My dreams can’t be shattered by menstruation!

Although I was raised in the Maputo suburbs where I accessed formal education, I was born in a rural area, in Marracuene district, Bobole locality, where I moved back many years later as a young adult and a teacher, serving the community that saw me being born. Even though I was formally educated in town, I don’t remember a time I had any lessons on menstruation that I could clearly understand. Now, as a teacher, I think it’s probably because the teacher wasn’t well informed on the matter of menstruation or maybe it’s simply because menstruation was seen as a taboo.   

When I was in secondary school, at the age of 15, I had my first experience with menstruation and it was embarrassing. I was in the middle of a lesson and I only noticed it when a colleague told me I was bleeding. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. A friend lent me a capulana (a fabric used in most African country, mostly by women) so I could go home. When I got home, I just stayed quiet because I didn’t know what to do and at home, we didn’t have the openness to talk about any issue like that. My older sister noticed what was happening but she didn’t offer any counselling, maybe because she was also not well informed, though she was older than me. I had to learn about it, the hygienic products, and related issues as I experienced it monthly, but I never had any counselling at home. It turns out that, at some point, having access to pads was difficult, first because there was no chance I could ask my guardian for money to get them, and, if I could get the money, it was a challenge to go to a store and say: “Can I have pads?” the same way it is difficult for some people to buy condoms. All of that because menstruation was seen as a taboo in my context.

These incidents caused me to want to do something to change the narrative for girls and women in my community. So, when I was allocated to work in the community in which I was born, I saw a great opportunity to do so. 

When I became a teacher, I realized that some girls would miss classes during their menstruation and it was not only the bigger girls. Girls around 12 and 13 years old also missed classes and I learnt it is due to their periods. They were actually facing the same challenges I faced as a teenager, though they began earlier compared to the older generations. I started having conversations with them just to make sure they feel heard and understood and to affirm to them that there is nothing wrong with them and, above all, to affirm to them that menstruation can’t shatter their dreams as girls who were born and live in a rural area without many privileges. At first, I conducted the conversation with each child or teenager I realized was in their menstrual period individually, but then, I realised there was need to be more inclusive so I began conducting the conversations with both girls and boys so the topic would no longer be a taboo. The conversations progressed and the children started being more open about it.

As time went by, I realized that lots of young girls were dropping out school because of pregnancies and had undergone different forms of violence, so I took the counselling session even more seriously, to the point that the pregnant girls remained in school before and after giving birth, given that their lives would, at some point, not progress once they become mothers: they would not be able  to get formal employment, they would struggle to access the most basic services, mainly for living in the rural area, and worst of all, they would be more likely to be marginalized, discriminated against, and even violated.

For the International Women’s Day, in 2024, I, along with another young person, within my church, with the support of the All Africa Conference of Churches, conducted an open conversation with over 500 young girls and boys at my workplace, a public school in Marracuene district, Bobole locality, where we intersected menstruation, menstrual hygiene products, and gender-based violence. We recognise that young girls and women undergo violence, enticement, manipulation, and a lot more in the process of trying to have access to menstrual products. Also, we recognise that girls and women in the rural area, apart from lacking the menstrual hygienic products, lack information about the existing products as well as they still look at it as being embarrassing to go to a store and get the pads and other available products – that is if they can afford those products.

We were able to gather some menstrual pads which we distributed to a few girls and we also taught them how they can be used. To encourage young mothers to stay in school, we also gave them some baby care products.

As I remember my past experiences and relate to what is happening to young girls in my community, as a teacher and church leader, I can assure everyone that, with a small action, we can make the younger generation’s future possible and brighter.