CHENNAI: Gramalaya, a three-decade-old Tiruchy-based NGO announced Sneha Shergill, Mrs India — The Queen of Substance 2016 as its brand ambassador for Menstrual Hygiene and Management (MHM) on World Menstrual Hygiene Day. The event which was held recently at Hotel Breeze Residency, saw the participation of over 100 women from different walks of life.
Talking to CE, Sneha said, “People at Gramalaya did not consider menstruation as a ‘curse’. Instead, they chose to empower women by educating them to follow proper menstrual hygiene methods. I am humbled to be the brand ambassador for their MHM initiative and ‘Feel Free Cloth Pads’ campaign.” Recalling her formative days and how she became a campaigner of menstrual hygiene, the pageant winner shared, “In Bengaluru, near the colony I live, there is an orphanage. There are about 25-30 girls who live there. I used to observe them burn all the used sanitary pads. Later, I came to know that the sanitary workers refused to collect used sanitary pads from them. This prompted me to teach young girls, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds about menstrual hygiene.”
In January 2019, Sneha met S Damodaran, founder-CEO of Gramalaya at a social event in Tiruchy. “He spoke about the benefits of cloth pads and how it was integrated into the NGO. This opened new avenues for me and pushed me to be part of campaigns and initiatives related to menstrual health,”she said.
She will play a catalyst between the NGO and women across the city. She will be educating them not only about menstrual hygiene but also the usage of sustainable alternatives — including cloth pads. “ The aim is to educate women about other options that are available. The conventional sanitary pads are not eco-friendly or skin-friendly. There are working women who use one pad the whole day, because of lack of time. The sanitary pad should be changed at least once in every four to five hours,” she explained.
Gramalaya has so far reached more than 2,19,645 women with MHM and reusable cloth pads. This year, the NGO in collaboration with Wash United plans to reach 6,65,000 adolescent girls in Tamil Nadu and women in six southern states to promote reusable cloth pads and menstrual hygiene.
“When we visited urban and rural areas in Tiruchy, we observed that almost 80 per cent of the women were not aware of cloth pads. Inhibitions about the time it consumes to wash a cloth pad, risk of odour have kept them away from using it. It is our duty to spread awareness about its benefits and I am sure they’ll know its advantage once they start using it,” asserted the 32-year-old brand ambassador.Gramalaya, along with its new brand ambassador plan to give seminars in schools and colleges, and visit rural areas to spread awareness.
Social initiatives
More than 200 girls-friendly school toilet complexes were built by Gramalaya including incinerator facilities and handwashing station in Tamil Nadu. More than 40,000 individual household toilets were promoted by Gramalaya as SMART Toilets (toilets with bath attached and incinerator facility) for disposal of soiled sanitary napkins. These SMART toilets ensure the women and adolescent girls live with dignity, safety and security including privacy for changing their sanitary or cloth pads during menstruation.