17 October | Solar Kitchen
There was a lot of laughter at our recent menstrual health session with the women at Solar Kitchen in Auroville, led by Kalvi. Some of the women leaned in and listened closely, a few drifted off now and then, and others watched quietly from behind shy smiles. But each time a question set the room laughing, we could see shoulders drop and faces soften.
Kalvi talked the group through periods, reproductive anatomy and the changes our bodies go through over the years. The women came back with questions, wide eyes and some unexpected answers.
When Kalvi asked what an egg needs in order to be fertilised, one woman called out “Somberi!”, which is Tamil for a lazy person. The whole room cracked up, and so did we. A little later, Kalvi mentioned that testicles do not sit perfectly level and that the women were welcome to check this for themselves. That set off another round of giggles and plenty of pink cheeks.
Discoveries, Misconceptions and Conversations That Matter
Several women had never been told that the female body has three separate openings, while the male body has two. A few of them were grandmothers who had never been part of such conversations before. That stayed with us, because it means a woman can raise children and grandchildren without anyone ever having explained her own body to her.
We asked the women whether they thought period blood was good or bad. Rather than giving them a direct answer, we explained the menstrual process and encouraged them to reflect and decide for themselves. By the end of the discussion, many of them expressed that period blood is, in fact, good blood.
Many of us grew up with certain myths and beliefs around menstruation, and they do not disappear within an hour. What matters to us is that the women felt free to say what they thought and to ask the questions they had been carrying for years.
A Story That Stayed With Us
After the session, one woman stayed back to speak with us. She told us that she has been using Eco Femme cloth pads for years and had wanted her daughter to try them too. Her daughter was not keen at first, so she offered to wash the pads for her. Slowly the daughter got used to them too. Then she began washing them herself, and today she looks after the whole routine on her own and uses cloth pads regularly.
We have been smiling about that story ever since.
What This Menstrual Health Session Left Us With
We ran out of time long before we ran out of things to talk about! Even so, we left feeling fulfilled. In one room we had careful listeners, shy smilers, quick wits and a few women who were happy to argue their point. Everyone takes part in her own way, and some of us need a little longer to feel at ease. That is fine with us. We want every menstrual health session to be a place where a woman can ask anything and say what she believes without feeling judged.
One session will not change everything, and we do not expect it to. But a funny answer, a new fact or a mother’s patience can start something. On that Saturday at Solar Kitchen, it started with a room full of women laughing, blushing and learning together.
Sessions like this are part of Pad for Sisters, our program that brings menstrual health education and subsidised cloth pad kits to women from low-income communities across India. If you would like a session like this for your community, school or workplace, get in touch with us!
