Restoring displaced women’s dignity

Tropical Storm Ana that displaced thousands in southern Africa forced Roselina Lupenga, 18, to flee to a congested emergency evacuation camp where her safety and menstrual dignity are not guaranteed.

The teen girl from Kanthema Village in Chikwawa says the floods caused by the three-day rainstorm worsened the challenges she faces when managing menstrual periods.

“All my belongings were either ruined or washed away. I only survived with the clothes I was wearing when the tragedy struck. Even my menstrual pads are gone with water,” says Roselina.

The girl took shelter at Fombe Admarc in Traditional Authority Kasisi along with her four siblings and a single mother.

They fled to the camp on January 24 around 9pm when floods reduced their home to rubble. The camp hosts 259 displaced families, most of whom only managed to save the clothes they were wearing on the tragic day.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs reports that the tropical storm affected about one million people, displacing about 25 000 families.

Displacement, overcrowding and other impacts of the floods complicated the way Roselina manages her monthly periods.

“I realised then that the floods had also cost my safety and dignity,” says the Standard Eight learner at Mthumba Model Primary School.

Due to poverty, she cannot afford single-use sanitary pads sold in shops. Before fleeing the floods, she was using pieces of old clothes instead. However, she lost the improvised hygeine kits to floods.

Overcrowding at the camp has robbed her of privacy as “people keep walking in and out”when she wants no one looking at her.

“I feel ashamed and in pain as I struggle to manage periods with dignity. I feel discriminated and unclean. I am afraid to participate in public life,” she says.

Similarly, Charity Malunga says the periods heightened her vulnerability in the camp where teens sleep in the same shade as adults.

“My family came here with nothing. With myths around menses, people treated me as a lesser human being, an outcast,” she says.

The situation was worsened by lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilties, including soap and latrines.

According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), poor access to sanitary requirements during the natural biological process tramples women’s and girls’ rights to health, education, work, non-discrimination, and water and sanitation, among others.

The UN sexual and reproductive health agency has distributed dignity kits to displaced adolescent girls, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers in Chikwawa, Nsanje and other camps in the affected districts.

Now the two girls say they have peace of mind because the dignity kits have helped improve their menstrual health hygiene.

The prepacked kits contain basic hygiene props such as underwears, soap, reusable sanitary pads, washing powder, flashlight, reusable menstrual pad set, comb, toothpaste and brush.

Roselina says the dignity kits have restored her personal hygiene, confidence and well-being.

“Now I freely participate in public life even when menses kick in. I got back my dignity and safety,” she says with a smile.

Charity says this is the beginning of the end of her ‘period poverty.’

“Life is getting better. The struggle to manage menstrual period is gone. I take care of myself properly during menses now,” she states.

Gertrude Malenga, a 27-year-old woman at the camp, says the recipients of dignity kits have peace of mind because “our health needs are covered”.

UNFPA in collaboration with Chikwawa District Health Office has also intensified mobile clinics to 72 camps to sustain flood survivors’ access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services.

Rebecca Matiki, nurse-midwife technician at Chikwawa DistrictHospital, says the emergency outreach complements their efforts to reach more survivors with vital services.

One of the beneficiaries, Thokozani Sile, says unrestricted access to sexual and reproductive health services is vital because biological processes do not stop when disasters strike.“We are accessing a full range of reproductive health services that will help to improve our well-being despite the difficulties caused by flooding,” she says.

UNFPA deputy country representative Masaki Watabe says the UN agency is committed to providing life-saving supplies, information and services to people most in need.

He says: “We want to make camps conducive and safer for women and girls to live to their full potential.“Access to healthcare materials and services for women and girls is disrupted during a disaster. We give relief items such as the dignity kits to reduce the hardship faced by women and girls.

“We are also mobilising resources to intensify mobile clinics and build capacity of health service providers by giving them additional supplies.”