When my period started my mother got me sanitary products from the shop in the city of Gweru. It was normal and I didn’t think anything of using this method. Then things started to get very expensive and my mother got very sick. She died 2 years ago from AIDS and my father was left to care for me and my younger sisters. He couldn’t afford to buy us sanitary pads and didn’t think that it was important that we had them.

 

When my mother died I started to use the bark of trees. We put the bark in an organ to grind, and then used that instead of pads. There is very soft grass called Magudya and I also used that instead of pads as well. The bark or grass burns inside of the thighs so that it can be very hard for a person to walk. The two thighs will have some wounds every month when you receive your menstruation. It was very hard to maintain good cleanliness. When it got very bad I told my father than I thought I was infected and he presumed that I had had sex with one of my school friends who is a boy. He said that it was an STI and that I should be ashamed because my religion says that I cannot have sex with someone before I am married. My father hit me and he told me I was not allowed to see my friends.

 

I was very upset and I wanted my father to understand. Now I can access the products again things are ok and my father said sorry since he now believes me that it wasn’t an STI because another girl in the village was suffering from the same infections. I hope that we will be able to get products for ourselves very soon. It is so great that people are supporting us abroad and having these pads has really changed my life.

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