My first period: facing stigmas, Missing festivals and then celebrated through the stigmas.
BY LAXMI BASNET On a sunny day in July, when I was enjoying my vacation with my friend and while returning home, I saw something horrifying, at least that’s what 10 years old me thought. I grew up in a joint family with grandparents, my own parents and my brother. I was 10years old when […]
MENSTRUATION: NOT JUST A GIRL’S ISSUE
BY LAXMI BASNET During the menstrual hygiene and management sessions we conducted at school, there was noticeable hesitation in some schools about including boys in the discussion. It was not only adults who felt this way. Even before the session began, as we arranged our materials – wall charts, menstrual products – the younger girls watching us […]
Shush… Someone Might Hear: Pad wrapped in the layer of stigma
Laxmi Basnet Feeling scared with trembling voice and lowered gaze my friend gathered the courage to ask the shopkeeper to give her “that thing ’’. Without a word, the shopkeeper handed her that thing wrapped in double-layered paper and plastic. No, she wasn’t buying anything illicit, just something that every girl needs; a sanitary pad. Yet, it was wrapped in years […]
THE UNSEEN BAG: Dream beyond reach and the steps I never took
Laxmi Basnet I found myself at the airport, standing just 2 feet away from the escalator. I tried to walk towards it, but my legs were numb. Around me, people were in their own world; walking past me with phones in their hands and eyes fixed ahead. No one noticed me standing there, frozen. If they walked towards it, I could do it too, right? All I wanted […]