“We are helping thousands of girls in Cameroon to end the shame surrounding menstruation”

As a young girl growing up, my parents did not educate me on menstruation or menstrual hygiene because they were ashamed to discuss such things with me.

Seeing the kind of problems girls faced every day in my community, I made up my mind to help them in my own little way. 

I decided to volunteer for CLISSD Cameroon (Center for Livelihood and Support to Sustainable Development), a non-governmental organisation created in 2012 to help young girls and women gain access to education, sexual reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management. 

I gained a lot of leadership skills and, as a result, I began educating and encouraging teenage mothers to go back to school.

I am now a Project Coordinator for CLISSD Cameroon and raise awareness of menstrual hygiene through the project “Empowering girls and women through menstrual hygiene management”. 

I also assist in the production of reusable pads and train girls to become peer educators. Through this, we have given over 3000 girls access to reusable pads and have raised awareness among over 5000 girls to end the shame surrounding menstruation and menstrual hygiene.

As a result of the impact my work had, I was selected in the YALI Regional Nigeria Cohort 3. After my fellowship, I decided to impact the lives of many girls and also made sure that boys too were involved in ending menstrual shame. 

I promoted education surrounding menstrual hygiene and aimed to reduce the high rate of teenage pregnancy so that young girls can complete their education.

On February 19, I led and coordinated the CLISSD Cameroon project “He 2 end menstrual shame” school tour, where we educated over 600 students on the need to end menstrual shame and the importance of menstrual hygiene. 

I also mentored them on the need for volunteering and leadership skills. This project helped in changing their behaviour and mindset. It also engaged the boys in supporting girls during menstruation. 

Menstruation is a woman’s pride and shouldn’t be considered taboo. I was elated when a boy stood up in the class and made a vow, promising the girls to always stand by them and support them during menstruation.

We recently received a large donation of pads at CLISSD and we intend to reach out to 5000 young girls in remote areas. We have reached out to the Nigerian refugees and we’ve given them over 100 of these pads. 

Not everyone can afford a normal sanitary pad so we intend to create an impact in the lives of the vulnerable young girls and teenage mothers through CLISSD Cameroon.