“I was born with a silver spoon. Perhaps, I had a rather luxurious lifestyle in a protected environment. It was only later in life that I realised that the world isn’t the same. There are many children and families that don’t even have enough money to feed themselves. That’s when I started working for the underprivileged families, especially kids because I believe that they’re the future. Amongst the many services we work on, our main motto is to give these students what government institutions fail to provide – benches, clean drinking water, hygienic bathrooms with good sanitation and stationary. Our target group is kids in rural areas because most NGOs don’t reach out to them.

During my visits, I realised that most girls drop out of schools post menstruation. Even if they continue, they skip school for those five days every month. But that’s not even the real issue. The problem is that these girls don’t understand menstrual hygiene. Nobody spoke to them about their body and that menstruation isn’t a disease. We took up this project and began meeting girls in various villages across Telangana. Unlike the usual AV that’s shown to them when corporates visit, we preferred to sit and talk. I would personally visit each class and introduce myself as their grandmother. I would share stories from my childhood days and the stories my grandma told me about menstruation and of course the ‘good touch-bad touch’. Each time, it would be a personal chat that helped these kids open up to me. They would get emotional about how they’re treated back at home. Some of them would tell me how the old women in their houses pick dirty clothes that lorry drivers throw away, so they can use it during periods. It was appalling and almost unbelievable. I then decided to distribute reusable menstrual napkins that these children can use for almost a year. Every time I go back, the same girls come to me and give me a warm hug. They call me grandma and tell me about how they educated other young girls about menstrual hygiene – when I see this happen, I feel like my job is well done.”

#Empower #Educate #Taboo #Menstruation #Hygiene #Awareness #Nature #Periodpositive #Hyderabad #HumansofHyderabad