A blessing in disguise?

 A blessing or a curse?

I think all women can agree that having your period is far from it being sunshine and roses. It is a dreadful pain and awful discomfort. Mood swings, abdominal cramps, bloating, and cravings. You name it! Yes, there's a lot you can hate about your period. It truly does take you on one heck of an emotional rollercoaster! Some women describe the pain of period cramps as a blender that slowly rips their insides. Definitely not a pleasing experience at all! Why would anyone then see this as a blessing? 

Well, dear women, look at it this way, while you are all cramped up and aching, your reproductive system is flushing out the old blood, excess iron, and unnecessary materials. Protecting you from harmful build-up. Experiencing breast pain during this time? This is just your body preparing for a potential pregnancy. Isn't that just beautiful? Yes, the beauty of new life. On the note of pregnancy... You need to have your period in order for you to be able to build your very own family one day. Pro tip: whenever you feel like you just had enough of all the pain, immediately think of your future children in that exact moment. 

 Doctors have said that period pain is equivalent to that of a heart attack. This just shows how strong women truly are. We show up to work and school no matter the pain or discomfort. True superwomen! 

At the end of your period is a blessing and uniquely given to you!It is there to help you, not to hurt you. Be kind to your body and yourself💖😉

Destigmatise Menstruation

How often can you have a conversation with someone about menstruation without it getting weird? Ever been too shy to ask another female for menstruation products?

 You see in the world that we live in, menstruation is not seen as normal. Several taboos are spread about menstruation. It is important to educate our boys about this topic. This will teach them to respect women and have great admiration for them. It will stop the spread of taboos, misconceptions, and discrimination against menstruation. This 11-year-old boy will have to care for the mother of his children one day. It is best to teach them about this topic at a young age to normalise it so that they can care for their sisters and friends as well. Girls need to know that it is a part of their health and not something to be ashamed of. They have to treat it as normal as possible. Being ashamed of it may lead to girls neglecting their hygiene during this time, which often leads to tract infections. 

  Our government may play a role by developing teacher capacity in the area of teaching teachers at schools how to manage menstrual hygiene. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) standards in schools and programming should include ongoing menstruation hygiene management. In high schools, manuals, and sanitary napkins must be supplied. Local production of sanitary napkins can help rural women's employment. Health education curricula should include menstrual hygiene management in schools across the nation.

What do you think of these ideas? Feel free to share them in the comment section, while you are at it share some of the taboos that you have heard about menstruation!

 

 

 

 

 

Power to Namibians

Menstrual Poverty is real. It might not be happening to the Superiors, the ones in charge of this country, the ones who are rolling in money, but the less fortunate sadly do go through it. It takes a sympathetic heart to see the need of fellow citizens and to help where you can. It is a sight for sore eyes to see how our people reach out to others in need. The gap in the number of girls missing school because of menstruation seems to be narrowing as more people establish foundations as well as join other established organizations which help where they can in reducing Menstrual poverty.

Shaun Gariseb is the founder of End Poverty and Africa Connection. This foundation bloomed from a seed of his growing up in the poor Katutura area, where he witnessed poverty firsthand. Interestingly enough this foundation molds young boys into men by teaching them to care for girls through drama. This foundation aims to create a healthy and safe environment for all girls. the foundation introduced sewing classes to make sanitary pads for girls.

Eco-sanitary Pads is a local business that joined the market around March 2019 with a mission of making high-quality and affordable pads. Naomi Kefas, the managing director of the business, and her team visited China, South Africa, India, and Kenya and so they did proper research that took them 2 years to complete and so "Perfect Fit" was born.

Our Government may fail us time after time but in our ambitious Namibians, we can trust. Reading the stories of people who build organisations from scratch,with the little that they have to help others in need, is really heartwarming and inspiring. May this inspire other Namibians as well to give a helping hand where needed? It can only go up from here!

photo by: Namibia Daily News.

Dear Government, please prioritise our women.

 Our Government has failed our Namibian women. 

''I wish the distribution of free pads could be given more attention, like the distribution of condoms,'' says Cathy Mabuku , an 18-year-old girl from Eenhana. Our Government surely does have funds but does it have the focus? Why does it spend millions on free condoms but not a single cent on free menstrual products? Many of our Namibian daughters grow up with a single male guardian and do not feel comfortable asking for sanitary products. Why can't those who sit in power prioritise period poverty when they so freely distribute tax funds into Government services at the federal, state, and local levels. 

As stated in The Namibian the Minister of Health and Social Services says that 8.4 million condoms are enough to satisfy the needs of Namibians for three months. The government does a great job of investing millions into the sexual needs of our people, but what about the needs of our struggling women? The fraction of women who can afford to buy menstrual products spend N$100 000 on sanitary pads annually. Coming from a critical thinker does the government then really cater to the needs of its people or do they just want to spend less money on them. The use of condoms not only prevents STDs but also lowers the pregnancy rate in our country and regulates population growth.

Hmm, a lot of thoughts and opinions are expressed in this post. Go sit on your balcony and reflect on all this then share your thoughts as well as this post with your friends!

Till next time👋

 

 Reference:

 https://www.namibian.com.na

Ever heard of Menstrual poverty?

The Struggle of Namibian Women

 

We all have heard about and seen poverty throughout our daily lives but we tend to see poverty as a whole and we forget that it affects us in different areas of life. Menstrual poverty is the struggle of many low-income women and girls while trying to afford menstrual products. Research shows that 2.4% of girls miss school when they are on their period. Not having access to menstrual products brings uncomfortably, averts them from being active, and puts them at an unfair disadvantage. According to Professor John Guillbeau from the UCL Institute for Women s Health, the pain experienced from a period cramp is equivalent to that of the pain from a heart attack. Not only do working women have to go to work in utmost pain, but our teen girls have to skip school unwillingly. This results in them missing out on a whole week of school. They miss out on 40 hours of school. In cases such as compulsory exams and tests, they have no choice but to show up with the most uncomfortable alternatives as sanitary pads. These can include socks, shreds of old pieces of fabric, and mattress pieces. These alternatives are unhygienic and hazardous to their health and can lead to urinary tract infections. This is only a fraction of the struggle that women have to go through.

I believe that a woman's menstrual cycle should be seen as a blessing, but the poor circumstances that we have in our country rob women of this precious gift. It is rather seen more as a curse than a blessing.

                  Do you think this is fair towards the women who carry and give birth to our                                    Namibian children? Feel free to share your thoughts 💛

Introduction

Hey there,welcome to my blog💕.

I am Dene Beukes.I am a lady of few words ,yet my mind runs wild with thoughts,that I do not always say out loud.I created this blog to share my thoughts with the world as I believe that everyone's voice matters.

I am excited to start this new journey and I hope we can all learn from each other!

🙈Love&light.💝💛