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Awareness program on Menstruation Hygiene Management at Arunodaya Secondary School, Arubari, Gokarneshwor

Online Bahas

On 31 January 2024, the Okraland Humanitarian Foundation conducted an awareness-raising program on Menstruation Hygiene Management financially supported by the Pollination Project. The menstruation hygiene management program was facilitated by Ms. Karuna Mahat and Ms. Samjhana Shahi.  Overall, two sessions were carried out at the school. One session was conducted for Grade VI students with 79 students and another session was conducted for Grade VII students with 84 with the active participation of both girls and boys. Each session was carried out for 2 hours. The objective of the program was to promote awareness of menstruation hygiene management practices.

 

Firstly, the session started with the introduction of the Okraland Humanitarian Foundation, facilitators, teachers, and students mentioning their age of menstruation. During the story-sharing process, one of the students shared her story about her first menstruation. "I was not allowed to see my father's and brother's faces, restricted from entering the kitchen as well as in religious places, activities, worshiping god, not allowed to comb hair, and so on. I also had to go away and stay in relative houses for 22 days in the name of saving cultures and traditions.”

 

"Johari Window" game was conducted in the session where four topics were discussed in a group i.e. Open: which can be expressed with anyone in public, private: which can be expressed with a specific person confidentially, Open-Secret: which people know about but don't talk about and Secret: which people don't talk and express anything, which helped them to express their feelings and understandings regarding menstruation. Moreover, Ms. Karuna added information about clean menstruation hygiene management materials, proper use of sanitary napkins, and ways of disposal i.e. Burning, Burring, incinerating, and vermicomposting, in both sessions. She discussed girls-friendly toilets and its importance. She highlighted the individual's role in menstruation hygiene management. Ms. Samjhana discussed the challenges, myths & facts about menstruation and managing pains during menstruation. In addition, she also highlighted the role and importance of the wall magazine "Let's Talk Periods" for effective menstruation hygiene practices.

 

At last, both sessions were concluded by showing a short video related to menstruation, with a reflection on the whole session. Finally, the Okraland Humanitarian Foundation distributed reusable sanitary napkins for the girls and handed over the clean menstruation hygiene management kits for the school and the session ended with the group photos.