Empowered Girls Celebration of World Menstrual Hygiene Day
By Anna Mercer
A procession of singing boys and girls made their way to Matema Secondary School on Sunday, May 28. The cause for their celebration was World Menstrual Hygiene Day, a global awareness initiative that aims to break the stigma and taboos surrounding menstruation. To commemorate this day, the Empowered Girls clubs in Kyela hosted a day-long event to educate students about menstrual hygiene management and to celebrate women’s health. Observed annually, the day seeks to educate and empower individuals, communities, and policymakers. Supporting the Empowered Girls goal to ensure that girls have access to safe and hygienic menstrual products and education, World Menstrual Hygiene Day (WMHD) is an opportunity to celebrate how proper menstrual hygiene positively impacts communities. Through celebration, and by highlighting the challenges faced and advocating for their rights, WMHD strives to create a world where menstruation is no longer a barrier to health, education, and gender equality.
The day of celebration aligns with a core objective of Empowered Girls: to equip girls with wisdom about reproductive health. WMHD provided education and resources, but it also created a space for students to share knowledge among themselves and to dismantle common taboos about menstruation. During the event, students shared taboos and stigmas that they had heard, and the group worked together to address misconceptions about menstruation. Members of the Empowered Girls club also wrote and presented a poem about the importance and responsibility of menstruation despite social stigmas. Providing funding for events like the WMHD celebration is a crucial part of our mission to support education in Tanzania, and continued support from donors allow us to fund more projects like this. Click here to support Empowered Girls.
