The difficulties girls go through to get sanitary pads can only be imagined, especially so in rural communities or slums.

One of such areas where this challenge manifests is Rigasa; is a densely populated urban slum in the south west of Igabi Local Government Area in Kaduna State.

Mr Yusha’u Abubakar, Founder and Executive Director, Enhancing Communities Action for Peace and Better Health Initiative (E-CAPH), said the issue of sanitary pads was a challenge in the community because of poverty and lack of economic empowerment.

“When the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called for an application for a project to support adolescent girls and boys, we decided to apply with focus on this area because it is a challenge.

“We sent our proposal and UNFPA found it worthy and supported us to train young girls in our community.”

He said 200 girls were trained on making reusable sanitary pads, adding that the initiative has improved school attendance of girls in the community as well as taken care of their menstruation hygiene challenges.

Impact of the training on the girls

Fatima Abdullahi, 18, is one those trained by E- CAPH and described the experience as overwhelming because she now produces it for her personal use and for trade.

“I was used to begging for money to buy pads or forced to use other materials in spite of its discomfort for my period. Now I help myself and others with my trade,” she said.

Similarly, Asma’u Mohammed, 18, said she was happy for the acquired skill that has made her self-reliant.

“With this, I don’t have to ask my parents for everything I need, because I can now earn little money by making sanitary pads for my peers.”

Sanitary pad boosting economic empowerment of the community

Albabatu Musa, Manager and Coordinator, E-CAPH Skills Acquisition Centre, said the accessibility of the reusable pad has made it a preferred choice for most girls in the Rigasa community.

“The reusable pad is made up of cotton-based materials because of its absorbable nature and easy access in the market.

“So far, 15,000 packs of three pieces each, have been produced at the centre and sold for N3.5 million to a client in Borno State.

“At the open market, a pack is sold for N500 and for every pack, there is a gain (profit) of N150. The product is in high demand,” she said.

Musa said the pad was highly profitable and cost effective because it can be used for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 6 months.

“A pack of three go for N500 with a profit margin of N150. The trained adolescents were currently making the reusable pad for their personal use and sales.”

Support by the UNFPA in the Rigasa pad project

Ms Mariana Darboe, the Programme Coordinator and Head of Office, UNFPA Decentralised Office for Northern Nigeria, said the reusable sanitary pad project was part of the livelihood support training as a COVID-19 response to alleviate poverty in communities.

She said the project was supported by the funds Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) project under the UN Basket Fund support for COVID-19 response in Nigeria.

Darboe added that the RCCE initiative was to curb the risk and impact of gender-based violence and interconnecting sexual and reproductive health consequences.

A mother’s burden lifted

A mother of four, Sadiya Ibrahim, said the reusable sanitary pad had reduced her stress “because most times during their menstrual period I am helpless to help my four girls with the needed money to buy sanitary pads.

“Sometimes they feel uncomfortable saying that they are on their period, so they just use available pieces of clothes to help themselves.

“Whenever they use clothes, they spend most of their time in the room because it makes them uncomfortable.”

How we got the buy-in of the communities considering the religious and cultural challenges

In most communities in northern Nigeria, talking about reproductive health issues among women and young girls is considered a no-go area. E-CAPH executive director Abubakar said the initiative surmounted this major limitation and got the buy-in of the community through advocacy.

“We were able to make people understand what sexual and reproductive health issues are all about and the need for parents to talk to their children about sexual reproductive health issues.

“The religious and community leaders provided the platform for us to talk to young girls in Islamiyah schools, women groups gathered their children and invited us to talk to them.

“This strategy helped in increasing the acceptance of talking about the issues in communities where it is hitherto difficult to do so.”

How the girls monthly dilemma turns to joy

Some users of the sanitary pads narrated their experiences on how it changed their monthly dilemma to joy.

Kadijah Salis, 17: “I use pieces of clothes due to lack of money to buy a pad. Sometimes I am forced to stay at home to avoid embarrassment in school because most times the clothes leak and stain our uniforms.

“The reusable pad is the best thing that has happened to some of us from poor households.

Sadiya Aliyu, 18, said she only got to hear of the reusable pad recently, adding that it is “better because I can use it for six months and it is very comfortable. I only need two for a whole year”.

The way forward for menstruation hygiene in Rigasa

The Founder and Executive Director of E-CAPH said that the initiative was able to overcome the challenges of non-acceptance by the community that was religiously inclined not to discuss matter relating to women and especially women monthly menstrual cycle.

This, he said, was due to the various trainings personnel of his organisation went through.

From these training “we were able to understand the role of religious leaders, community leaders, women and youth groups in advocating for reproductive health and family planning.

“There was equally a book produced by NUHRI on religious (Islamic and Christian) perspectives to family planning.

“We used the book in partnership with religious leaders and women groups to advocate for the acceptance of the family planning and reproductive health issues in communities.

