Africa-Press – Uganda. Robina Akuya, 19, often finds herself being forced to ‘double up’ her pants since she started menstruating four years ago. She is one of the child brides in Kigorobya, Hoima Municipality, having married at 15, four years ago.
Her periods are a nightmare as they make her feel uncomfortable with any visitors while she has to bathe up to four times a day when she does not have sanitary pads.
“Coping up with life when I cannot afford sanitary pads is tough,” Akuya says, adding that sometimes she has to borrow money from neighbours, who are always broke like her.
Periods were strange to the naïve teenager, which is the same story with most of the girls in her community where families cannot afford to buy themselves sanitary pads. Menstruation is a blood flow a woman experiences on a monthly basis when there is shedding of the lining of the womb. Akuya’s story is the reality of many of the girls in her community who have no access to sanitary products, water and a clean environment.
Evelyn Katugume, 18, who is in her Senior Four vocation, decided to open up a savings box after she became a victim of periods when she least expected them.
“I observed that my periods come once in every three months and any money I get from my parents is saved for my periods,” she said adding that: “When we are at school, some friends don’t have money and fake illness to avoid coming to class when they don’t have pads,” Katugume says.
Akuya explains that with Covid-19, priorities have shifted to feeding making sanitary pads a luxury.
While attending the Tartan Burner Athletics Club girls’ empowerment camp in Kigorobya over the weekend which attracted 100 girls from the community, girls discussed the challenges of missing classes and sports activities because of the menstrual cycle because of the derision from male counterparts.
According to Mildred Gamba, a former national team sprinter and secretary of TBAC, they have decided to offer girls a pair of reusable sanitary pads as a means to empower them to continue with life normally.
Gamba explains that a sample survey showed that most young girls who menstruate have a difficulty in getting sanitary pads due to their cost. “To most girls, periods make them vulnerable to many issues including keeping them away from practicing sports. The reusable pads we offer will make them comfortable,” she says. Gamba adds that the problem is exacerbated by lack of education on unhygienic menstrual practices and reproductive health thereby eroding the possibility of using sanitary pads.
