"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts"

My sister Nishka and I have a Non-Profit Organization called the “Utpat Foundation”. On June 14th, we launched our Project “A.M.H.I Muli” which stands for the “Awareness of Menstrual Health Initiative in Chunabhatti, Mumbai. Interestingly, A.M.H.I means Us/we and Muli means Girls in Marathi and thus the name of the Project A.M.H.I Muli means us/we girls.  

The main aim of this project is to make Feminine Hygiene Products (Sanitary Pads) available to Middle-High school girls and at the same time use the opportunity provided through direct contact with the girls to educate them and raise awareness of menstrual hygiene and dispel misinformation.

Location

Although Mumbai is home to some of the richest people in the world, at the same time it is home to some of the poorest including one of the biggest slums called Dharavi. Similar to it is another area called “Chuna Bhatti” which also is the home of several working class, low income, urban poor families with many young girls of middle-to-high school ages; they don’t have access to many resources for schooling and personal hygiene purposes – particularly menstrual hygiene products. Even if these products are available to buy, they remain unaffordable for many of these girls which can compromise their school attendance and social lives. 

We decided to set our sights on this area in order to help these girls who have so much potential for bright futures if their school attendance isn’t compromised. We felt strongly that these are the girls that will benefit the most from our project so that they can pursue uninterrupted and avail any opportunities that the city provides to make progress in their life. 

Date

  Mid June is the beginning of a new school year in most parts of India, particularly the school attended by the girls we wanted to help in Chuna Bhatti. 

There is a local Non Profit Organization “Swadhar” which translates to “Self reliance” that distributes notebooks, pencils, crayons, water bottles, shoes, crayons, school uniforms, etc. once a year at the beginning of the school year. This event is attended by the middle school-high school girls and their parents/guardians. So we decided to collaborate with that organization to distribute sanitary pads to the same group of girls at the same event. 

Who was present during the first launch and distribution?

We would have loved to be there in person for the launching of this project but we couldn’t do so. So we did the next best thing by asking our local advisor and mentor to represent us and launch the project on our behalf. Mrs. Sangeeta and Mr. Yashwant Utpat represented our organization, the Utpat foundation, and distributed the feminine hygiene products to the school age girls on our behalf on the day. They are donors and supporters of the local Swadhar Organization as well.

How does it help to keep girls in school?

There’s a relationship between having access to these products and being able to attend school. Just like school supplies are a necessity to attend school, menstrual hygiene products are as well. How many times does a girl need to miss school just because she doesn’t have any resources to manage her menstrual cycle? 

Well, we aimed to provide these girls with feminine hygiene products so they don’t have to miss school due to lack of sanitary pads.So we aim to continue making these products available on a monthly basis, at least until each girl finishes high school. 

Vision for the future of this project

Our hope is that these girls finish their high school uninterrupted, go on to pursue education in colleges and join the workforce and become completely self-reliant women. In turn, we hope that in future, they give a helping hand to the other girls of school-age, who will follow them in their path. 

The girls and their parents are already seeing the benefits of this project but in a matter of 3-6 months, we hope to hear from the girls if having access to these products made a difference in their education and school attendance.

We also want to take this as an opportunity on a regular basis to educate the girls on the topic of menstruation and clear up some misconceptions and taboos. Our local representatives will meet up with the girls and talk to them in an open, unbiased manner to educate the girls further. We want to sow seeds of awareness and hopefully at some point, this can be carried forward through the generations by local leaders. 

When an opportunity presents itself, we hope to travel to India and meet up with all the girls, their parents and the leadership of our collaborating organizations and many other selfless volunteers who are vital to the launch and success of this project AMHI Muli by the Utpat Foundation.