“We were able to help them understand more about sexual and reproductive health issues. This led to the acceptance by parents to talk to their children and wards about sexual reproductive health issues.

Abubakar said that with the achievement so far recorded in helping the girls to better manage their menstrual hygiene, development partners, state government and local government areas should support the initiative to increase access by the poor and vulnerable adolescent girls in urban and rural areas. (NAN)

Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Water, which entitles its citizens to sufficient, affordable, safe, and acceptable water for personal and domestic uses.

While 75 per cent of the urban population is served by improved water supply, often people will collect water from vendors and carry a long distance after collecting it in containers.

In rural areas, only about 42 per cent of households have access to safe water according to the World Health Organisation UN” Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water 2014 Nigeria Country Highlights.

It is not different in the Ruga Sauka community, a Fulani settlement located along the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Road in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Malama Zainab Sani, a resident of the community, said they have been managing with water from a dug well for their household chores, drinking and sanitation as well as for their cattle.

“Our husbands dug this well to take care of our water needs. We know this is not good enough, but we have little choice. We use it along with our cattle. And overtime, we were told our children were having skin diseases, stomach upset, and other water related illnesses because of our source of water,” Sani said through an interpreter.

Listening and collaborating for change

To address this country wide challenge, the community and an Israeli Aid Organisation collaborated to build a motorised electric borehole to take care of both the water and sanitation needs of the over hundred families of herders living in the settlement for the past 35 years.

The initiative started with the annual donation of food items to the community by the Israeli group, the ChabadAid. With this humanitarian opening, the community reached out to them and requested for a borehole.

A Centre for Disease Control and Prevention report says contaminated water can transmit diseases such as Diarrhoea, Cholera, Dysentery, Typhoid, and Polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485,000 diarrhoeal deaths each year.

Sani, who supports her family selling “Fura da Nono”a highly nutritious millet and milk drink, said boiling the already contaminated water to drink could only do so much.

“The water in the well goes down during the dry season and we go in search of water in dirty ponds many kilometres away,”she said.

Ruga Sauka community opted for an electric borehole because of its advantage over manual boreholes says Malam Bature Adamu, the community’s secretary.

“We chose the borehole that has to be pumped with a generator because we have seen in other communities how children quickly spoil the handles of manual boreholes,”Adamu said.

He added that with the numbers of years they have stayed without water, they didn’t want to be taken back to using water from the well. So they wanted something more sustainable.

“Pumping with electricity is also faster for us; the tank is high. So, opening a tap from the tank is better and we have good control over the pumps and generator,”Adamu added.

In April 2021, an electric borehole with two overhead water tanks and a generator set to pump the water was provided for Ruga Sauka residents.

The negotiation with ChabadAid began in 2020 but was stalled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

One of the reasons why the project succeeded was because the foundation listened and acted on the needs of the community instead of assuming what they wanted.

In drilling water points, the organisation always ensured that the community contributed its resources to encourage ownership and maintenance of the equipment, Rabbi Israel Uzan, Co-founder of ChabadAid said.

“We usually rate the village before intervention. We tries to know why they have not had the infrastructure before now and how they need us to intervene; either to repair an infrastructure or start one from scratch,”Uzan said.

This is followed by asking for permission before going to work. In the case of Ruga Sauka, they got permission from the village before commencing work.

“Usually, if we provide pumps and drill, the community provides the tank or manpower; if we build a school, the community has to build the fence or provide furniture,”Uzan said.

With the urgent need of Sauka with ailing members, especially in a pandemic period, the organisation asked for an open space for the borehole that could cater to all families.

It also requested for manpower to aid the drillers and a commitment to fund fuelling of the generator and maintenance of all the equipment provided.

With the acceptance of these conditions, a new challenge of sustainability now emerged for residents of the community; a steady means to provide funds for petrol to pump water.

The water, pumped in the morning and evening, requires four litres of petrol per day at N163 per litre.

The community spends N652 daily on fuel, N4,564 weekly and an estimated N18,256 for fuelling the generator. This is besides the cost of maintaining the equipment.

Also, as the price of petrol rises, the cost of sustaining this water source surges; scarcity of fuel will also affect it unless the community installs more water tanks to preserve water during fuel scarcity.

The community, however, said they are up to the challenge.

“Our men agreed to contribute N100 weekly for fuel; we gather the money and any other monetary gifts we get to maintain the facility and ensure the generator runs well,”Adamu said.

Despite this, the benefits of the borehole far outweigh the costs the community must bear.

For Ruga Sauka, the children, women and cattle have been given a new lease of life with this life changing potable water after several years of making do without.

Mrs Aisha Iliyasu, a housewife, who spoke on behalf of Sauka women, thanked the organisation for coming to their aid in spite of the difference in religion.

****This article is with support from the Solutions Journalism Network, USA and the Nigeria Health Watch.