what we started from first hand experience., many girls benefited from it. it also help prepare teen girls for their first period with eas . even after years of starting that initiative and became parents to baby girls the school still embrace it fully and it has also introduce reusable sanitary pads for those who can't afford the one time use pads . no girl is left out because of period , girls attendance in school have improved in the past years unlike long ago girls would skip school for days because of period not able to get pads or towels kept them out of school for days and missing all their peers are learning each month , so with reusable towels girls from poor backgrounds are the first priority to this package that school offer every six month. and with the help of NGO they give period underwear and reusable towels all around schools in my community. the NGO that create awareness about reusable sanitary pad always hold a 10 kilometer walk through inviting all people from walk of life to come join them this event always attract so many people that are willing to donate to the cause. last year more than 10,000 people registered to take pat to this even and all the contribution went to the institution that make reusable towels for girls . this year there will be two different events planned for and during this event they will include planting trees for the sake of protecting our environment due to climate change from polythene bags and plastic bottles and bike riding for different ages it will also be a family fun day for the sake of changing the lives of girls that cannot afford one time use kind of sanitary pads it will also be an opportunity to introduce reusable safe towels to people who use one time use kind of pads . it will also be a global movement to make menstruation a normal fact of life from the first day until menopause to all girls and women