Accra, Nov. 29, GNA – Yedo Research and Aide (Yedora), a non-profit organization together with partners has organised menstrual hygiene education programme for adolescent girls at the Shelter for Abused Children and Juvenile Girls Correctional Centre at Osu in Accra.
The other partners are Green Generation Ghana, a non-governmental organization, Akumabel Foundation, and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
They also donated 150 pieces of sanitary pad, 50 pieces of Dignity Kits and boxes of Ekumfi pineapple juice.
Ms Anita Djandoh, the Executive Director of Green Generation Ghana and the resource person for the programme took the girls through the menstrual cycle, management of menstruation, the fixing of pad and the dos and don’ts during such period.
She advised adolescent girls to take a lot of water when they are in their menstruation, eat fruits and vegetables and protein foods such fish, meat and egg for the body to regain the shed blood while undertaking physical exercises and avoid cold and sweet drinks.
Ms Djandoh said menstruation is a normal thing that every young adolescent girl would experience and that they should prepare themselves adequately towards it by getting their dignity kits with extra pant, pad, paper, soap, hand sanitizer and rubber bag as they got out of the home.
She asked girls to practice personal hygiene by bathing twice daily, regularly wash their underwear and dry them in the sun and to educate their peers who were yet to experience menstruation.
The Director urged mothers to educate the girl-child during menstruation to teach the children how to fix the pad, how to dispose of them and to provide them nutritious food to boost their immunity during their period.
Ms Matilda Owusu-Ansah, the Founder and Director of Yedora said the time had come for Ghanaians to come together to support each other, especially less-privileged young ladies in every way to impact their lives in society.
“So I want to tell the adolescent girls that they should not fear, shy and coil. Menstruation is part of life-cycle and a sign that they are growing and they need to wise up. Because some people who could not afford to buy pad, had fallen prey to greedy men,” she said.
Ms Owusu-Ansah assured the girls of their readiness to support them and called on parents to play their part by strengthening communication with their children on personal hygiene, which should not be the responsibility of only the teachers.
“We are happy that personal hygiene is now part of the school curriculum, even to those at the lower primary and it was amazing the way the children were responding to the COVID-19 protocols,” she said.
She appealed to organisations and individuals to lend their support to the Centre.
In the upcoming December 2020 elections, Madam Owusu-Ansah said in any violent situation women and children were the most vulnerable and appealed to the citizenry for a peaceful polls, adding; “We sand for peace. We don’t want any violence.”
Ms Diana Atswei Sowah, the Assistant Manageress for Shelter for Abused Children expressed gratitude to the organisers of the educational programme and the donation and appealed to other institutions to also come on board to assist them.
GNA