END THE RED STAIN

           Ladies, how do you feel during that time of the month? I am sure it’s not exactly something enjoyable. I was talking to a 40 something lady and she shared that when she was my age talking about periods or PMS was not so easy, even amongst girls. It was taboo of sorts. She was actually surprised to witness how causally we girls talk about it now. We don’t even shy away from letting people know that we are PMSing and thus mood swings are to be expected. However such is not life everywhere, even in today’s world.

Couple of days back I got to know about the END THE RED STAIN initiative, here’s a short brief about them -

We are raising awareness on rural women menstrual hygiene with our initiative "END THE RED STAIN".
88% women in rural India cannot afford sanitary napkins 81% rural women resort to unsterilised cloth, sawdust, leaves 30% girls in rural India have already dropped out of school after menstruation

The story behind it:

Mrs. Bharati Idate has been producing high-quality, compostable and affordable sanitary napkins called ‘Care Taker’ for rural women in Maharashtra especially post delivery for over a decade. She lives in a famine stricken village called Vita, in Sangli district of Maharashtra and has founded the Bharati Mahila Audyogik Sahakari Sanstha Limited.

The initiative got my attention immediately; imagine if you have to go through your periods without the sanitary pads! Honesty I can’t even imagine how tough that would be and to believe that certain women are already living that life is horrifying.

They also made a short video on the same 

You can access Bharatiji's crowd funding campaign here:bit.ly/affordablehygiene

 ABP Mazha, Maharashtra Times and DNA has covered her story to make her endeavor known to many in Maharashtra and help her to raise the desired funds to help many other women like her. The links to the coverage are as follows:

ABP Mazha coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHEFgRSnX0U

Maharashtra Times coverage:
http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/45926487.cms

DNA coverage:  http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-international-women-s-day-special-how-one-woman-is-making-menstrual-hygiene-affordable-2066904