Working on this project showed me just how privileged I truly am as a woman living in the United States and having access to such a basic ‘necessity’ as we call it. This project made me realize that to many women, pads are luxuries, only accessible to those who are affluent. It made me rethink myself and made me realize that we all need to check and understand our individual privilege and try our absolute best to do our part in helping those who are not afforded that same privilege. Most importantly, this project allowed me to see that we are afforded certain privileges not so we can forget about those who aren’t, but so that we can do something about it. We all have a duty in this world to make someone’s life just a little bit better.
On my first day in my health-related classes this semester, one of my professors said something that has been on my mind lately, but I just wasn’t able to find the proper words to phrase it. She said, ‘health is a fundamental human right.’ This project shows us just how much health is and should be regarded as a human rights issue. This project made me realize all that is wrong with our world. To see that there are so many women in the world, in developed and developing nations where women still don’t have proper access to sanitary menstrual hygiene products shows us just how messed up we are as a world. It made me realize that corporations are more interested in profiting than in keeping women healthy, that governments and policymakers are more interested in profit and power than in keeping women healthy, that families are more interested in turning their backs on menstruation and seeing periods as taboo than ensuring the health of that woman in their family. We further see that providing and granting access to sanitary menstrual hygiene for women is not a regional thing. It happens in developed, 1st world nations as well as developing nations. However, women in developing and underserved communities tend to have it the absolute worst, because on top of a family that’s failed them, a government that failed them, a healthcare system that failed them, a society that’s failed them, and a world that’s failed them, there’s also this, a battle against women’s access to sanitary menstrual products.
With blessings from the man above, we executed our first annual project this summer in a village called Sannou in Guinea. With the support of amazing donors, we were able to provide menstrual products to sustain women in Sannou for a year. Additionally, we took this opportunity to educate women and girls about the health risks associated with the use of unsanitary menstrual products. This project could not be successful without the help of all our donors and our partner’s organization in Guinea. We are beyond grateful. Enjoy this video, summarizing this event.
Fatoumata Diallo, Co founder