Sanitary cups change refugee girls’ menstrual experience
Before Nighty Ayot, was selected as one of the beneficiaries of menstrual kits, which LWF distributed at her school and the surrounding community, the menstruation period was a nightmare to her. The 24-year-old South Sudan refugee living in Northern Uganda's Palabek Settlement in Lamwo district says before they got the kits, maintaining self-hygiene during her periods was a big challenge. However, menstrual kits have changed all that. The kits come with two menstrual cups, two knickers and a bar of soap.
“The LWF team mobilised 20 other girls in my neighbourhood and also trained us in how to use the menstrual cup, “ she applauds the organisation for ensuring that refugees like her live a dignified life despite their status."On many occasions, I would wash my only knicker and wait for it to dry before going to school, and in many cases, it did not dry properly," Ayot recounts. Menstrual hygiene management has been a great challenge among the refugees who face difficulties getting resources to meet their needs, including school absenteeism and the eventual dropout that hamper efforts to break the poverty cycle.Ayot and her family fled South Sudan in April 2017 due to tribal conflicts and the fighting between rebel groups and the government.“When we arrived in Uganda, we realised life as a refugee was not easy,” she narrates.
Although the government and humanitarian organisations provide basic needs like plots of land to grow food for the displaced people, the people of concern have other needs like sanitary towels. This has forced many of them, especially women and girls, to fall victim to sexual exploitation.It is upon this background that LWF with support from the Global Affairs Canada through the Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) improves the utilization of sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR) services among the South Sudanese refugees and host community members, especially women. The interventions is conducted under the Emergency Protection, SRHR, and Livelihoods for South Sudanese Refugees and Host Communities in Lamwo district.
"The sanitary kit makes me feel more comfortable that I forget that I am on my periods," Ayot notes. Ayot now teaches her peers and the surrounding community to use the kits and manage their menstruation periods.With more kits, Ayot says, more girls will be saved from the embarrassment they face during their menstruation periods if they do not have sanitary materials.
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