The HAHA Beat: Menstrual Talk Hits the Rwandan Airwaves

Hi all,

This is Jackie, SHE Rwanda's Advocacy and Policy Manager, and I am excited to share an update from the HAHA (Health and Hygiene Advocacy) Team. We had our first live radio talk show on May 13th that was co-sponsored by our partners, VSO, to raise awareness on menstrual health issues in Rwanda.

I was joined by my colleague Nadia, SHE's Health and Hygiene Officer, Mukasine Caroline, a member of the Maternal and Child Health Department of the Ministry of Health and Uwimbabazi Sylvie, from the Ministry of Education. 

At the beginning of the talk show, every participant was given time to express what they are doing in terms of supporting girls in to manage this issue; I explained how SHE works in partnership with other partner organizations and government agencies to raise awareness, provide training, and work with schools in order to break the silence around menstruation and menstrual hygiene and also to share best practices of menstrual hygiene management (MHM). SHE also talked about its advocacy in terms of tax exemption so as to have affordable and access to sanitary products.

-    The Ministry of Health talked about how they raise awareness of MHM within its reproductive health sensitization programs, while the Ministry of Education confirmed its support of MHM by promoting the addition of girls’ rooms at schools and its basic requirements at all primary and secondary schools. They also talked about its financial support of MHM through its allocation of sanitation funds to schools.

We changed topics during the talk show to discuss how we menstrual health and hygiene awareness:

• Is menstruation really a challenge in schools?
• What is the response from the Ministry of Health to it?
• What are some of the inputs form the Ministry of Education to address the challenge?
• An overview of menstruation and its current management at the school setting
• Answering the audience's questions around menstruation

Below are some of the questions asked and this clearly shows the menstrual hygiene education is critical and needs to be widespread since taboos and incorrect beliefs around the topic is still an issue: 

• Most parents still consider menstruation as a sickness and often keep their daughters at home. Several of them called and asked whether their daughter is sick or if this something normal. 
• What are those days that one would consider to be safe days in one's menstrual cycle?
• When is it likely for a girl to become pregnant? Is it really safe that if you have sex with a girl during her period, that she will never become pregnant?
• Why is it that some girls experience serious pain during their menstruation while others do not?
•  What are some medicines or ways of reducing the pain during periods?
• Are there some other products that one can use apart from pads during menstruation since pads are expensive?
• Why is it that some women have their period/menstruation but at time do not give birth or never become pregnant?

•       Another person called Maniracyiza, called just to say thanks for the discussion.

-   Based on questions asked from the audience, from the community and some more that were not answered due to time constraints, we would like to raise our voices as a call for action to all other organizations in support of girls' issues to join SHE's efforts in one or all three ways: (1) to raise awareness around MHM; (2) to lobby for policy change in schools as a way of raising MHM knowledge; and (3) to ask policy makers to waive taxes on pads so as to have them accessible and affordable.

Our next steps are to follow up with Radio Rwanda because they agreed to offer us more radio airtime and to host a show about menstrual hygiene again since there were so many questions still unanswered from the public. Exciting!

Thank you,

Jackie 

SHE's Advocacy and Policy Manager

The HAHA Beat: Why Menstrual Hygiene Education Needs to be Girl-Friendly

Check out why Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia thinks that menstrual education is not "girl-friendly" enough and how SHE is instigating for these changes at the school level:

"With the support of VSO Rwanda, SHE conducted menstrual health and hygiene awareness programs across the Ngoma District within the month of March.

In our Rwandan culture, as in other parts of the world, menstruation is still viewed as a taboo, making it difficult for parents, teachers and children comfortable to tackle the matter in details. Some parents would say nothing at all about menstruation or at the very least, would ask someone else to explain menstruation to their daughters, which has resulted in misinformation about menstruation.

Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia at one of our 8 awareness sessions in the Ngoma District. 

With all this confusion about how to properly manage their period, girls miss up to 3-5 school days each month, while their male colleagues proceed with their studies, thus making our young sisters, future mothers and leaders of Rwanda at risk of falling behind at school, having low marks, and not having the same achievements as their brothers.

Students therefore have to rely on teachers for menstrual hygiene education, but all they learn is about the biological changes that occur with the onset of menstruation. Unfortunately, menstrual hygiene management part is not covered within it. Girls, as well as boys, need to have that information, so they are prepared once menses does begin and to take it easy; and most importantly, to know that menstruation is NOT a disease or is something shameful! This was our overview when we lead these awareness workshops.

The fact is increased access to menstrual hygiene education is needed and it needs to be presented in a child and girl-friendly manner. If it’s not done in a girl-friendly approach, girls will continue to receive incorrect menstrual information. Some of the myths or incorrect information that I heard from the girls include:

"If you sleep with a man while menstruating, you will never have painful periods”

or

"If you have sex while menstruating, you will never get pregnant"

These girls’ voices are calling out for SHE support. They have the right to know that menstruation is not a disease or a curse as some people believe - it is a normal physiological process the body undergoes.That is why SHE is instigating for increased access to menstrual education and materials at the national level!

