Menuka Thapa, 14

Debaki Dharam Basic School

Ward No. 3, Panchakanya Rural Municipality
Nuwakot District

“Whenever I had problems during periods, I would tell my mother. She used to give me pieces of her old clothes to use as pads which gave me allergies on my private parts. I would also worry about others noticing stains that would form due to blood leakage”, recalls Menuka.

Health System Recovery Project, Nuwakot provided many adolescent girls like Menuka who did not know how to make safe sanitary pads from materials available at home, a two-day ‘Menstrual Hygiene Management Training’. In the training, she was taught how to prepare a ‘shield and liner’ and what kind of clothes to use. Menuka and other girls were oriented on overall hygiene management during menstruation. By the end of the training, she could make sanitary pads which actually worked and cost almost nothing.

At home, she collected old clothes and made more pads for herself and her mother too, and taught her how to use it.

“I feel very comfortable using pads that I make. Had I known how to make them before, I did not have to face such problems and embarrassments. I could’ve continued normal activities with my head held high and confidently”, she shares about her pitiful plight during menses. “My mother appreciates my pad-making skill and she is very happy that I took the training. Since she is also a member of ‘Health Mothers Group’ she shares my story and her experience of using the pads with her friends. We want to share this skill with all the girls and women in our village so that they can live without any tension, discomfort, and embarrassment during periods”, tells Menuka.