On Monday 30th May 2022, an NGO Stand With A Girl (SWAG) initiative visited a rural community called Tasha in Abuja FCT to commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day, deliver menstrual hygiene talk and items such as sanitary pads.
During the intervention, the target audience adolescent girls and women were taught about the importance of menstrual hygiene and they were given tips on how to take care of themselves properly during that time of the month.
The event marked the Menstrual Hygiene Day 2022 (MH Day 2022) themed ‘Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030’.
In a chat with the ICIR, the Program Manager of SWAG Initiative Maureen Torkula said the sensitization program in commemoration of the MH Day 2020 for adolescent girls and young women was aimed at enlightening them about the dangers and effects surrounding poor menstrual hygiene.
“The objective of this visit was to first build a relationship with the adolescent girls and young women in the community and also to strengthen their knowledge on their sexual reproductive health, to help them in making better decisions in the future.
“We chose Tasha because it is an urban slum community in Abuja, most times urban slum communities are overlooked and this is where a large population of adolescent girls and young women are found and these are our target audience”, she said.
The Program Manager of SWAG told the ICIR that during the implementation of this project, 130 sanitary towels were distributed to the adolescents and young women in the Tasha community.
Torkula added that the team spoke to the target audience about their bodies, their rights and everything concerning their sexual and reproductive health.
Members of the community have lauded the program.
Gloria Augustine in a chat with the ICIR talked about girl child education and she also appealed that the program should recur for the benefit of ladies in Tasha.
“Honestly, most of the children in this community are facing challenges of going to school especially the girls most of them are staying at home. So, we thank you for this program that you have come to do for us here but what I want to beg you is that you people should not just go like that, come back again so that you will remember our girls because they are our future”, she urged.
Mercy Yakubu told the reporter that the program was remarkable and sanitary hygiene and products are essential.
“This program was so interesting and I also advise Nigerians to continue doing this always as pad is always used. They should continue to introduce this program every time we appreciate because the program was so interesting”, she said.
Josephine, one of the attendees said, “So as you people are doing this program like this it is good that you are helping the village ladies. You people should be coming always so that you can help the community girls”.
The Program Manager concluded by saying that the only challenge they face was that this was the first visit to Tasha and trying to build a relationship with the community members for future interventions.
“So, first times are usually difficult, so far this was our only challenge. It was quite wonderful getting to gather the women and girls in the community to talk with them about important issues affecting them.
“We hope to sustain this project by leveraging on the now existing friendship with them to do more for the community, more sensitization, visits, outreaches, and more ways to find solutions to the issues that affect adolescents and young people in the community,” Torkula said.