Women's Week Day 8
"We should have an open conversation on our periods, generally we see everyone talking in a hush manner about something that is such a natural process in our body, infact we should be proud of it. I am a girl and I am PROUD to have my periods." ~ a 7th grader who shared her views at the end of our workshop.
RutuChakra conducted a workshop at JGRV School in Bangalore on the 16th of March and also distributed a six month supply of non - reusable sanitary napkins and cloth sanitary napkins for the girls [total: 4,250 napkins]. The workshop was attended by 80-100 girls of grades 5-10. The workshop was conducted very well by Aryan, Tarini and Ila. Although initially hesitant, the girls soon grew out of it and participated with inspiring enthusiasm, making the session very interactive. They asked several questions about personal and menstrual hygiene such as whether it was alright to eat eggs and papaya during the menstrual cycle? Why boys don't get the menstrual cycle? Is it okay to do excersize or yoga during this time? We also realised that, several girls would miss school for weeks during their period due to the stigma attached to it. Through our workshop, we enlighted the girls and made them promise that they would not continue this and received a fantastic response. Initially when we asked the girls if they would talk about this workshop to their father, brother or any male family/ friend only 5 girls raised their hands in affirmation. RutuChakra's talks with the girls and workshop resulted in all of them raising their hands confidently by the end. Infact, a couple of girls came to us later on asking, Why we didn't conduct the workshop for the boys as well? This shows the impact that RutuChakra's workshop made on the girls.
The confidence they gained by the end of the workshop truly made us realise that all of us have the power to bring about change, if we only try.