Projects
Koica
In August of 2017, Nepal experienced severe flooding which effected many lives of people in the Terai region. Many victims of flood lost their houses and were unable to access any food, water, and of course, sanitary products.
Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was planning to help out the victims of the flood by providing them with emergency bags with food, clothing, and first aid kits. During this process, PLUM also contributed to providing female victims with PLUM kits.
PLUM partnered with KOICA in order to distribute PLUM kits to the flood victims in Terai region. There was also an instructional video made by PLUM in order to prevent any confusion about using the kit. The kits disturbed by KOICA included PLUM kits and the Menstrupedia comic for each family. In total, there were more than 2000 PLUM kits distributed to the flood victims.
PLUM supported female victims that were not able to access any sanitary products. We thought that it was important to provide sanitary napkins in an emergency kit, and contacted an agency to help women in need.
Nuwakot
2016- 2017
At the Bachhala school, PLUM spent the afternoon teaching lessons on puberty, the female reproductive system, and menstruation. We had spent the entire school year working towards this moment. Fundraised and spread awareness at countless venues, researched types of cloth pad kits, field tripped to the dispensers of the kits, created and practiced the lessons and much more to prepare for this week. After all this hard work, we really wanted to successfully teach the girls about their own bodies and for them to understand why women go through the process of menstruation.
PLUM members gave three lessons to girls and two lessons to boys, a total of five lessons at the Bachhala school. Nepali speaker, did most of the instructing. Though the non-Nepali speakers all expressed a greater desire to teach and contribute more to the lessons. Even though not all PLUM teachers were fluent in Nepali, we still communicated with others and remained engaged during lessons. At the end of each PLUM lesson, we gave every single girl and teacher in the class a cloth pad kit.
Once the kits were distributed, members of PLUM demonstrated how to use the kit. Not only did the girls receive cloth pad kits, but each grade taught was also given the Menstrupedia comic book in English and Nepali. Menstrupedia explains in written text puberty, the female reproductive system, and menstruation. Even if not all the teaching material was understood in our lessons, we sparked curiosity about menstruation and gave the girls a means to learn it by.
After PLUM completed teaching all our lessons, we felt relieved and ecstatic. Relieved because the lessons were successful and ecstatic for the positive impact we made on the girls’ lives. In the end, PLUM impacted the lives of the Nepali girls we reached by teaching about menstruation and giving them the means to handle their period.
