We thank you again for your participation in our campaign to raise funds to buy menstrual cups for women and girls in Rwanda and Atlanta. The success of this campaign has started evolving as a program of BWHI partnering with My Sister’s Keeper and SIS Circles working with college women and high school girls.
The first 1,000 cups were delivered to the Health Development Initiative in Kigali, Rwanda. The concept was introduced at a community meeting in the Nyarugenge District, Rwesero Sector.
Because children were at the meeting we were instructed to refer to menstruation as “women’s sanitary issues.” We presented the cups and encouraged the community of men and women to change their negative attitudes toward menstruation and stressed women’s sanitary issues are a normal body function and the presence of the blood meant that life could develop and should not be penalized. We spoke to men and told them that they have a very important role to play and to become engaged in conversations. We informed the women that we have brought menstrual cups that would be available through HDI. In Mayor Theophila Nyirahonora’s summation she thanked us for the donation and emphasized the message we delivered.
At the Women Now! Conference, attended by 300 HIV workers and activists, the cups were presented and well received by the attendees. While the conversation to end period shaming and period poverty was a new concept and had never been discussed before, the audience embraced the ideas and warmed up to the presentation. The small group discussions led by Ngina Lythcott provided a space where they could ask questions about how to use them. The conference was attended by 50% youth and several were concerned about their hymens. Kigali has removed sales tax from sanitary pads but kept it on tampons and menstrual cups out of concern over breaking the hymens. There were several menstrual health educators and women who used menstrual cups and identified themselves as “cuppers.”
Atlanta
COVID-19 poses an unprecedented level of stress and financial hardship to Black women and girls. What is absent from the COVID-19 philanthropic community response is the unique feminine hygiene needs of our community and the financial hardship, emotional stress and stigma that is caused by not being able to afford these basic and essential supplies! In Atlanta, BWHI partnered with United Way of Greater Atlanta to donate 500 Freedom Cups for a special drive-through donation that provided essential supplies to some of Atlanta’s most underserved communities that have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 threat. ·We’ve heard from women and girls in our network that because of COVID-19, they have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet as single mothers, caregivers and students. For instance, Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport has had to lay off 55,000 employees. Seventy percent of this workforce are women! Responding to the need for critically needed menstrual supplies is the focus of our COVID-19 fundraising outreach efforts.