ONE way in which women graduate from girlhood into womanhood is through menstruation or having a period. A period is normal vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman’s monthly cycle. Every month, a woman’s body prepares for pregnancy. If no pregnancy occurs, the uterus, or womb, sheds its lining. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus.
By Michael Gwarisa
A girl’s first period is a major milestone in her life and girls should celebrate this monthly natural occurrence as it’s just proof that they are healthy beings and there is nothing outward about menstruation. It signifies that a girl can get pregnant. However, in most cultures or religions, be it the African culture, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and religious sects, menstruation is frowned upon and is regarded as taboo or a bad omen.
In 2016, a study in the British Medical Journal, also funded by UNICEF, found that 77 percent of menstruating women and girls in India faced restrictions against praying, visiting places of worship and touching religious items; 38 percent faced food-related restrictions; while 26 percent were asked to sleep separately.
There are a number of myths still being treated as gospel truth and are practiced in certain cultures and religions in Zimbabwe. For example, most white garment churches up to this day do not allow girls and women going through their monthly periods to mix with other church congregants. They seat in a separate shed a few yards from other congregants. They are regarded as dirty and need at least seven days of self-cleansing.
In some sections of the Shona Culture, a girl experiencing her menses is not allowed to touch or go near a fruit tree as this is feared to cause the entire fruits to rot. Some believe a girl having a period should not go near a pumpkin plant or pluck pumpkin leaves from the plant as this causes the plant or the pumpkins to rot. There is also belief that if you are woman or girl and you get your hair styled by a women or girl in her menses, this might deplete your hairline heavily. The list of myths is endless.
Because of some of these misconceptions and the general negative attitude associated with menstruation, many girls have found it hard to appreciate their first time menstruation or period experience. Many a times, this is because no one adequately prepares them for the first experience and when it comes, they don’t even know how to deal with it or to manage it without interfering with the normal daily activists such as playing, schooling among others.
However, to break the ice and unpack some of the issues girls face during their first time menstruation experience, the HealthTimes spoke to some girl during a Hear Me Now menstrual hygiene dialogue in Epworth, Harare. The dialogue was organised by the Population Solutions for Health (PSH) through support from the Embassy of Sweden.
Below are some of testimonies from the girls briefly telling their experiences when the period first visited them.
Nomsa Muperi (I missed school lessons hiding in the ladies room)
Nomsa (21) from Epworth says her greatest fear was letting her mom know that she had actually started menstruating.
“As a kid before I started my period, we would hear stories like having a period meant one was pregnant. We would share this story amongst ourselves as little girls. Because of that, when I first experienced my period, I was afraid to tell my mom that I had actually noticed some blood stains and I was having a period. I feared my mom would think I was pregnant and she would beat me asking where and who had gotten me pregnant.
“I just took a tissue to stop the blood from staining y uniform and went to school. However that day, I did not spend time in class as i would frequent the ladies room just to check and replace the tissues since I did not know how or what to use to stop whatever was happening. My teacher asked me why I was not spending time in class that is when I explained to her that I was a having a period and I feared my mom would beat me thinking i was pregnant. That is when my female teacher told me that this was normal and there was nothing to worry about.”
Rubie Karetsu (My Period ambushed me in a bus on my way from school)
Rubie (20) is from Budiriro in Harare and is also the poster girl for the Hear Me Now campaign. She believes her experience is probably the worst as period visited when she least expected.
“I first had my period during the first term of my form one studies. The year was 2015 and I was in the bus on my way from school. At first I thought maybe I was sweating, i didn’t know what was happening down there. I ignored it throughout the journey home. However, upon arrival at home I realized I was still feeling this moisture in my undies. I went to the rest room and checked my pant. I got the shock of my life after discovering some blood stains on it. I could not tell my mother.
“I just thought it wasn’t proper to share such a discovery with my mom since back then, we were not very close as I had stayed with my sister for a longer period. I just told my mom that I wanted to take a bath and that is when she got concerned. After I had taken a bath, she followed me to my room and asked me if I was having a period or something. That’s when I told her.
“She also asked me if i knew how to put on a pad of which I said yes to even though I was totally in the dark in as far as wearing of pads was concerned. She bought a pack of pads and I just followed instructions of the packet and that’s how i started my menstrual journey.”
Kudzai Gwamanda (There is this feeling of shame you feel when the period visits you for the first time.)
Kudzai is a 23 year old Sociology student at the University of Zimbabwe. She believes the first experience is not always the best for everyone.
“When I first had my period, I felt ashamed of my body. I did not know how to clean it or how to take care of it. I did not understand the purpose of my menstrual cycle because I had not received any sexual health information at that age. The myths around menstruation also made it worse, we had heard a lot of things about menstruation and it was difficult to accept it.”
Bernadette Nyajiwa (My first period came when I was in doing form 4)
Bernadette (34) is a staffer at Makomo primary school in Epworth and she believes parents are not really open when it comes to menstruation. Even mothers struggle to share with their daughters the expectations and what to look out for when the period arrives.
“So one day when we were young, our mother sat us down and told us that one day, Vaenzi or visitors would come. By this she meant the period. She was speaking in riddles. What was she even saying here? She was not very clear. In as much as she wanted to explain using some figurative language, it became even harder for us to understand until she said the visitor will come and appear on your private parts or an area we know as the don’t touch me part and they would come in the form of blood. She really explained herself and gave us assurance that there was nothing sinister and when the day comes, we were to use either cotton or sanitary pads to manage the visitor.
“From that day, I waited for the visitor to come but nothing happened. My younger sister received her visitor, she had her period earlier than me. Me on the other hand waited for the visitor to come up until i was in form four. Imagine the waiting. At first, I would move around with my sanitary pads in the school bag in case the period decided to finally come. On the day that I had my first period, unfortunately I had not carried any sanitary pad or cotton wool in my bag.
“I got so angry. I was angry that the period had come when I was least prepared and I was in school. I spoiled my uniform and was informed by my classmates that my school dress had been spoiled. I rushed to the senior teacher and she gave me sanitary pads. I didn’t go to school for about two days as this was my first time experiencing such and the period had come at the wrong time.”
Signs of the First Period:
Menstruating for the first time often brings this feeling of shame, fear, anxiety or embarrassment. The age at which young girls start menstruating can vary widely, with some girls getting their first period as early as 8 years old and others not until they are 15.
There are often signs that girls are nearing their first period. Breast development and pubic hair growth often begin a couple of years before menstruation. And about one year before their first period, many girls experience a marked growth spurt.
A girl’s first period is usually very light, with sometimes only spotting or very little blood. The typical menstrual cycle is 28 days long, but periods are often irregular during the first few years of menstruation. During this time, girls may skip menstrual cycles, or the cycles may occur multiple times in one month, or less frequently than expected. Even though these fluctuations are common during the first few years of menstruation, talk with your daughter’s doctor if her periods do not seem regular.
