Friday, 29 March

Int'l Menstrual Hygiene Day: Menstruation, not a girl’s thing, it’s communal – Volta Old Vandals

Education
The Volta branch of the association donated sanitary pads to all the schoolgirls

The Volta Regional branch of the Old Vandals Association has donated sanitary pads to some selected schools in the region to commemorate this year’s International Menstrual hygiene day.

The donation forms part of the association’s campaign to create awareness of menstrual hygiene among school pupils.

The association launched the 2022 campaign at the Tavieƒe Deme Primary School, near Ho, on Friday, 27 May 2022.

The Volta branch of the association donated sanitary pads to all the schoolgirls.

A representative from the Catholic Education Unit, Sheila Akoto, also educated the pupils on maintaining personal hygiene during menstrual periods and how to fix sanitary pads properly to avoid leakage.

Speaking with Ho FM’s Pearl Sefakor Mottey on the sidelines of the donation, the President of the Old Vandals Association, Philip Atsu Lanyo, explained that the group embarks on the campaign yearly.

He indicated that since this year’s celebration falls on Saturday, the association, decided to do the donation and education ahead of the day when the pupils will still be in school.

Mr Lanyo said: “We invite resource persons to educate them as well and then teach them how to use these materials and to dispose of them properly.”

He urged parents and teachers to do more to create awareness of menstruation and menstrual hygiene describing it as communal and not only a girl's thing.

“Menses and menstrual hygiene and sexuality, sex education et cetera has become some nature of a taboo. We’re shifting, the paradigm has shifted so much, from this and so we’re encouraging the public and parents and teachers to take this up so that our children are far more aware of these things, especially the boys.

“Usually, in a class for instance, if somebody gets stained, what happens, people laugh. Because they’re not aware and so we’re trying to create this awareness that it’s not a girl’s thing, it’s our thing, it’s a communal thing and so this awareness should be created and that is exactly what we’re trying to do.”

The other beneficiary schools of the campaign are situated in the North, South and Central Tongu Constituencies.

International Menstrual Hygiene Day falls on 28 May each year.

This year’s celebration is under the theme: “Making menstruation a normal part of life.”

Source: classfmonline.com/Elikem Adiku