September 12,2020
Growing with the same strength of previous 8 sessions, the cohort-1 of Strength togetHER completed it's 9th session on 12th September, 2020 via Zoom . We had started with a small number of people and it gives us insane happiness to see the growth of this platform with each passing day. Now, Strength togetHER has completed it's 9th session and is a family of 6 different cohorts. It gives us a satisfaction and a sense of victory to see young girls taking initiatives and utilising this platform.
Having talked about self love, self acceptance, mental health, stereotypes, safety, relations and empowerment already, this time, we decided to utilise the platform to get educated about women health. For the extraction of knowledge, our moderator for this time was Dr. Prasun Rajbhandari. Dr. Prasun is an intern doctor and a public speaking enthusiast. Her purpose in life is to educate every individual regarding basic health information. She is a smart and passionate woman. The topic we decided to put on spotlight for this time was "That time of the month."
Menstrual hygeine is always less-spoken about when it is one of those essential things every women should know. Forget about getting educated about menstrual hygiene, so many girls around the world consider periods as a sin. They become face to face with period taboos. So, this time we decided to share and hear personal stories related to periods.
• Our first speaker shared that she didn't have any barriers to her normal life as she belonged to a caste that didn't believe in superstitions. However, you cannot hide from the evils until you kill it. It will claw its way back out. Similarly, our speaker got exposed to this horrible evil when she had visited her friend's home during periods. She had to face restrictions while entering the kitchen or other parts of the house. She was treated miserably. She didn't know what was happening with her. She was perplexed. But when she got aware of the reality, she was disheartened.
• Our second speaker shared the story about her first period. She explained how she was naïve and didn't know about periods. She was very young when she first had her periods and didn't know what to do. She had her classroom's bench stained and all of her classmates were treating her differently. It was hard for her as she had no one to guide her. However, she quickly got adapted and periods started becoming easier.
• Our another speaker explained how she already had changes in her physical body prior to periods. She was in her mamaghar when she had her first period. She had to face multiple restrictions according to her culture. She had also been restricted to get out of home and celebrate certain events. It was her housemaid who helped her with period things. She explained how she was embarrassed and felt bad.
• Our last speaker thanked the platform pf Strength togetHER as this was a space where everyone could talk freely about anything. She said that it is a relief to talk about common social problem loudly despite of a society that hushes us everytime we speak something related to periods. When our speaker first had her periods, her childish instincts thought ot was fun to face restrictions and all those traditional rituals. But slowly, she found her old self stupid for enjoying it. She explained how she is embarrassed everytime she is on her periods and how she has to take medicines due to her cramps. She also talked about the problem of her irregular periods.
After hearing all the stories, our health expert moderator commented on each of the stories and explained few things:
• Menstrual hygiene is important because it reduces the chances of diseases.
• Having menstrual cycle is a sign that our body is functioning properly.
• Menstruation is termed as "Nachune (untouchable) in Nepali which is a very wrong term for it.
• Menstrual hygeine should never be ignored as it may leads to severe diseases.
• Take extra care of yourself during menstruation.
•Know your PMS. And PMS is natural.
• Use cotton sanitary napkin and cotton inner wears.
• Stay hydrated, drink hot water, keep yout feet warm or take medicine in order to tackle cramps.
All in all, the whole session was really a productive and full of life learnings. We also questioned our moderator our doubts and she replied uprightly.
It was a really good journey and its even better when I reminisce about the whole journey. We have come really far and we have become an inseparable family. In this family, each of the members inspire each other. I am really proud to be a part of this family. Now, we only have 1 session left and I am really pleased that we have learned so much through this 9 sessions. We have covered every essential topics and have seen faces of different intellectual moderators. This journey is finally reaching to its destination and this journey will never be forgotten.
Written by- Aastha Shrestha ( LOKOPAKAR)
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