Mymenses is reducing Period Poverty in Africa through its Menstrual Education Program

Mymenses launches Menstrual Education Program for girls, promotes long term sustainable solutions to reduce to period poverty in Africa.

Mymenses launched their period empowerment workshops at three schools in Abuja, the workshop was delivered to over 700 girls and donations 2 months menstrual products were given to 200 girls. 

The workshops were aimed at teaching girls an overall understanding of what happens from the start of their period (Menarche) and what to expert in her lifetime of their periods – PMS, managing period pain, hygiene while on periods and an introduction to sustainable eco-friendly period products; cloth pads and the menstrual cup. Girls were given some to try because we believe this may be the solution to eradicating period poverty and re-usable and made to last between 3-10 years. 

The Workshop highlights that a lot of the girls were very intelligent academically but lack the knowledge of their menstrual health and hygiene. The girls were outspoken and shared their experiences of using rags, bandages, double pants, and missing school due to inadequate menstrual protection, fear of Leakage and period pain. 

We believe that it’s a girl’s fundamental gender right to have access to menstrual products in order to focus on their education and not worry about finding money monthly to buy their own products. 

In our Conversations with 12/13-year-olds, some of the girls save money monthly and sometimes would need to borrow their parents so they could have food on the table. There is a huge gap in menstrual education and we would like to make sure all girls are fully equipped with the knowledge of their periods and their bodies so that they are fully prepared for womanhood and are able to seek medical help as an early intervention towards PCOS, PMDD, and endometriosis. 

There were a lot of questions about irregular periods and the shame of speaking to their mums about it for fear of being accused of being pregnant. We will be focusing on parental workshops as well, mums are the main preferred person to teach their girls and boys early on, however, a lot of these girls were just handed a pad or rags and told to stay away from boys. 

The cultural barriers, stigmas, and taboos are a thing of major concern and our aim is to have open, honest and create a safe place to talk about periods as a natural thing and not shameful. 

This is a global issue and we would like Nigeria to join the likes of other countries as part of their global goals pledge to tackle period poverty and see it as a major barrier towards girls achieving their goals. 

Our main aim is to partner with corporate organizations as part of their CSR, local and state governments to deliver these programs locally and provide accessibility of menstrual products to girls from rural and poor communities.

Mymenses is an initiative promoting menstrual education and advocating for the alleviation of period poverty in the UK and Africa. To partner with us or for sponsorship and collaborations please contact us via email [email protected] or via our website www.mymenses.org or our social media page @mymenses.

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