We couldn’t miss the month of March which is the international women’s month without running our female gender focus outreach. Our beneficiary community was the Lagelu local government area, Ibadan, Oyo state.
Our main goals were:
- To sensitize young girls and adults on Menstruation and Menstrual
hygiene. - To distribute sanitary pads to girls and young women.
- To respond to questions on menstruation and give appropriate advice
and counsel
The program was a successful outreach as the objectives set for the program were
conveniently met. Volunteers and the state program manager converged at the outreach location at 10:30 am to set up the venue for the beneficiaries.
By the time the event began, we already had young girls walking in with excitement as well as mothers, middled-aged women including some grandmothers and fathers who found it necessary to attend too.
We began by asking the participants about their knowledge about good menstrual hygiene with many yearning to share with us what they knew, understood, and also their different experiences.
We were able to understand and educate them on the importance, benefits of proper menstrual hygiene, not leaving out the obstacles that come with poor sanitary care. We also had a question and answer session where many of the participants asked several questions regarding how to properly care for themselves as women. A volunteer medical personnel was on-ground to respond to these questions from young girls and women who had issues bordering on their menstrual health. The volunteer nurse was able to answer questions and refer those with more complicated issues to a hospital.
Kiitan Foundation’s causes and objectives were introduced by the state PR to the community gathering. We distributed sanitary pads and pamphlets, encouraged them to read and follow guidelines as written on the readable material and ensure they also educate their friends and family who were not opportune to attend the event.
Younger girls who had just started menstruating were shown how to properly use and dispose off sanitary pads, some of them were asked to show what they have learn,ed and a couple of these girls were given gifts for listening and learning right.
The event was a remarkable one as the turn-up and participation was excellent, we were thanked by the women community leader who expressed how delighted they were to be a part of the event, they also encouraged us to keep up with the good work and further preach this good news we had brought to their community.
In the future we hope to do more and raise the bar concerning the health, care and equality of the female gender. Check out more photos below:
