SHARON Bumhira (26) from Hopley, Zone 3 is unemployed and every month, whenever her period visits, she finds it difficult to manage her menstrual hygiene as she can’t afford to buy sanitary pads. Like many girls in the area, Sharon uses rags and at times a reusable sanitary pad.
By Michael Gwarisa
For most girls and young women in Hopely, buying sanitary pads is a luxury they can’t even afford and a bucket of water is more important than buying a sanitary pad. The water situation in Hopely has made life a living hell especially for girls and young women during their menstrual periods. Only a few water boreholes have been installed in the area of not less than 200,000 people and accessing water for washing their reusable sanitary pads and at times rags has become an extreme sport.
At times, Sharon has to go for prolonged hours, at times 24 hours or even more waiting for her turn to fetch water at the water point wearing the same Reusable Sanitary pad, a situation she says has exposed her to certain kinds of vaginal infections and bruising around her vaginal area. There are also merchants who have capitalized on the water crises and started selling water for US$2 and the situation forces girls and women to buy the water to ensure they wash the pads and clean themselves up during their periods.
Sanitary pads are going for US$1 in the shop and times i wouldn’t be having such an amount on me and yet the period would have arrived. So, I end up using rags and at times cotton wool, I fold it and then insert it to prevent any leakages. However, using these rags and cotton wool is not comfortable especially during times when we will be experiencing water challenges. When you use reusable sanitary pads, you need to wash them.
“You need more than one bucket of water to clean all than blood it would have accumulated. However, only two buckets are allowed per person at these Safety Tanks (Water Points), they are not enough to wash the pads or rags or for household use. At times i spend a whole night at the tanks waiting to fetch water and all this while, I will be wearing one pad, I would have been wearing the previous day. After wearing the same rag or Reusable pad for a whole day, you discover that when you try to remove it, it bruises you leaving some wounds and infection around the vagina,” said Sharon.
Obstetricians and Gynecologists have warned against prolonged wearing of excessively damp pads saying they harbour microorganisms and cause infection and they recommend that changing of Sanitary Pads should be changed at least after every four to eight hours and if one doesn’t change the pad frequently, she is much more prone to develop rashes and vaginal yeast infections with the side effect of bad odour.
Most Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that distribute reusable sanitary pads In Hopely and other communities only target girls and young woman between the ages 16 and 24 and most women fall outside that bracket, something that that has worsened period poverty and interrupted proper management of women’s menstrual health in the area.
Mpumelanga Ncube (23) from Hopely Zone 2 says as a young lady, she has learnt to contend with bathing with 5 liters or less of water, a situation she says is not favorable especially during menstruation.
“When one is in her period, 5 Liters of water is not enough to bath, at least a full bucket is enough. At times if I have money, I go and buy water for US$2 or US$1.50 because I may struggle to wake up and catch the queue since I go to work at times at the Saloon. At times when I don’t have pads, I use cotton wool and rags, so it is not an easy situation for us here,” said Mpumelanga.
The situation is even worse for young mothers as they have to bear the double brunt of washing nappies and the rags they use during their periods, at it demands plenty of water. For Mrs Natalie Paza (26) who has two children, a seven-year-old and another one only six weeks old, the water crises in Hopley has forced her to walk for almost 7 kilometers to a from her home to Mukuvisi river to wash her clothes and sanitary wear in unsafe water containing at times raw sewage and other harmful chemicals.
“The water crises in Hopely is not an easy one, for someone like me who has nappies to wash, I have to walk to Mukuvisis river near the roundabout to do my washing. When my period comes, I use rags since I don’t have money to buy pads. When I go to Mukuvisi to do my washing, I also make sure I wash my rags as well as bath from there because getting clean water from here is not an easy task.
“The water crises worsens in September and October, we have to cross Chitungwiza road to go and fetch water from the shallow Wells. Most children have died while crossing the road on their way to fetch water across the road. We hope government just installs taps and water points. Children are drowning in wells and getting run over by vehicles,” said Mrs Paza.
Mr Edward Hungwe, the Programs Coordinator for Hope for Adolescents and Youths, an origanisation that works with girls and young women in Hopely and other parts of the country said they had partnered the United States Embassy in producing Reusable Sanitary pads and they have trained more than 100 young women and girls to make these pads.
“When we are talking about menstrual health, we cannot ignore the issues of hygiene, water and sanitation. However, here in Hopley, the hygiene part is a very big problem due to a perennial water crises. Even drinking water is not easily accessible here, what more of bathing and washing water. Looking also at the issue of accessibility of sanitary pads, it is another troublesome issue here. If you look closely, sanitary pads are not even a priority amongst the people here, their priority is water and food.
“Getting the money to buy pads is still a very huge challenge here. A larger proportion of women in Hopely are facing a larger proportion of menstrual health management. As an organisation, we partnered with the United States Embassy which assisted in the manufacturing of Reusable Sanitary pads. We selected over 100 women whom we taught to make Reusable Sanitary pads. We also engaged other partners so that they would impart them with knowledge around sewing and we bought about 10 machines and over lockers. We were also teaching them to make hand sawn reusable pads suing available material in their homes,” said Mr Hungwe.
Young women and girls in other areas where water is a challenge also face the same predicament as their Hopely counterparts. Areas such as Epworth, Stoneridge, Ushewekunze, Glenview, Glenorah, Mbare and other parts of town have been reported to be facing water woes induced period management challenges.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Women Affairs Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Harare Metropolitan Provincial Development Officer, Mr Ernest Chimboza said they were working with partners to resolve the water crises in urban and peri-urban communities in a bid to address some of the challenges girls and women face as a result of water woes.
“We have been working with OXFAM. OXFAM has been one of the partners that have been dealing with issues to do with water in the areas like Hopely and other places. Before the onset of the rainy season, Harare was using mostly underground water and the table dwindled to such an extent that people were experiencing shortage of water in their homes.
“As a ministry during the lockdown period, we have been going with our partners meeting Water Point Committees in Hopely, Epworth, Glenview, Glenorah and other and sensitized them on issues to do with GBV and Hygiene issues as well as COVID-19,” said Mr Chimboza.
In the rural parts of the country, young girls resort to using weeds, rags and leaves in place of sanitary pads, to mange their menstrual health. Other options such as the menstrual cups and menstrual pants have also been introduced on the market. However, some of the products such menstrual cups have faced in some instances resistance owing to cultural and religious beliefs.
