Workshop on Menstrual Health and Resuable Sanitary Pad Training in Mandra and Singarche Village
On
29th Jan 2020, with the purpose of conducting a workshop on menstrual
hygiene and reusable pad making training a team of Namaste Nepal staffs and volunteer
along with, Mrs. Shanti
Regmi (Executive Director of Aythos) and, Mrs. Ruchika Jaggi (program
coordinator of Moon Catcher project) headed toward Mandra from Kathmandu. The
reusable sanitary pad is an eco-friendly menstrual pad. Besides this, the
flannel cloth used for making the reusable sanitary pad is recommended by
Gynecologist as well.
Objective
of the visit:
●
To deliver the knowledge on
menstrual hygiene.
●
To train the women and young
girls on making reusable cloth pad.
Mothers group of Mandra and Singarche
village at workshop
Few
months ago, we conducted a training to make reusable sanitary pads in
collaboration with Aythos Nepal at Gati, Sindhupalchok and Dansing village,
Syangja. We received positive responses from the participants and as a result
other neighboring community, mothers group were also interested in taking the
same training in their own village. So, teachers from Singarche and health
assistant from Mandra requested to do the same project at Singarche and Mandra.
Since, students and mothers from Gati and Dansing Village found the workshop useful,
we decided to hold the same project to provide awareness on menstrual health
and hygiene.
On the date 27th Jan
2020, first a meeting was held with Executive Director of Aythos, Mrs. Shanti Regmi and program
coordinator of Moon Catcher project of India, Mrs. Ruchika Jaggi to plan and
prepare for the workshop. The Moon Catcher Project makes and
distribute free reusable and washable menstrual pad kits for girls. It was
provided with an objective of encouraging girl students to stay in school during
their period and to give them a greater chance of completing their education.
During our first training at Gati, Moon Catcher organization provided students
of Shree Kali Devi Secondary School with washable menstrual pad kit which is
very good and the material is durable.
Agendas
Following are the major agendas for
discussion during the meeting:
Date
|
Activity
|
29th Jan, 2020
|
● Travel from Kathmandu to Mandra
● Introduction with the mothers group
● Pre-Survey on menstrual health and hygiene with the
participants
● Presenting animated video on menstrupedia
● Orientation on Menstrual health and hygiene to the
participant
● Reusable cloth pad making training
|
30th Jan, 2020
|
● Feedback collection at Shree Kali Devi Secondary School
on menstrual pad kid distributed by Moon Catcher
● Travel to Singarche to conduct workshop
● Introduction with the mothers group of Singarche
● Pre-Survey on menstrual health and hygiene with the participants
● Presenting animated video on menstrupedia
● Orientation on Menstrual health and hygiene to the
participant
● Departure to Kathmandu
|
We are pleased to share that we have
successfully completed our workshop to make reusable sanitary pad at Mandra and
Singarche village on 29th and 30th January, 2020. The
training was done in collaboration with Aythos Nepal. Since this was a
collaborative project, Namaste Nepal took care of logistics of team from Aythos
and Aythos Nepal supported the training materials for the participants. The
workshop was held in Shree Gorakhnath Basic School and Shree Singarche Basic
School. There were a total of 148 participants of the age group between 10-65
years. Following are the activities conducted during the training:
Introduction with the mothers
group:
The
workshop started with an introduction session of trainers, facilitators and
volunteers from Namaste Nepal and Aythos Nepal. The participants were informed
about our purpose of visit and the workshop. The introduction session helped
the mothers to feel comfortable and to recognize the team well.
Beginning the session with the team
introduction
Pre-Survey on menstrual
health and hygiene:
Pre-survey
plays an important role to collect information on menstrual health practices at
Mandra and Singarche village. During the pre-survey, most of the women were
feeling quite reluctant to answer the question however; some participants
actively participated in the pre-survey. Out of 148 participants only 5-6
participants were able to give the right answer about menstruation and reason
behind menstruation in girls.
Active participation of women during
Pre-survey session
Information
that we collect from the pre-survey are as follows:
⮚ Women feel uncomfortable
to discuss and talk about menstruation with the male member in the family. Only a few mother and daughter used
to have conversations on menstruation but
never shared it with the male member in the family.
