For months, Lisa Buchholz and Jessica Buchholz have been “Rounding Up Undies” in preparation for the Menstrual Health Management project in Bhopal, India.
Lack of access to affordable menstrual health products continues to affect millions of school-age girls in the developing world. In India, women and girls face serious challenges when it comes to managing their periods. A recent report by the NGO Dasra found that as many as 23 million girls in India drop out of school annually due to issues with menstrual health management. School-age girls not only lack proper menstrual health management facilities, but also access to sanitary napkins and logical awareness of menstruation. Some are forced to use improvised materials, such as rags or scraps of old clothing – many girls and women use the same cloths over and over, without understanding how to properly clean them.
Prior to the India Team’s departure, bags for this MHM Program (Rounding Up Undies for India) were packed: 9 checked bags = 520 kits that included 1560 pairs of undies, 1040 washcloths, 1040 pens, 520 whistles, 502 ziplock bags, and 520 drawstring bags. In Bhopal, 500+ Giocare reusable pads kits and 1000 bars of soap were purchased.
Fast forward to this week. The MHM team of Lisa, Lyn, and their Indian team members have visited 4 schools (one twice) and met with 375 young girls as of Thursday. On Friday they will travel 2+ hours to Saraswati Vidyamandir, Begamgung where they’ll distribute the last 150 Rounding Up Undies kits. The team met with the girls in groups, preferably groups of 25-30. We spent at least an hour with each group, conversing about Menstrual Health Management, the content of the kits, the care of the Giocare pads, and did a short written survey with each girl. There was also time for open conversation and questions. The girls learned a lot and we learned even more. We made a few tweaks to the program during the week and have ideas for next year, but we were pretty much right on target. These young girls do not have access to products to manage their periods property. They are not educated about Menstrual Heath Management, or anything related to their periods and reproductive health – they have no idea what a period is and why it’s happening. And yes, the stories you hear about Indian girls being shunned during their periods are true, and they do miss school frequently during their periods.
Here’s the cool stuff that we’re really excited about. We’ve assembled a local team of young women that worked with us all week. Dr. Poonam Parwani will lead this team and will be our liaison, reporting directly back to us. This team will travel back to each school that we visited every other month for the next year and meet with the girls again to get feedback and to gather data. Our hosts are very interested in expanding this program next year and we want to make sure that this program is having the biggest impact by addressing the specific needs of this area. The visits will include continued support and education – keeping the conversation open and going with all of these young girls.
We’re dreaming big for next year. This year’s Giocare pads ($7.00 per kit) were very generously purchased by Lyn Shaw, India Mission participant and India MHM Team member. While collecting supplies is essential for building the hygiene kits, your financial donation will ensure that we have the funds to purchase even more pads and other materials next year. We are hoping to triple the Rounding up Undies Program in 2021.
You can support Rounding Up Undies all year by making a donation. If you’re interested in sewing bags or gathering undies, washcloths, zip lock bags, or whistles, please contact Lisa Buchholz or Jessica Buchholz for more information.
