KATHMANDU, Oct 8: I remember the first time it happened. I was 13 years old. I was alone at home one evening, reading a book. Suddenly, I felt uneasiness between my legs and my stomach started hurting. Instinctively, I went to the bathroom and that was when I found out that I had my first period. [break]
I wasn’t scared or nervous. Having read about the phenomenon in many Judy Blume books as a young reader, and learning about menstruation in school, I was aware of what was happening to my body and what I should do next.
But menstruating isn’t so simple for every girl. It brings in problems more serious than backaches and abdomen pains, and cramps – problems that cannot be cured by taking a few painkillers. I became more aware of this fact as I grew up.
I’ve experienced discrimination against myself and seen it happen with my friends too. How we weren’t allowed to enter the kitchen or the prayer rooms of our house or be part of family rituals during those days because we were ‘unholy.’ I would upset the gods, I was told. But thankfully, my own parents didn’t follow this observation and I was exempt from such discrimination.
The sad reality that girls and women have to face in rural areas in western Nepal because of the fact that they menstruate every month upset me. I learnt about Chhaupadi, the tradition of exiling teen girls and women to live in animal sheds during their menstruating days because they are considered ‘impure’ and ‘untouchable’ during those days.
I also learnt about how menstruation was becoming a hindrance to girls’ education, especially in community schools in the rural areas of Nepal. At first, the correlation was something I just couldn’t fathom because it was something that I never had to go through myself. I don’t remember having to miss a lot of schooldays due to my period ‘problem.’ My school had separate toilets for girls, we always had running water, and there was even a facility of going to the infirmary if something was wrong.
But slowly it started making sense as I read more on the issue, talked to people from different I/NGOs who have had firsthand encounters with this reality, and heard stories from girls from around Nepal who have experienced such issues.
Tulsi Thapa is a 16-year-old girl from Chisapani in Banke. Now the President of Integrated Adolescent Girls Club Network, she shares, “When girls menstruate in my community, we’re restricted from doing a lot of things, such as touching trees that bear fruits, or even going inside our own house.”
However, Tulsi, who admits to becoming empowered from her engagement in various clubs, such as the one she is currently fulfilling as president of, managed to convince her father not to discriminate against her that way. “My father then convinced my mother and I no longer have to go through all that,” she shares.
The first time it happened to her, two years ago, Tulsi was very scared. She didn’t know what was going on and thought that she had a disease and would soon die of it. Her mother was also not able to counsel her properly and the tension grew on her.
“The very first time, I cried a lot. I also spoilt my exams that term. I failed in mathematics because I couldn’t concentrate on my studies out of the fear that something bad was happening to me,” reminisces Tulsi. After a while, she spoke about her periods with a friend who was a bit older than her. “I told my friend that I was going to die, and explained to her what was happening to me. She laughed at me and told me that she went through the same thing and that it wasn’t something to be afraid of,” Tulsi shares, now laughing at her innocence back then.
Nowadays, Tulsi not only fights for her own menstrual health but also ensures that her schoolmates are doing it as well. “Just a few months ago, during the school committee meeting, we raised the issue of water and sanitary pad facilities in our schools,” she says.
According to a fact sheet published by WaterAid in July 2012, only 64% of schools in Nepal have toilets while only 40% of schools have separate toilets for girls and boys. This means that girl students have privacy and sanitation issues, especially during those five days of the month once they reach their menstruating age, which is normally between the ages of eight to 12 years. This not only prompts them to remain absent from school in those days but many girls drop out of school altogether. According to the Flash Report presented by the Department of Education, the total dropout rate for girl students in Grades One through Five is 5%, in Grades Six to Eight is 6% while for girl students in Grades Nine and Ten is 6.5%.
One of the major reasons which have also been recognized by the Department of Education is the lack of separate toilets in coed schools. Hence, for Nepal at the moment, a measure to ensure that girls receive full secondary and higher education is to make sure that they also have access to proper sanitation essentials such as toilets, water and sanitary pads.
It’s very basic, but equally important, too. Creating a gender-friendly environment in schools, starting from having separate toilets for girls in every school in Nepal, is a way to ensure that our girls are being educated without any let and hindrances, including their regular
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