When I figured out that over 500 million people all over the world suffer under period poverty and do not have access to menstruation products, I was incredibly shocked. When I started to dive more into the topic, my shocks went bigger and bigger. Just imagining what it means not to have a period product and because of that not being able to go to school or to be part of regular social life, leaves me incredibly sad.
Unfortunately, this is what is happening to young girls and women all over the world, mostly in the global south. As they still try to use the stuff they can find to make a period pad out of it, these strategies are just insane.
Women working in the sewing factories in Bangladesh use the leftover cotton they can find on the floor of the production hall, full of dirt, full of bacterias and put this as a pad replacement inside of their underwear. I heard stories of girls in Nepal using leaves or mud, to try to catch some of their menstrual blood. In Uganda they take little plastic bags, fill them up with dirt, and poke some holes into the top, so the blood can trickle inside.
And here is the elephant in the room: None of those inventions really work. None of those do even provide a glimpse of dignity, safety and hygiene. None of this is acceptable.
I am not getting tired of saying again and again and again: With every nookees sale, part of the money goes straight into the nookees Foundation and from there directly into the three wonderful projects I am working with: Nidisi, Girls on a mission and Viva con Agua South Africa.
