NGO Samajbandh Is Bringing Menstrual Hygiene And Awareness To Tribal And Rural Women

The clothes that you discard, the ones that might end up in a landfill can help keep thousands of young girls from dropping out of schools. The clothes that don't fit you anymore can make all the difference to the health and hygiene of lakhs of women. They say the planet has enough clothes to dress the whole world for the next 100 years but the people who need clothes the most don't have access to them.

Our old clothes hold the solution to a very challenging public health issue - that of menstrual hygiene. The lack of access to affordable, hygienic menstrual products has caused girls to drop out of school, severely limiting women's participation in public life, not to mention, causing serious health problems.

What is an old t-shirt or kurta for us, can make all the difference to a woman with no access to a sanitary pad like women of the Madia tribe in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra.

The older women of the tribe never wore sanitary napkins or pads during menstruation or Kurma as it is referred to in the local language. But today, these older Madia women distribute kits of cloth pads to other women and girls of the tribe. Not just this, but women of the Madia tribe are also involved in making cloth sanitary napkins.

This is thanks to Sachin Asha Subhash, the founder of Samajbandh, an NGO that works with middle-class, lower-middle-class and Adivasi or tribal women on menstrual health and education.

Sachin's own mother was married off at the age of 13 years and started menstruating two years after marriage. She had no knowledge of her own body, let alone menstrual health. She had her first child when she was just 16, and had to go through a hysterectomy at a comparatively young age. As a student, Sachin himself would participate in clothes donation drives for tribal women, when he realised there was a bigger issue at hand.

Talking about the idea behind using old clothes to make pads, Sachin says,

Women lack awareness about menstrual health. These women cannot afford the menstrual absorbent products available in the market. The taboo around menstruation prevents them from bringing these products home. Women are not able to talk about it openly with the men in the house. Even if women talk to men about it, they hesitate to get these products for them. Therefore, the menstrual products that are available in the market, are not accessible for these women. So, with all this in mind, we decided to use clothes to make sanitary pads from it.

Old and discarded clothes can be sent to Samajhbandh all through the year, and the NGO itself conducts its collection drives on two days of the year, August 15 and January 26. It is these old clothes that are eventually turned into Asha Pads.

Sachin explained,

We inform donors that since their clothes will be used to make products for women's health, they should wash and donate only those clothes that are suitable for use but are not being used. So, we check the clothes - if they are washed, and are in a usable condition.

Once collected in Samajbandh's Pune office, the clothes are sorted by fabric into hosiery, denim, cotton and synthetic clothes. While cotton and hosiery help keep the pad soft and absorbent, denim comes on as the last layer to help keep the Asha pad leakproof. The synthetic cloth is used to make bags for the kit, with each kit containing six menstrual pads. These pads are then washed, dried and put through ultraviolet rays for proper sanitisation before being sent to women like the Madia tribal women in Gadchiroli.

Sachin opines,

Just providing them with products won't solve the problem. We need to bring about a change in their understanding of why they should use these products and how to use them. We provide a kit to those women who want to use these products. We give it to them for free so that they can try using it. After a month and a half, we follow up to see how they felt about using the pads. 90 per cent of women like this product because they are accustomed to using cloth during their periods. Sometimes, they were not satisfied with the products they were using. They would either get an infection or a disease. We also train them in how to make their own pads. 

Sachin has distributed Asha Pads to more than 40,000 tribal women and covered around 22 districts of Maharashtra, in conducting awareness sessions. Samajbandh volunteers gather the Madia women together to explain the what, how and when of a menstrual cycle. Often examples are quoted, of women who didn't let their menstrual cycle stop them from reaching the pinnacle of success. The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, herself has served as one such inspiring example.

Beyond creating awareness about menstrual hygiene, these awareness sessions are also taking on age-old taboos and stigmas associated with menstruating women - taboos that continue to keep these Madia women out of public participation and bring their lives to a complete halt when they are menstruating.

In the Madia community, as with so many other communities across India, it is believed that when a girl or woman has her period or Kurma, she must live in a Kurma Ghar or period house, for the duration of the menstrual cycle.

Sarita Rajeev Achami, a young girl from the community talks about living in a period home and says,

I asked my parents why I need to stay in the period hut. But my father said, stay there and don't come home. If you come home, it will be uncomfortable. Staying in the period hut is difficult because there is a constant fear of snakes and scorpions in the darkness of night. We tell people, but they don't listen to us. They say we should just do what has been prescribed for the time of menstruation. We are told that if women stay home during their periods, the village priests will be affected. They might get a fever or a stomach ache. The temple in the house is off-limits for us when we have our periods. We tried to gradually enter the premises of the house, until the verandah. 

These Kurma ghars or period houses are made of mud and cow dung, and have no ventilation or light in them, with no water or loo to use. The shame around periods is so prevalent that the women living in Kurma ghars hang their soiled cloth pads on the thatched roof of the Kurma ghar and refrain from washing them or drying them under sunlight which might act to disinfect them.

Sarita Rajeev Achami adds,

In the summer months, we sleep outside because of the heat. The floor is hot too. If we have to use the bathroom, we have to go outdoors. There is no bathroom here. At night, if we go outside to relieve ourselves then we are scared of being bitten by snakes and scorpions. When it rains and there is water dripping from the rooftop, the women have to sleep all on one side. If there are many women, then we have to stay up all night. Period hut feels like I am in jail and locked forever. I prefer staying at home than in a period hut. I was born a girl, had I been born a boy, I wouldn't have these problems. I thought about this once, why I wasn't born as a boy.

Sarita has begun to dialogue with her family to break away from the Kurma tradition and be allowed to live in the aangan or patio of her parent's house. It's a conversation that has been made possible thanks to Samajhbandh's efforts to help women break away from the shame around periods. In fact, Sarita is determined to break this pattern of stigma, and not repeat with her child if she ever has a daughter.

Ashwini Ashok Yelanje is a young Madia woman, who is a volunteer with Samajhbandh and helps women understand the importance of using a cloth pad, leading by her own example. She says,

Earlier, there were no sanitary pads here. We would use cloth. I haven't used it personally, but my mother and grandmother have. So, since pads were not available people used cloth. As I was growing up, sanitary pads became available.

Elaborating on the benefits of using cloth pads made out of old clothes, Ms Yelanje says,

We can use cloth pads for six hours, because they are made of four to five pieces of clothing stitched together and are very strong and durable. In terms of cost, cloth pads are better because sanitary pads can be bought from stores for around Rs. 35-40, whereas cloth pads can be made from our own clothes. So, there is no expenditure involved. We have cloth available at home, so we can sew the pads ourselves.

Before getting married to her partner, Ms Yelanje made it clear that she will not stay in a period hut when menstruating. She says,

I told my husband if you don't have any issues I would like to stay inside the home. Yes, there is no problem because I am educated and I understand. There is no problem with that.  

A piece of cloth that meant nothing to you, is transforming the lives of these tribal women. Discarded clothes being repurposed as Asha pads for Adivasi women are doing exactly what the name says - spreading hope. And in the process, your clothes have become conversation starters to remove the shame around menstruation and enable women to live freely and with dignity.

Ashwini says,

Nava Mmendul, Nava Adhikar meaning, my body, my right.