“There were no toilets. I did not have an extra piece of cloth. Periods were an absolute nightmare,” described a migrant worker when asked about the long journey she trod on foot.
We cannot possibly comprehend the enormity of her ordeal. But still, a little thought about the same makes us ponder. Thus, we at Apne Aap organisation decided to help these women from marginalised communities during their periods amidst this pandemic.
We often tend to overlook any crisis through a gendered lens. “I have to choose between a few extra kilograms of rice for my children or a packet of sanitary pads for myself,” said a construction worker who is a mother of four. With too many mouths to feed in a low-income family, the choice was quite obvious.
Menstruation does not stop during a pandemic, but access to menstrual products does. The pandemic has led to job cuts and unemployment, leading to zero cash for most people. Production has deteriorated. Availability of most goods, particularly menstrual products (the lockdown restricted access to menstrual products for 82% women) has hit a new low. Families from marginalised communities, especially women, had to bear the worst brunt of the crisis.
“We mostly use rags, thrown away clothes,” replied most of the women we reached out to. Women are compelled to use alternatives like dirty rags as reusable pads. Rural women even adopt alternatives like hay, sand and ash to stop menstrual flow. “We have no other option. There is no adequate availability of clean water or toilets,” said a group of agricultural workers from a rural district.
Using these alternatives is harmful for the health of these women. With hardly any food on their plate, they are unable to prioritise menstrual hygiene. Keeping these factors in mind, the Apne Aap organisation decided to do a relief drive. We put up a tweet about it, and this incredibly wonderful woman from Gorakhpur reached out to us. Payal Tulsiyan runs a factory that produces sanitary pads for the company ‘Niine’. She was more than willing to provide us with all the help we needed. And thus began our drive to deliver sanitary pads to women in need
The demand for sanitary pads was extremely high, and there were too many women in desperate need. The godowns remained open on Sundays and even on Eid to facilitate the arrangement of supplies for the drive. The workers said, “This is really important” and continued working without any complain.
We conducted the relief drive to celebrate 28th May that marks Menstrual Hygiene Day. We distributed sanitary pads to the most vulnerable groups. The targeted communities for our relief drive included victims of sex trafficking and sexual violence, Rohingya refugees, daily wage earners, construction workers, farmers and agricultural workers, migrants, and nomadic and indigenous groups.
A total of 50,000 sanitary pads were distributed across Delhi, Ranchi, Calcutta, Lucknow, Patna, Forbesganj and Jamshedpur.
When we went to the Rohingya refugee colonies near Shaheen Bagh, New Delhi, as part of our relief drive, there were so many women who were in need. We were in a little fix on how to arrange the distribution, but the men from their families came forward to help us, and worked alongside for the packaging. That was such a warm gesture. It really touched our hearts.
It was because of the efforts of the incredibly cooperative and helpful people that we could successfully carry out the sanitary pad relief drive. There could not have been a more meaningful way to celebrate the Menstrual Hygiene Day. The smile of relief on the faces of those women in the midst of such desperate times is what pushes us to continue working.
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Note: All images have been provided by the author.