Prisca's Story

I don’t have a job and my father is now unemployed because his building company could no longer afford to pay him. Things have become very difficult at home and we only eat once or twice per day. We can’t afford any luxury items like clothes, meat or toiletries. We stopped having sanitary pads in 2004 when my father lost his job. Before then I had them and I was fine.

I resorted to using cloth and newspapers. After some time I experienced lower abdomen pains, thrush within the opening of the vagina, and my private parts developed pimples that looked like small boils. I did not know what to do. I went to the local clinic but they could not give me any help. Then after relating the incident and showing myself to a friend of mine, she took me to a different doctor. I could not afford a private doctor because I don’t have a salary and they are the ones who have the medicines. This doctor did examine me because he knew my friend and he asked me what I was using during my menstruation and I told him. He told me that I had developed an infection in the uterus that can cause cancer. He also informed me that I have had this infection for so long that my uterus is too damaged for me to have my own children. I think that I will not be able to have a husband now because they will not want to marry me because I cannot provide them with a proper family.

I am so sad. I wish that I could change my life but it is not possible. Now I just hope that my family is ok and that we can support each other. I am very grateful to the donors that are funding these pads. I now feel the experience of being a lady by using decent sanitary pads.

*Names and photographs have been changed to protect the identity of individuals