Sabrina

Distribution Day at Mwika Secondary!

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Today was distribution day at Mwika Secondary School.

Our team has spent the last two weeks conducting workshops with nearly 200 students at this school, working with the Form 3, Form 5 and Form 6 girls.

The village of Mwika is located about an hour outside of Moshi Town, in the stunning foothills of Kilimanjaro. The rural setting means that the majority of residents are subsistence farmers, growing bananas, mangoes, maize or beans. There is a booming local economy with a huge market in town on Tuesdays and Fridays – where you can find everything from shoes to pineapples to imported fabric! The secondary school has about 1200 day and boarding students, and teaches vocational skills such as farming and agriculture alongside the traditional academic curriculum.

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Today, Femme’s team returned to the school to distribute Femme Kits to our beneficiaries. If you are a teacher, you understand the struggle of containing a roomful of excited students. If you are a development worker, than you understand the chaos of distribution with beneficiaries! And if you are a traveler, you understand the struggles of attempting to organize people that do not speak English.

Thankfully, we were able to get the girls into somewhat recognizable lines, and give them their Kits. It was an exciting day – the girls were so excited to receive their Kits, and immediately began exploring them with their friends.

Our Femme Kits are designed to contain everything a young girl will need to stay safe, healthy and confident during her period. Central to these Kits are reusable menstrual management supplies – either a menstrual cup, or reusable pads. This was the first time Femme was offering a choice of pads or a cup to our girls, providing them with the option that helps them feel the most confident and comfortable. The majority of the girls chose menstrual cups, but many of the younger girls opted for the reusable pads. Regardless of their choice, we are thrilled that these girls will be able to manage her period in a safe, healthy and sustainable way!
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If you want to help support our programs in East Africa – visit our Holiday Giving Campaign! Honour a loved one this holiday season by making a gift in their name, and we will send them an Artisan Thank-You card with photos from our work! Please consider giving them gift of confidence, and making a difference in the life of a young woman.

Sabrina Rubli

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Sabrina

My First Experience With A Menstrual Cup!

Our very own Nice Kirumu, FHM Program Facilitator (Tanzania) writes about her first experiences with a menstrual cup!

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The first time I heard about a menstrual cup was when I was volunteering with Anza International here in Moshi. At first, I thought it was like a real cup! I was surprised because I’ve never imagine of something like that could be used as for menstrual management, and I hoped that one day I would be able to use it.

A few months later I joined the Femme International team to work as the FHM Program Coordinator. The organization provides Feminine Health Management education to the school girls and sustainable menstrual management tools for them to use during their menstrual cycle. One of the products they provide are menstrual cups as one of the sustainable way of menstrual management. It has been seen that many girls especially those who live in poor families in rural areas, will miss school during their menstrual cycle because they cannot afford to purchase sanitary napkins each month. Hence, they use other materials such as pieces of old cloth, cotton, leaves or even stay at home until their period is over.

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As part of the Femme staff, I had the opportunity to try a menstrual cup to learn how it felt! My supervisors were excited to see that I wanted to try the cup, they taught me how to use it and told me that it is a wonderful idea and I will enjoy it. So when my period came, I washed my hands take it, carefully fold it and insert it. It was hard and hurt little bit, but after few minutes I succeeded to insert it perfectly! For a few hours I wasn’t sure if it would come out, or maybe it might get full and start leak. I was surprised to see that I couldn’t get any kind of stains on my pants, or on the clothes! I stayed with it for 12 hours and in the evening when I went to bath I take it out slowly, poured the blood out, rinsed it with clean water and inserted it again! 

I was feeling good because it’s very simple and I don’t have to use pads anymore!

Since it worked well on me, I am no longer using pads or tissues. I’m feeling free and I can do anything in my period including swimming, without worrying. I can help anyone who wants to know about it by explain about it. The good thing is the lifetime of the Ruby Cup: one cup can be used up to ten years therefore you don’t have to exchange it with new one from time to time.

I advise girls and women that these cups are very useful, especially to the poor girls and women who cannot afford to purchase the sanitary napkins. Even for those who can purchase sanitary napkins I advise them to start using the menstrual cups because it can help you to save money, abstain from getting fungus and infections, being free to do all kind of work and mostly is to enable young girls to attend school when they are in menstrual cycle without any problems and hence reach their goals in the future!

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Verynice African Kirumu

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