⮚ Most importantly we came to
know that most of the women in Mandra and Singarche village use cloth during
period and use disposable sanitary pad only while traveling. The clothes used during menstruation are the material from bed sheets
and old torn up clothes.
⮚ Though most of the women dry
the cloth used during menstruation in
sunlight, they have the habit of hiding the cloth by covering other clothes on
it especially when there is male member around them.
⮚ Back pain, stomach ache, tiredness and
moodiness are the major problem faced by the women during menstruation period
⮚
None of the participants had ever received suggestions and services on menstrual pain in the village. Everyone
thinks that menstruation is a natural process
and women don't have to be health-conscious during menstruation.
⮚ Women still follow various cultural practices such as avoid entering kitchen
and religious places at the time of menstruation.
⮚ We even asked the students of Shree Gorakhnath Basic School whether the teachers were
teaching them about menstruation or not. One of the students was able to answer correctly
about meaning of menstruation and its causes.
The student said that the teachers are no longer shy to teach on menstrual health inside the classroom.
Presenting animated video on menstrupedia:
Participants
viewing animated video on menstrupedia
Animated
video by menstrupedia consists of detailed information on menstruation. This
video presents practical guidance based on a real life story of a girl. It
presents menstruation in the easiest and most entertaining way. Practical tips
to deal with menstruation are provided through the character enacted by cartoons
and is further supplemented with beautiful illustrations. Unfortunately,
because of the lack of electricity supply at Shree Gorakhnath Basic School,
presenting the video through projector was not possible. So, we directly begin the orientation session
during the workshop at Mandra.
However,
at Singarche we were able to show the video on menstrupedia. The entire participants
enjoyed the video and learned lots of new information on menstrual health and
hygiene.
Orientation on Menstrual
health and hygiene:
Orientation session lead by Mrs. Shanti
Regmi
After
showing the video on menstrupedia, we begin the orientation session. The
collected information from pre-survey helped us understand the menstrual
practices of women at Mandra and Singarche village. Accordingly, with the
information collected from the pre-survey Mrs. Shanti Regmi delivered the
information on menstrual health and hygiene. The entire participants were
interested and satisfied with the knowledge they gained during orientation.
Mrs. Shanti Regmi explained
about the method of caring personal hygiene and also educates them about the
side effects of not caring of their health at the time of menstruation.
Reusable cloth pad making
training:
Mothers and student participation in
workshop
At
Mandra 83 participants were trained to sew reusable cloth pad and at Singarche,
there were a total of 65 participants who learned to make reusable cloth pad.
At first, we distributed the
materials for the workshops that are pre-cut portion of fleece, cotton cloth,
thread, and a needle. This ensures that the materials are not wasted and saves
time during the session. The
entire participants followed the instruction of Mrs. Shanti Regmi on sewing
sanitary cloth pad. As there were many
participants, we made various groups so that the volunteers can lead a group to
facilitate them to sew sanitary cloth pad properly. Also the volunteers took
care of the small babies during the training session so that the mothers could
focus solely on their training. It took 3 hours to complete the entire session during
the workshop. The participants had shown a great interest till the end of the
session and sewed the sanitary cloth pad beautifully. The sanitary cloth pad
sewed by the mothers looks very comfortable to use.
Participant's
actively listening instruction to sew the reusable cloth pad
Mothers
sewing the sanitary cloth pad with keen interest
Feedback collection:
At
Gati we took feedback on Moon Catcher menstrual pad kits that was provided last
year to the student of Shree Kali Devi Secondary School during a workshop on
sewing sanitary cloth pad. We got to know that students feel more comfortable
using Moon Catcher menstrual pad kits while they are in school.
Feedback collection from student of Shree
Kali Devi Secondary School
At the end of the session, we took feedbacks from some of the participants f from the workshop. Every participant enjoyed
the workshop session till the end and find the workshop very fruitful and
useful. They thank the entire team for bringing such an informative workshop in
the village. Lastly, we ended the workshop by taking a group picture of
participants at Mandra and Singarche village.
Participants from Mandra and Singarche
village
Hence, the workshop was successfully
completed with the active participation of women of Mandra and Singarche
village. We would also like to thank the health assistant of Mandra, Mrs.
Pabitra Lama and teachers from Shree Singarche Basic School for informing and
motivating them to join the workshop in their respective villages.
Prepared
by:
Jyotshana
Ranjitkar( Assistant Coordinator)
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