Bloody rags, woes of growing girl
Irritating, queasy, and an uncomfortable feeling. Nobody enjoys those days. And for the less privileged adolescent girl, she is likely to be hungry and sick on those days.
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Young underprivileged girls are anxious and agitated often by the thought of a blood stain at the back of their dresses.
Mercy is a 14-year-old orphan. She is a junior high school (JHS) student who lives with her fishmonger grandmother in Cape Coast.
She says she has not received much education on menstruation and all the “troubles” that come with it except the little she learnt in class. She just knows it’s a stage in a girl’s life and being able to give birth depended on it to a large extent.
She said she understood that it was normal for a girl to bleed every month but she hated those days.
“I cannot afford the pads. My grandmother cannot. She barely talks to me about how to go through those days. I find my way round it,” she said looking irritated.
Rags of Blood
How? Mercy uses rags as sanitary pads during her periods.
Of course the rags have limited absorbency which she said made her feel very apprehensive on those days.
The last thing on her mind is school.
“I would rather not go to school on those days,” she says. “The last thing I would not like to happen to me is to stain myself in class,” she said.
Fatima also lives with her grandmother in Cape Coast and says her grandmother doesn’t have money to buy pads so she uses rags too.
“Sometimes I get stained which really embarrasses me.” I wish I can manage myself properly on those days,” she added.
Sarah is 15 years and in JHS two . She also narrates her menstrual experiences.
“During that time, I usually have a runny stomach and feel uncomfortable from the cramps. I try and come to school but when the pains become unbearable, the teachers allow me to go home,” said Sarah.
“Nobody buys my pads for me. I save and buy my pads from the little pocket money I am given,” she said.
“I go hungry for some days just to keep clean on those days,” she said shyly.
Unbroken Silence
Many parents do not educate their girls on what they ought to know with the onset of their menses, leaving them to figure things out. Many others do not provide them with decent sanitary towels.
It is no secret that issues concerning menstruation, like any other issue to do with adolescent sexuality and reproductive health, are no-go areas for many parents. They remain behind an unbroken silence.
In Ghana, and in most parts of our beloved continent Africa, many young girls cannot talk to their parents about menstruation. They, thus, resort to the use of all manner of things as sanitary towels.
In rural Zimbabwe, a journalist friend said it was reported in the media that some young girls had resorted to the use of dried cow dung as sanitary pads.
The Myths and Religion
The many myths about menstruation embedded in our customs and made plausible by people the youth hold in high esteem exacerbates the woes of a menstruating young lady.
Almost every religion describes the menstruating woman as unclean.
Leviticus 15:19-23, Ezekiel 22:10 in the Bible and many others in the The Quran expressly prohibits a man from approaching his wife during her monthly cycle, describing her as unclean.
“They will question thee concerning the monthly course. Say: 'It is hurt; so go apart from women during the monthly course, and do not approach them till they are clean. When they have cleansed themselves, then come unto them as God has commanded you.' Truly, God loves those who repent, and He loves those who cleanse themselves.-Quran 2:222 (Arberry)
In many traditional communities in Africa, a menstruating girl or woman cannot cross a river. She is deemed unclean.
Most men, including educated ones, don’t eat the meals cooked by their menstruating wives.
Bleeding and Forgotten
Maybe they are indeed unclean.
Many are left to wash and reuse rags at places as delicate as the vagina.
In most of our communities, the needs of menstruating girls are forgotten. Our greatest concern has always been the fact that she has to stay away from sex, from the boys and ensure she does not get pregnant or contract any worrying sexually transmitted diseases and not how she manages her menses.
But most girls have lost their sense of worth and remain in a state of apprehension every month managing their cycles, gagged in cages of culture and myths.
Many innocent girls in their bid to keep clean have exchanged their virginity for pads and gotten pregnant anyway.
Many girls hate those days not only because of the topsy-turvy feeling it brings, but because they don’t have what it takes to confidently manage themselves properly on those days.
In the end, a girl loses confidence and this can easily slow down her performance at any activity.
The Teachers
Female teachers come in as comforting companions for many of these girls by teaching them the basics of menstrual hygiene.
Many of these concerned teachers are worried about how the lack of clean sanitary towels affect the confidence, attendance and performance of these girls in school.
Ms Elizabeth Aidoo is a teacher and lives in Cape Coast. She has been involved in a lot of adolescent reproductive health training.
She says many mothers do not care. “They just don’t care how the girls manage. They give them the rags without any education,” adding that this is worrying.
She said girls must be educated on the need to use hygienic materials during menstruation. “Even if they are using rags they must be clean and kept right. They must be ironed before use,” she stated.
Studies
Indeed, a Study in Ghana (Montgomery P, Ryus CR, Dolan CS, Dopson S, Scott LM (2012) on Sanitary Pad Interventions for Girls' Education in Ghana with a sample of 120 schoolgirls between the ages of 12 and 18 from four villages in Ghana concluded that provision of sanitary pads improved school attendance.
The study concluded that an improvement through its “pads with education intervention” after five months brought a nine per cent increase in attendance.
Organisational Support
Some organisations have committed to making the lives of girls better by giving them pads and getting them to be in school whether they were menstruating or not.
The EPF Educational Empowerment Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, in partnership with the World of Children Award, a US-based NGO and P&G, manufacturers of Always sanitary pads is piloting a project targeting to supply 10,000 girls mostly in deprived communities with sanitary pads.
The project would also teach the girls how to use the pads and dispose of them properly and hygienically.
The Health Risks
The use of unhygienic, poorly managed rags as sanitary towels pose a risk and worrying concern than just a blood stain on a girl’s dress.
Bacteria may cause infections which will enter the vagina and travel up the uterine cavity which may affect the girl’s reproductive health.
The absence of clean and private sanitation facilities that allow for menstrual hygiene may discourage girls from attending school when they menstruate.
UNICEF estimates that about 1 in 10 schoolage African girls do not attend school during menstruation. Others drop out at puberty because of the lack of clean and private sanitation facilities in schools.
The girls interviewed said they would be happy if parents or guardians opened up to them on menstruation.