NOKWANDA, a 13-year-old girl, has just reached puberty. Like most girls her age, this is meant to be an exciting time for her as it means she is becoming a grown woman.
Sibusisiwe Khuzwayo
However, it turns out that her coming of age is actually going to turn out to being a nightmare for the rest of her teenagehood. Nokwanda comes from a family of six children. Her father is the only one breadwinner in the house.
Nokwanda’s coming of age means that every month she will be “bleeding” for five days until she reaches menopause.
She cannot avoid it as it is part of nature and life. After all, she did not ask for it nor did she have a say in whether or not she wants to bleed every month.
Her periods mean that for every month, her father is going to have to spend on average R60 in buying her and her other three other sisters’ pads.
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That may seem little to the average working class household, but given the choice between bread and pads, Nokwanda’s father is most likely to choose the former.
Nokwanda, like many girls in South Africa, has had to resort to using a black cloth and newspaper to get through that time of the month. She uses the same black cloth every month and it’s a secret she has never shared. She misses school every month for five days just to avoid embarrassment and unwanted situations.
This very natural biological process has cost her, not only money, but as well as her dignity, her freedom and most importantly her education.
It is unseen. It is unspoken of. It is unheard of. It is unthinkable. No one reads about it. No one wants to deal with it. But the problem exists and it is time we dealt with it.
We must, we can and we will. The problem is the lack of sanitary towels (pads). It is sad and disappointing to think many that many girls cannot afford to buy pads when it is that time of the month. Periods are already a stressful time in any girl’s life and to add on to this acute poverty, and not having a pad when it is that time of the pad can give rise to serious problems.
Many young girls are not provided with sanitary towels at home because their families cannot afford them as other essentials like food and paying the bills comes first.
This problem leads to a lot of misery and embarrassment for many girls. Some try using newspapers, old rags, tissues or even toilet paper as alternatives for pads.
The rugs and tissues used cannot even contain the blood for long and end up messing the school uniform. The rags are often hanged in dark places so no one sees it.
Ultimately, these methods are unhygienic and they pose health risks to the girls as they barely even work. These girls are more prone to bacterial infections that inevitably pose reproductive health threats and can lead to infertility.
Not only is it a health risk, but not having a pad during menstruation causes many girls to miss days at school.
Schools are often overcrowded with many children in close proximity to each other and this can make the situation of a young girl having her period with no sanitary towel — or even underwear — impossible and embarrassing.
Girls are currently missing school simply because they are menstruating and wish to avoid embarrassment, fear of being teased and cultural taboos. Hence many girls opt to rather stay at home.
As a result, many girls fall behind in their school work and some even drop out of school due to this problem. Some girls have resorted to prostitution and even acquiring so-called “sugar daddies” just so that they can afford such basic necessities such as pads.
This inevitably leads to lack of education, unproductivity, hope and future for the girls in this country.
Menstruation is a biological part of any woman’s life. It is unavoidable and cannot be ignored; rather it should be embraced as it forms part of any female’s womanhood.
It is unacceptable that a young girl in South Africa should be deprived of an education simply because of a natural occurrence every month.
It is our young girls that are the future of this nation, therefore not having a simple need like a pad should not stand in the way of any girl reaching her full potential in society.
It is time that we as South Africans did something about this situation. All you have to do is take a look around you, and you are bound to find a young girl in need.
I appeal not only to mothers and sisters, but I urge all fathers to play their roles as well in bringing up our daughters and building this nature.
Menstruation is a beautiful part of any woman’s life. It is time to embrace it.
Young girls are the future!
sibusisiwe93@gmail.com