SHE is taking the lead to educate girls about MHM through their teachers and parents. Will you join us? Girls are demanding to 'know more!'

I extend gratitude to the Ngoma District and their schools; as a result we were able to provide our MHM awareness workshop to over 1100 students.

I am also most grateful to the girls and their teachers for talking frankly about menstruation in the school setting with us. Girls, we love you, and we believe you deserve to manage your menses healthy and hygienically."

Cheers,

Nadia Hitimana 

Health and Hygiene Officer"

SHE Rockstar of the Month: Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia Hitimana

Nadia (standing at right), SHE's Health and Hygiene officer at a recent training session. 
Photo Credit: Perttu Saralampi

Editor's Note: SHE's Rockstar of the month is also a new addition to the SHE team: our Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia Hitimana. Nadia is also one-half of our HAHA team (Health and Hygiene Advocacy) with our Advocacy and Policy Manager Jackie Mupenzi.

Nadia jumped in feet-first when she joined SHE by leading health and hygiene trainings across eight schools in Kigali. What's up next for Nadia? Leading health and hygiene trainings for the 50+ teachers that are part of our industrial-scale pilot!

Where are you from? 

I am a Rwandese but I was born in Burundi and I have been living in Kigali, Rwanda since August 1994. 

How are you involved with SHE? 

I work as the Health and Hygiene Officer. I am a newcomer, since I just started working here over a month ago, 11th March 2013. 

Why were you compelled to join SHE? 

Prior to joining SHE, I was working at ARC (American Refugee Committee) as a Health Education Coordinator. While working there a colleague and a friend of mine gave me good word about SHE that was working innovatively for better sanitary protection. The key factor that drew me to this team was my desire to participate in the sustainable solutions of addressing menstrual challenges among other health challenges that my young Rwandan sisters are facing in schools – which could hinder their future in one way or another. 

How did you end up working on a field of health education? 

I have been interested in health since I was young. In addition to this, I studied at the Kigali Health Institute, where I specialized in Environmental Health Sciences/Community Health Development and obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Health. 

What have you learned since joining SHE? 

I have been warmly surprised by how my new team members bring up many ideas together and work tirelessly to achieve common goal of sustainable solutions towards addressing menstrual challenges. Since joining SHE, my team spirit has increased a lot! 

How do you like to relax on your spare time? 

I love to read and spend time with my friends. I especially like novels about people who brought change to the world. My favorite book of all time is The Bible. I also enjoy cooking, swimming and taking care of people in general, but particularly children. 

If you could pick one theme song for your life, what would it be? 

Une lettre d’amour by Aime Uwimana. He is a Rwandan gospel singer and I really love his songs among other gospel musicians. 

The HAHA beat: Periodic (haha) Updates from our Health and Hygiene Advocacy team

While our industrial-pilot is in motion, our HAHA team (Health and Hygiene Advocacy) team is also laying the groundwork to ensure long-term access to menstrual hygiene education and products (including our SHE LaunchPad) .

To make sure you're up-to-date on all things health and hygiene-related, check out our blog for The HAHA Beat. Here's the latest from our Advocacy and Policy Manager Jackie.

----------------------
Hi all,

It's been an exciting 2 months for the HAHA team! With Nadia on board, we worked together to lead hygiene education and awareness programs across Rwanda in partnership with VSO. 

Jackie (with mic) leading an advocacy awareness session.
Photo Credit: Perttu Saralampi

Our final awareness program at a youth center in Kigali was one of our most memorable events, namely because we invited 15 students from the Duha Complex School in Rwamagana to perform a skit on menstrual hygiene education! 

The Duha students are one of SHE's biggest fans! We trained senior level students and their teachers about menstrual hygiene and they loved our program so much that they even founded their own SHE student club! 

The Duha students provide menstrual and reproductive health education by writing and performing their own skits that are then performed at school and within the community. It was a great to have youths teach each other via acting!

Bridget Mukanyandwi, a teacher at the Duha School, remarked that the budget allocated for pads was insufficient as not all girls can have access to them. She said some students end up using rags because they can't afford pads and the schools don't receive enough pads for use by their students. 

Mukanyandwi said that most children start their periods around their primary five or at age twelve. She also called upon parents to also play a role in telling their daughters about menstruation early enough and not leave to it all to teachers. 

She also noted that some parents, especially in villages, still hold negative cultural perceptions whereby they believe it's a taboo to talk to their daughters about menstrual health, therefore calling upon them to break the silence and educate their children. 

As a much added benefit to raising national awareness, the New Times Rwanda featured our event and an interview with me. Please check it out: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?a=13582&i=15320

More eyes and ears at the national policy level are on menstrual hygiene education. This is great news!

