There are too many things that make a woman that are sweet and sour. I will not go into all but I want to talk about that part of a woman that she has no power over, a natural phenomenon that women just always have to deal with. Menstruation.This is the time women shed the uterine wall each time fertilisation doesn’t occur. So it is that time when we paint the ‘walls’ red.
I remember this whole thing of menstruation was something so oblivious for me. Yes! something that was taught at school in science but when it got to the practicability it was very cliché. I did not know exactly what to do or expect pretty much when the time showed up although I was excited about crossing into adulthood.
So if I recall properly the first time my adulthood (menstrual periods) decided to show up I was at home thankfully. I felt some dampness ‘downstairs’ but it didn’t bother me a bit until I checked later in the bathroom. There I was staring at a huge gaping red mark and thinking to myself, what just happened to me? For a while I had carried sanitary towels but never had I got the chance to really use them. Now the time had come for me to use them. I cleaned up but much as I was happy that I had crossed that line, I was kind of embarrassed. I remember getting my soiled underwear and pushing it in the deepest part of my mattress.But of course my mother found it and she was not pleased at all about the whole thing. I got a very good lashing for it but a lecture thereafter. African mothers!!!!!!!!
She sat me down and told me all I needed to know about menstruation with the most emphasis being on my possibility of getting pregnant and also the need to be as clean as possible. And now that I have been around for a while now I realise not many girls get the chance to be told these things, probably things we take for granted or shift roles and in the end nothing happens. Parents shift the role to school, school are hoping parents are prepping their young girls and in the end nothing happens. Now the young girl is left to figure out this whole world all by herself. It feels like driving on an unknown terrain hoping you somehow manage to navigate it.
No one ever tells you that menstrual blood is one of the most intimate thing a woman can have. That if you do not have the proper sanitary towels, you can attract a collection of deadly infections. Should you opt to use a cloth instead of the pads that are thrown away after use, they should be properly washed and thoroughly dry before they can be used again. (Because let us face it, there are people who can not afford to maintain the financial burden that comes with buying a packet or packets of pads, depending on how heavy the flow is every month.) You will find parents who do not feel the need to buy these sanitary towels for their children. It is a luxury they say. Unfortunately even the fellow woman caretakers do very little to fight for these young girls. So if a girl is not bold enough to figure it some how, her confidence will be brutally crushed, skip school for that period or be the tabloid that fellow counterparts will talk about the whole time.
No one ever tells you that you need to shave as often as possible especially before the time your periods next show up, or that you ought to use comfortable nickers preferably cotton so that there is enough aeration going on down there. (So during this period pump the breaks on the thongs and g-strings, it is just a matter of days and you will be back). No one ever tells you that the least times to shower and change in a day are two times and if you have a heavier bleed then change the sanitary towel or cloth at least thrice a day, keep your vaginal area as clean as you possibly as you can cleaning it with enough water.(Avoid using soap) and properly dispose off the sanitary towel in places designated or burn them. They just cannot be left lying everywhere.
Maybe we are taking this thing so much for granted and right now there is a girl there who was once confident and is now confident no more because they stained their uniform and became the talk of the school, or there is a girl there trying to alter who they are just because they cannot stand the sight of blood and worse still a girl with a strange disease all arising from the fact that they could not keep the cleanest while nature was taking its course.
We need to empower our young girls to know now a little more about this world way before they reach it. We need to hand back the power to the parents (Both male and female). They need to know that it is their primary role to prep the young child on what to expect and how to handle this period; the materials they will use and how best they can use them hygienically. After all the parent will know how best they can afford the materials they propose to their children. No school will do that for your own child. So it is time to go back to the basics.
