Yumbe refugee girls struggling with menstrual hygiene

Girls in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Yumbe District have decried challenges with accessing sanitary pads and maintaining menstrual hygiene. 

As a result, some of the school-going students said they either dropped out of school or got pregnant. 

Florence Joan (not real name), a Senior One South Sudanese student of Yoyo Secondary School, said she has on several occasions missed lessons due to lack of pads.

Joan said when she starts her menstruation period, she folds a piece of cloth, which makes her uncomfortable.

“When I feel uncomfortable, I move out of class and return home until periods are over,” she said.

Joan said she would sell water and do casual work in the settlement camp to get money for sanitary pads for herself and her siblings.

However, in 2019, she got pregnant by a boy who had given her money once to buy sanitary pads and other basic items and dropped out of school. She was in Primary Seven. 

“What made me drop out of school is a certain boy gave me Shs5,000 to buy sanitary pads. I bought the pads and used them.  So, one time the boy asked me to refund the money and when I told him that there was no money, he insisted that he wanted the money,” Joan said.

She added: “Since there was no money at that time and with the pressure from the boy, I had sex with him and conceived. I later gave birth to a baby girl and after taking care of the baby for some time I returned to school.”

But Joan’s hope is not all lost as she has returned to school as her grandmother takes care of the child.

The situation is not different from that of Eunice Nyoka, 17, an S.3 student of Yoyo Secondary School, who said getting reusable pads was a luxury due to poverty. 

“My parents don’t have a special budget to cater for sanitary pads but I use part of the money given for clothes to buy pads. My mother only does farming activities and when she has realised large quantities of harvest at the end of the year, she sells part of them to help us,” she said.

A student leader at Nipata Secondary School, Thomas Affection said girls should be handled with care when they are in their menstruation period to avoid men taking advantage of their plight to exploit them sexually.

“In certain situations, there are boys who tease and abuse girls who are on their period. Such criticisms demoralise the girls, and lead to early marriages and teenage pregnancy,” he said on Wednesday.

Brass for Africa, an NGO that operates in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, in partnership with Music Connects and with support from MORPHO Foundation Germany is implementing a music for healthcare inclusion project. The project aims at creating awareness on mental health, menstrual health management, and hand-washing including facilitating access to sanitary kits. 

Ms Molly Nabwami, the health project officer at Brass for Africa, said they are looking at creating more awareness on menstrual and mental health, and hand washing to ensure girls stay in school.

She said they are currently implementing the project in four schools in the settlement and the project will run for two years but there’s the possibility of extension and that more schools will be brought on board in the second year.

“We intend to give 1,300 sanitary pads but so far, we have distributed about 880 reusable sanitary pads to the school-age-going children including some community members who take care of the girls. The purpose of this is to ensure that they continue going to school,” she said.

Ms Nabwami added: “We conduct menstrual health and hygiene sessions for these girls for them to know how to make and use the sanitary pads, take care of them, clean them, and also how to clean their bodies while they are on their periods.”