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Thoughts on the tangible...
Thoughts on the tangible...
My tangible will consist of two parts with two different perspectives: local and global. On the local scale, I aim to conduct a survey throughout Andover High School and potentially the greater Andover community to assess the knowledge, comfort, and language used when referring to menstruation. Do girls locally refer to menstruation as periods? Or something else, like a "secret code name" such as Mother Nature. Are girls locally comfortable talking about menstruation out in public? Or do they shy away, avoiding being heard. How were girls treated upon menarche? Were they teased or applauded? While the US is a very developed country, there may still be a stigma regarding menstruation in even the most urban and westernized areas on the world. I would analyze the data found and then potentially compile it into an infographic to present at Senior Showcase.
The second part of my tangible will be globally focused. My plan is to partner with the organization Too Little Children. One of their focuses in empowering women and girls in East Asia and Africa through the Pad Project, where they make sustainable and reusable sanitary napkins. My goal is to create the liners for the sanitary napkins by hosting an event in the community to both raise awareness of this topic as well as create the liners. The liners made of cloth fleece will be sent to the North Carolina Too Little Children base where they will be assembled into kits and sent where needed.
Both components relate to my overall topic of menstruation seamlessly. It would be very interesting and insightful to analyze how the menstrual stigma still exists in extremely developed countries with easy access to sanitary napkins and overall menstrual hygiene management. Although Too Little Children does not target India specifically, they do distribute their kits in multiple developing countries all across the globe including East Asia and Africa with identical taboos as those found in India. Ultimately, with my Capstone and tangible, I aim to create even just a small ripple in my community to bring about awareness of menstrual taboos and their negative affects along with aiding in the solution.
I decided to work the the organization Too Little Children and their Pad Project sect. Too Little Children creates reusable cloth sanitary napkins and distributes them in needed areas, primarily in East Asia and Africa.
After talking with Emma Stober, who runs the Pad Project, I decided to make the cloth fleece liner part of the menstrual kit as she explained that the organization has an excess of base units and are in need of the cloth liners . While I originally wanted to create whole kits with the base unit and underwear, the most feasible option for the limited about of time that I had was to create the liners.
I ordered 8 yards of cotton fleece from Amazon. The material had to be cotton fleece as it is the most absorbent and gentle on the skin material. Cotton fleece also does not need sewing which aided in the ease. I also consciously bought darker color fabric like blue, purple, and brown, in order to mask blood stains.
Once completed, I will send the liners to the Too Little Children base in North Carolina. There they will be assembled into kits with other base units and underwear to be sent to developing countries.
In order to make this happen, I created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for fabric, shipping costs, and other supplies. I raised $165. The rest of the money that goes unused will be donated directly to Too Little Children. https://www.gofundme.com/help-support-the-pad-party
Who Run the World?!
Who Run the World?!
My tangible culminated at the Who Run the World event at the Cormier Youth Center in Andover. The event was for women's empowerment and supporting high school girls in the community. I collaborated with Jackie Stackhouse, who works at the CYC and spearheaded this event, to host a booth to create the fleece liners.
At the beginning of the event, I had to talk a little about my Capstone and what the purpose of the fleece liners were. Everyone was very interested in the topic and my booth was busy all night. While people traced and cut the fabric, I was able to really talk to those in attendance and explain to them what is happening in India and other developing countries in regards to the menstrual stigma. Many people expressed their amazement and how they had never even considered the breadth of the stigma.
The night was an amazing experience and very successful! We made 208 fleece liners, both the large and small liners. I am also collaborating with the Girls for Girls Club at Andover High School to have a "pad making" meeting. Hopefully I can reach my goal of 300 liners!
Check out pictures from the event down below!
Check out pictures from the event down below!
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