Strength TogetHER 26- Session 3

 

April 16, 2022

Strength TogetHER by Lokopakar provides a safe platform to young girls to share their personal stories and unburden themselves with the aim of eradicating the feeling of “I AM NOT ENOUGH” among them. Lokopakar has been providing Strength TogetHER sessions to young girls throughout Nepal.

With the support of British Council Nepal, Strength TogetHER now has reached to Lumbini providing sessions to girls of Awadhi community from Shree Karmahawa Madhyamik Vidhyalaya.

After two online sessions, we were finally able to meet our participants in person through WOW Festival 2022 at Lumbini Park. We were really excited to meet our participants on the clear sunny day at their native place.

After the session with the first group and a few minutes for lunch, we were about to meet our second Group for the session. The second Group of students belonged to Grade 12. As they entered the hall full of curiosity and excitement, I could see most of the girls wearing Mangalsutra and Sindoor along with their school dress which was overwhelming.

The girls share how they are outside with all their friends after so long and how they don’t go somewhere else other than their home and school because of their family restrictions. They shared how they played football at the WOW Festival and had a great time at Lokopakar’s stall in the marketplace.

After a few minutes of bonding, we were now ready to start the session with a brief Introduction of Lokopakar, Strength TogetHER and our participants. Except for two participants, all others shared that their favorite subject is Nepali and all the participants would like to be a teacher in the near future if their family allows them. We played a fun ice-breaker game full of laughter and started the stories on “MY FIRST PERIOD STORY”.

I shared my personal story about how I felt when I had my first period story. Because my period was a little long, 11-12 days, for the first time, I thought I would bleed for the same number of days every month. All the participants smiled and laughed hearing this misconception.

It was now time for our girls to share their stories.

-        Our first speaker said how they need to cut a rope and stick Dry Cow Dung Cake on the walls of their houses as part of their culture when girls get their period. It was a new and interesting story for me. She shared that her sister-in-law was in the house at that time so she did not feel too anxious about it as her mother had explained about period beforehand. 

-        Our second speaker shared that there was no one at her house except her father when she got her period. She felt very awkward in the beginning but later had to tell him. Her father called her sister and helped her out. She also shared that she does not feel awkward in front of her father during her period because of this experience. 

-        Our third speaker shared that she already knew about the period as there was an information session about it in their school. She didn’t feel nervous at all as she already knew about what Period is and how to use a Pad. She simply went to her sister and asked for a Pad and used it.

 After listening to the stories, we started to discuss more about the topic. Except one, all the participants said that they feel uncomfortable to come in front of the male members of the family during their period and they have never talked about it with their fathers. They also shared that they tried to teach their mothers to switch to Pad but they are not used to it. Their mothers encouraged them to wear Pads but couldn’t switch themselves from cloth to Pad. They were concerned about their mother’s health as they didn't dry the cloth properly after washing it because of the embarrassment.

The participants shared that they hadn’t shared their first period story even with their friends and are feeling very good and light after sharing it. We ended the session by pouring our experience in the chart paper just like the previous group. It was a surreal experience.