“As a part of my school community project in grade 8, I started interacting with rural women in Warangal Dist., Telangana State, about their menstrual hygiene practices being adopted. To my surprise, the topic remained significantly taboo among many. I learnt that some of them use old scraps of cloth as they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. The means of disposing of the used cloth was burying it in soil, burning it, or throwing it in local water bodies. In certain areas, the practice was so terrifying that some of them were using soil or ashes, as they could not afford to spare their old clothes too. The amount of damage these practices cause to the environment and an individual was beyond my imagination. I then started enquiring about the barriers that are stopping rural women and adolescent girls from using sanitary pads. The list was lengthy- lack of accessibility to private water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, poor economic conditions, no awareness, shame and social curbs.
On the other hand, the educated urban population who can afford sanitary pads have shared their experiences of sanitary pad utilization and disposal. I then realized that sanitary waste disposal is the greatest challenge in our country as the plastic used in disposable sanitary pads is not biodegradable.
With these two extreme challenges, I was wondering what would be the fate of our younger generation and how both ends can be met to achieve sustainable mensuration. It was on my 13th birthday I appealed to my parents expressing my interest to work in the area of sustainable mensuration by establishing an NGO.
I thank my parents, family members, teachers, friends and all well-wishers who have encouraged me to take this step and move forward to bring a small difference in the society”.
