Its International Day of the Girls and a vibrant team of 7 from Dwona Initiative are excited to engage with the children from Wakiso District, a new district located in central Uganda under their Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs) for Rural Girls Program. It was exciting seeing that we were onboarding another beneficiary school where young girls faced a barrier of period poverty and stigma which a high-class absenteeism rate for the girls.
At exactly 1pm, the team was at the school which was Tassaga OVC Primary School in the community of Sitabaale village. We found the children having lunch and had very big smiles awaiting to see what we had for them in stock. We were then invited by the Head Teacher, Ms. Nantumbwe Teopista to a teachers’ meeting to introduce ourselves and the program. Each teacher as well introduced themselves and their role in the school. After the introductions, we then planned and instituted the first menstrual hygiene management club where we would be interacting more with the children and teachers on the concepts of menstruation, self-confidence and the girls within the school and 2 neighboring communities would access free period products.
As we concluded the meeting with the teachers, all the children from grade 4 to 7 were all ready for us and the fun-filled activities that were going to take place. We went on to conduct the baseline survey to assess the experiences and perception of both the teachers and children on the topic of menstruation and their accessibility to clean and hygiene products.
Our play-led session then begun at 2pm. The team introduced themselves with names of the different parts of the female reproductive system, for example; one was called Mrs. Uterus and other Mrs. Ovaries. This excited the children so much that they grasped the process of menstruation and the menstrual cycle in both English and their local languages. We then into the bloody bingo and puzzles’ game sessions which help them identify the different terms in the menstrual cycle.
As the excitement grew, Mrs. Uterus went ahead to start the training session on how to make re-usable sanitary pads with clean cotton clothes. In these sessions, all the boys took lead in sewing as we believe it is important for them to be supporters and allies to the girls in fighting the stigma and period poverty.
The team introduced themselves with names of the different parts of the female reproductive system, for example; one was called Mrs. Uterus and other Mrs. Ovaries. This excited the children so much that they grasped the process of menstruation and the menstrual cycle in both English and their local languages. We then dived into the bloody bingo and puzzles’ game sessions which help them identify the different terms in the menstrual cycle. .
The beautiful session ended with a play session of Race, Period which teaches them about the menstrual cycle and confirms if they have been able to learn these concepts well. Through the menstrual hygiene management clubs at the partner schools, the team at Dwona Initiative will avail free period products to the girls, proper menstrual information and books.
We would like to say thank you so much for supporting this program and ask you to please donate $10 dollars or more for us to support these girls stay in school without a worry of not having clean period products.
Thank you for your continued support!
