CAMEROON: Why My Menstrual Experience Motivates Me to Help Young Girls

After her father helped her with her first period, Nkanghe Sonita Gohla says all parents have a crucial role to play in supporting girls.

I'm living beyond the stigma. I'm living beyond the myths. I'm living beyond period poverty. I'm walking in a menstruation-normalized life. – Nkanghe Sonita Gohla

I was just 14 years old when I came home from school, went to the toilet to relieve myself, and found blood on my pants. I had no idea what was happening and had never heard about menses. All I could do was throw my underwear in the toilet and pick out a new pair while I added toilet tissue to observe if it would repeat itself. 

I thought of panicking but had to stay calm because I loved to be called a strong girl. So I returned to the living room, sat calmly, and waited for my dad to come home. When I told him what had happened, he laughed and went out again. Confused, I found more reasons to worry. 

Fifteen minutes later, he returned with a black nylon and a pack in it. He explained that I was now a woman and would have this experience every month until I got old. He taught me then and there how to use the sanitary pad and sent me to put it on, warning me never to use anything else. 

When my mom returned, I told her all that had happened, and she went for cloths to give me because that's how she was brought up. She said she didn’t want me to use sanitary pads – that my dad couldn't provide them regularly, especially with my two kid sisters who would join me in the journey later on. 

I followed my dad's instructions because he was a nurse and I knew he was knowledgeable, but he only gave me the first sanitary pad package. The next cycle, he couldn't give me another due to financial constraints. 

My mom gave me reusable pieces of cloth without teaching me how to care for them. After each use, I discarded them and went for the next. When she noticed and scolded me about it, my dad stepped in. He found a way to get more sanitary pads for me and made sure I used them correctly. 

When my mates heard my dad was the one supporting me with my period, I became the laughingstock of my school. My classmates believed that mothers were the ones responsible for handling this aspect of their daughters’ lives and fathers weren’t supposed to be aware or involved.

When I spoke with my dad about it, he told me all parents should be involved in that aspect of girls’ lives so the girls can make the right decisions for themselves. I had to stand bolder before my peers in the face of mockery. They finally gave up. 

With my experience, I became interested in supporting teenage girls as they grew up. I was active in a church group called 3H Girls, where girls of all ages receive social, spiritual, and health education to be better versions of themselves. I finished my secondary education and went into nursing, where I further developed my public health and wellness skills.

Starting up my nursing career exposed me to women's health. From there, I set the goal of teaching girls about menstruation and ensuring they expressed themselves freely. I focus on girls’ church gatherings, educating them on menstrual hygiene and self-breast examinations. It’s been heartening for me to see teenagers being curious and able to express their challenges and the stories they hear.

I intend to amplify my strategies by reaching out to girls and partnering with organizations with similar goals, reaching many more girls and bridging the gap between menstrual myths, stigma, and menstrual poverty to ensure menstruation becomes a normal part of life by 2030. 

I'm living beyond the stigma.

I'm living beyond the myths. 

I'm living beyond period poverty.

I'm walking in a menstruation-normalized life.

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