Stand Up and Keep a Girl in School with Always

One of the markers of getting into womanhood is the beginning of a girl’s period. Growing up, periods was one of the subjects that was kept hush hush and only came up during the talk given to us during a reproductive health guidance and counseling session. I remember one of those sessions vividly. I was ten and we were seated listening to the guidance counselor go on in a serious voice about the intricacies of reproductive health. The session would get even more intense when we were broken up into two groups, one for boys and the other for girls and have it drilled in us that once we started our periods, our lives would change. I remember being really scared and wondering if I ever wanted to start my periods as it sounded like a terrible ailment.

Fast forward a few years later to high school and I had started my period, suffered through a few years of cramps and learned how to keep track of my periods. Still, there was the lingering sense that periods were something to be embarrassed about. The notion that periods are dirty is not new. A lot of communities world over have this belief and there are places where women are not allowed to sleep in the house while on their periods. It’s a terrible fate to have to suffer through life due to something that you have no control over. Sometimes I laugh when I go to the supermarket or the shop to buy pads and they wrap the pads like they’re illicit drugs. Honestly, it’s the strangest thing considering they’re on display on the aisles but when you get to the checkout, the reception is one of embarrassment.

I used to be incredibly embarrassed about periods and would actually keep my head down during this time. It robbed me of confidence as I was always paranoid that I would stain my dress in class and everyone would see and laugh at me. I didn’t take part in sports or volunteer to go to the front of the class to solve a problem on the board when I was on my period. This all changed in campus the day I had a candid conversation with a few friends on our period embarrassing stories and I realized that I wasn’t the only one experiencing moments of not being confident.

Today, I’ve managed to shake the lack of confidence and a lot of the time, I’m actually more outgoing during my periods. The support and encouragement I’ve received from girlfriends has helped me embrace the natural cycle that is my periods just as any other bodily function like sneezing or coughing. I definitely return the favour by encouraging any women or girls I interact with to not let their periods shake their confidence or limit them in any way.

There’s nothing quite as wonderful as girls offering support for other girls. I know I wouldn’t be half as confident without the amazing women that have been in my life. Always understands the power of this and has unveiled the “Stand Up” initiative in Kenya under the hashtag #AlwaysStandUpKe, an initiative that seeks to encourage the Kenyan girl child to stand up for her dreams and aspirations as well as to stand up to keep other girls in school. Always is encouraging all girls to share their stories on how they stood up to make their dreams come true and to encourage Kenyan girls to share their #AlwaysStandUpKe moments.