GOONJ - A VOICE, AN EFFORT
In a village in Firozabad, a northern state of Uttar Pradesh, a woman died of tetanus because she used a blouse to stem the flow of blood that had a hook on it covered with rust.
Issues related to menstruation are still tabo in many areas of Indian conservative society.
It is seen that in the absence of even a clean piece of cloth, millions of women use rags, sand, and ash to deal with their menstruation, which endangers their lives.
GOONJ, a Non-Profit Organisation was among the first to bring this taboo subject and the related dire need for cloth into the limelight with their menstrual hygiene initiative named ‘Not Just a Piece of Cloth’.
It aims to address the gaps and challenges of menstrual hygiene and management for the last women by engaging comprehensively with all key stakeholders.
It has broken the culture of shame and silence around menstruation in rural and slums India with a triple-A approach- Access, Awareness and Affordability.
It is motivating urban masses to contribute cloth for making ‘MY Pads’ cloth sanitary pads for women who struggle even for this basic.
GOONJ engages women from nearby slums at processing centres in different cities in making millions of cloth pads.
Male members of GOONJ hold to break the silence meetings, women are pleasantly surprised by how they sensitively approach this taboo topic and normalize it.
