Upaya Nomads Clinic Menstrual Kits For Nepal
Tax deductible
As seen in the 2019 Oscar wining Netflix documentary "Period" menstrual hygiene and awareness is a huge issue across many areas of the world. We are reaching out to you for your support for our ongoing project to bring reusable menstrual hygiene kits to girls and women in very remote areas of western Nepal.
Since 2017, the Upaya Nomads Clinic has been distributing reusable menstrual kits to the women of Nepal provided by a Nepali based non-profit called Days for Girls, which employs local women from remote areas of the country to produce their kits.
Over the past two years, the response from the women and girls who have received a kit has been overwhelmingly positive and this year we hope to bring another 1000 kits .
Each kit costs $8 and lasts for several years.
When asked about the kits, one women remarked:
“I have never seen or heard of commercial sanitary pad neither I use pieces of clothes. I just wear two-three trousers and more meti (is a small blanket they wear) so that the blood doesn’t saint out. In summer I wash more often but in winter with the freezing weather I sometime had to wear the same cloth which changes from really wet to dry later. And have often had lacerations that doesn’t heal till the next cycle again…Ummm life of a woman is hard in any way”
Another young girl said:
“This kit is so beautiful and easy to use I have never thought there is something like this for periods. At the beginning it was strange to wear the undergarments and later I feel it so comfortable. Now I can just change it two three times and wash the soiled one. It dries easily. Thank you so much. It would be great help for the women if you can give all of them”.
During her 2018 trip, Nomads team member Tsering Wangmo interviewed over 140 women and gathered some helpful information to direct this continuing initiative.
There is a common belief that women in these remote regions simply have no awareness of menstrual hygiene but after speaking to many of these women, Wangmo found that 81.8% women think that maintenance of hygiene is the very important during menstruation yet they simply do not have the resources to practice good hygiene. She found that 48.5% of women think it is appropriate to use unwashed cloth till the menstrual flow stops . This is likely due to some very practical reasons such as not having the ability to change in clean clothes so often and the time to wash every day. Most of these women only have few pairs of trousers for the year and washing is complicated by the freezing temperatures and no access to running water most of the time. These reusable mensural pads make washing much more practical and easy and dry quickly in the sun.
We encourage you to donate to help us bring every woman in need one of these life changing kits.
Many blessings and great thanks to all who are able to contribute in any way.
You can read more about the Nomads Clinics here:
https://www.facebook.com/NomadsClinic/
www.nomadsclinic.org
https://www.upaya.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Nomads-Clinic-Report-2018.pdf
Since 2017, the Upaya Nomads Clinic has been distributing reusable menstrual kits to the women of Nepal provided by a Nepali based non-profit called Days for Girls, which employs local women from remote areas of the country to produce their kits.
Over the past two years, the response from the women and girls who have received a kit has been overwhelmingly positive and this year we hope to bring another 1000 kits .
Each kit costs $8 and lasts for several years.
When asked about the kits, one women remarked:
“I have never seen or heard of commercial sanitary pad neither I use pieces of clothes. I just wear two-three trousers and more meti (is a small blanket they wear) so that the blood doesn’t saint out. In summer I wash more often but in winter with the freezing weather I sometime had to wear the same cloth which changes from really wet to dry later. And have often had lacerations that doesn’t heal till the next cycle again…Ummm life of a woman is hard in any way”
Another young girl said:
“This kit is so beautiful and easy to use I have never thought there is something like this for periods. At the beginning it was strange to wear the undergarments and later I feel it so comfortable. Now I can just change it two three times and wash the soiled one. It dries easily. Thank you so much. It would be great help for the women if you can give all of them”.
During her 2018 trip, Nomads team member Tsering Wangmo interviewed over 140 women and gathered some helpful information to direct this continuing initiative.
There is a common belief that women in these remote regions simply have no awareness of menstrual hygiene but after speaking to many of these women, Wangmo found that 81.8% women think that maintenance of hygiene is the very important during menstruation yet they simply do not have the resources to practice good hygiene. She found that 48.5% of women think it is appropriate to use unwashed cloth till the menstrual flow stops . This is likely due to some very practical reasons such as not having the ability to change in clean clothes so often and the time to wash every day. Most of these women only have few pairs of trousers for the year and washing is complicated by the freezing temperatures and no access to running water most of the time. These reusable mensural pads make washing much more practical and easy and dry quickly in the sun.
We encourage you to donate to help us bring every woman in need one of these life changing kits.
Many blessings and great thanks to all who are able to contribute in any way.
You can read more about the Nomads Clinics here:
https://www.facebook.com/NomadsClinic/
www.nomadsclinic.org
https://www.upaya.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Nomads-Clinic-Report-2018.pdf
Organizer
Meghanne Reburn
Organizer
Santa Fe, NM
Upaya Zen Center
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
