"I volunteered in slums for a school program- like any other student I went in with the sole idea of getting extra credits. I spent my days interacting with women - they told me that the toilets they used were miles away from their homes. Sometimes the toilets were so dirty that they would even need to defecate in the open.
On the way there, these women would face harassment and were teased for carrying pads. To avoid humiliation, they would constipate themselves, or go days without changing their menstrual cloths. Eventually, they even shifted to only using the bathroom at night so that no one could recognize them. I couldn't believe that the things we take for granted, was such a fight for women…living right here in the heart of Bombay.
Over time I got attached to these families. One night, the son of this woman I worked with, called me and begged me to take his mother to the hospital because she was bleeding heavily and losing consciousness. When I rushed her to the hospital, we realized that this woman was suffering through a menstrual problem that she wasn't even aware of!
That's when I knew that I had to make a change. I started small - I began to just converse with these women about basic menstrual hygiene. Slowly, as more women joined the conversation, I started a foundation to unite these women - to stand up for each other and to work together. Ever since, we've built toilets which are close by, made affordable sanitary pads and packaged them to look like bread packaging so that they're never bullied again. (excerpt)Humans of Bombay, FB
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