BAJURA, April 26: Only women know how difficult periods become due to the added burden from society. Still, a large number of girls and women in our country are banished from their homes during menstruation. As they are considered impure during such times, they are forbidden from entering kitchen and having a nutritious diet.
Due to the lack of awareness, many women use pieces of clothes to control bleeding. Such clothes are not hygienic. At a time when they are supposed to rest more, they keep themselves busy with back-breaking work. This leaves them with very less time to think about their health and sanitation, which is necessary during periods.Understanding the plight of such girls and women, Gaumul Rural Municipality of Bajura has started providing pad-making training to the literate women in the rural municipality. Sita Thapa, vice-chairperson of Gaumul, informed Republica that the objective of the program is to ensure that women can make their own sanitary pads during menstruation.
Sanitary pads, a source of livelihood for Damak women
Altogether 42 women from six wards participated in the two-day training. Earlier, the rural municipality provided such training only to school- and college-going girls. "It is equally important for women to learn the use of sanitary pads so that they do not become prone to any kind of infections," said Harish BK, acting chief administrative officer of the rural municipality.
According to him, many girls and women hesitate to use sanitary pads while some find it costly. Therefore, this training is expected to help such women make pads at their homes at low cost. The local unit in coordination with the Rural Villages Water Resources Management Project organized the training. This is the first time when the participation of at least seven women was made mandatory for this kind of training.
The women who participated in the training expressed their gratefulness toward the organizers, saying they will no longer have to go to shops to buy sanitary pads.
