Grade 9
Kolkata, India
Meet
Shashi is in the 9th grade at Khanpur Nirmala Bala Sarkar Girls’ High School. She is from a middle-class family and lives with her grandmother, parents, and younger brother. Her father is a contractor by profession and her mother is a homemaker. Shashi is a very intelligent and responsible kid. She enjoys drawing and dancing. She is very active in school, participating in various activities on campus.
Splash organized a pilot menstrual hygiene training with a select group of schools during the COVID-19 lockdown. The training was conducted via WhatsApp, and the headmistress of Shashi’s school had asked Shashi to participate. During the training, Shashi and the other participants learned about many facets of menstrual health and hygiene, including myths and taboos associated with menstruation.
Shashi put her training into action immediately — she had been worried about her mother as Shashi had observed her health deteriorating, and she now thought that it may be related to irregular periods. Her mother felt weak physically and, due to this, her mental health was negatively affected. Her mother hesitated to consult a doctor because she was uncomfortable discussing her menstruation with doctors, friends, or family members.
The training helped Shashi gather the courage to speak to her mother, orient her on menstrual health issues, and convince her to consult a doctor. The doctor found a tumour in Shashi’s mother and operated to remove it. Her mother has been prescribed medicines and exercises to stay fit following her operation and is now recovering.
Shashi feels proud that she was able to support her mother’s health with the knowledge she gained from the training. Shashi now shares information about menstrual hygiene with her neighbours, friends, and relatives and urges them to come to her with their problems related to menstrual health so that the issues can be addressed quickly.
Shashi’s story encourages us to intensify our intervention in menstrual health with other young adults. We aspire to reach endlessly more people on a subject which has been for so long a taboo in several societies.