Thank You, 

Jackie

SHE Rockstar of the Month: Tash McCarroll

Editor's note: It's time to debut SHE's Rockstar of the Month. Team SHE is more than our staff; it includes amazing volunteers that share their expertise to help further SHE's mission. Photographer Tash McCarroll (http://www.tashmccarroll.com) joined our staff in Rwanda for a few weeks to capture our work in action during our industrial-scale pilot. Learn more about her time with SHE from the trailblazer herself:

"In my short time with SHE, I experienced the lengths they go to in order to educate, inform and reach as many women, men, boys and girls in Rwanda as possible. My first day with the SHE team we traveled for three and a half hours to the South West of Rwanda to a UN Refugee camp with 17,000 displaced families from North Kivu region in DRC.

The families and women are faced with serious issues of safe hygiene and sanitation with few toilets and lack of running water to many areas of the camp. The toilet facilities like many UN camps are simply constructed tarp longdrop toilets with limited privacy making menstrual health management very difficult).

In a small room 4 x 10m over 30 women tightly packed in with as many babies on backs, knees and 'boobs' to hear the SHE team deliver their important message. While the number was limited due to the size of the space available women had been gathered from different areas of the camp so they could go back and educate others with what they had learnt.

There were many more curious ears and eyes peering and listening from the door, along with several male leaders from the camp. The room was filled with anticipation, ears and eyes fixed ready to absorb any information. Julian delivered information DEBUNKing myths and beliefs around menstruation, educating on what the menstrual cycle was and why both men and women need to have information on this topic.

When Gerardine stepped up with her 'bag of goodies' to show and give demonstrations on use of various types of sanitary items a lot of excitement filled the room and many of the men who were outside came into the room for closer inspection. The room filled with  side conversations, laughter, and then many questions about the various items shown and how they really worked.

'Can I go out and visit someone with a tampon inserted?'
'How does it stay in once its inserted?' 
'Won't it fall out?', 
'Can a teenage girl and a married women use a tampon in the same way?' 
'Could a female condom then be used as a method for menstrual management?'

The SHE team members answered the questions with calm words, sincerity and clarity that the women were relieved and thankful for their time and knowledge gained.

The second time I went with the SHE team we visited the South East of Rwanda and started on a schools education project. This photo series takes you through some of the events on that day with the two schools and children that we met. The remainder of the week they were meeting 8 other schools groups in the district, leaving me confident of the education that so many children who will be better equipped to deal with their own or daughters' menstrual health/hygiene in the future."

SHE Advocacy and Policy Manager, Jackie Mupenzi, delivers information to a group of 250+ students from Kabilizi school, Ngoma District, Rwanda

SHE Junior Marketing Officer Geraldine shows students a sanitary pad and explains how to use it

SHE's newest team member, Health and Hygiene Officer Nadia Hitimana, shares a fun moment with the students when someone answers a question correctly

A student stands to ask one of many questions during the Menstrual Health & Hygiene session. The school children asked many great questions surrounding menstrual health.

A young male student comes up to show what he has learnt about the reusable cup and proudly shows his classmates 

Students gather with great interest as SHE's Jackie and Geraldine show students how a sanitary pad works by pouring some water on it to show absorption

Jackie gives her piece on why menstrual health and hygiene education is important for both boys and girls and DEBUNKs some of the beliefs students have around menstrual cycles.

Gerardine uses a resource in the classroom to answer a question from a student about the days of the menstrual cycle.

Girls and boys students sit focused for over 2 hours receiving information, asking & answering questions and interacting with the SHE Team

Sky's Summer in Rwanda

After living in four different countries, attending six schools and being exposed to dozens of cultures, I honestly thought I had heard it all. That is why I still find it so very hard to believe that I could stumble upon an issue so pressing as women’s lack of access to menstrual products. Even more to my astonishment, a single article has lead to (amongst many other things) an unforgettable, life-changing time in Rwanda working with SHE. 

            I lived for a month this summer in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. Although I had organized, scheduled and prepared for months, embarking on my trip did feel like stepping into the unknown. I was so keen but as the days grew nearer my nerves did kick in. Many would presume that I was scared from the thought of being alone in a new country, but instead I was preoccupied with whether anyone would take a 16-year-old blond, peppy girl seriously. Much to my content, I have never been treated with more respect or maturity, then when I worked along side the amazing people I met in Rwanda. 

On the road from capital city Kigali to the rural area in Kayonza

I spent most days in Kigali, but I had the opportunity to travel the countryside on multiple occasions. Officially, I completed a checklist of items for SHE, including shooting and editing films. I still managed to spend most of my time hidden behind my camera lens, trying to capture as many things as possible (more to come!). When I did venture away from it, I met incredible people who told me heart-breaking, courageous or inspiring stories. Travelling with the SHE team, we ran focus groups where I had the luck of listening to girls tell me about their experiences with their periods. Most of the time, they were my age, which truly allowed me to bond with them. Although we live thousands of miles apart, I found we had as much in common as we did different. 

Just some of the natural beauty that can be found all over in Rwanda

 I recorded my experiences through videos, photos, and journal entries. Right now I am collecting and organizing everything to share with you…so stay tuned!