MY FIRST MENSTRAUTION

I always heard about menstruation periods from elders , teenagers who learnt about it from school , mother to mother conversation and more . What I heard in mind was that once a girl menstruated it meant that she was a grown up and she was ready to be considered an adult . Because I always heard the elders referring to girls as grown ups and they affirmed it with statements like " she menstruates " . One time I over heard an elder asking a neighbour why don't you train your daughter how to cook? She is an adult because she already saw her periods . With statements like" do not let her play with boys after menstruating " and I once heard a conversation between women one narrating to her friends that she was married off before menstruating and the friends response was "you were still very young how could they marry you off before your periods ?" and more statements of the sort which made me believe that menstruating was a sign of adulthood or maturity .

I got my first menstrual periods when I was about twelve years old , with the type of knowledge I had about it I felt low , imagining that I am no longer young like my mates , and what rang into my minds was that I was going to get prepared for marriage because I was not learning at school , my late father had a belief that educating girls was wastage of money and resources because at the end of the day she would get married . So I decided to keep it a secret , I remember padding myself with one of my shorts i folded it many times and it was stiff and uncomfortable , I kept on visiting the bathroom every after five minutes , my walking style changed I was in deep thoughts . My mother noticed the changes the countless moves to the bathroom she called me and asked me what was wrong , my weakness is pretending ever since I was young I wanted to cover up but she already sensed something was not right , she pulled my hands to the room and re asked me " what is wrong ? Are you hiding something from me ? " I replied with tears in my eyes that " blood is coming out of my susu" she pulled me nearer and asked " since when ? Why didn't you tell me ? What have you done ? " I burst into tears before replying the questions , she hugged me and assured me that it was okay and nothing bad was going to happen to me , she went into her room and brought me a clean piece cloth of which was a soft kitenge piece tared from one of her rappers , she folded it and inserted it into one of my clean panties demonstrating how I was supposed to put it on . She asked me to remove what I heard and she was surprised with what I did , it was to big to be a pad . She asked weather I felt any pain in the stomach , from then I was given lessons on how to hundle myself , about hygiene I was given around six pieces of clean piece of clothes , I gained courage and asked my mother " does it mean that I am a grown up now ? " I begged her not to share it with anyone . She told me that it was normal and every girl would have her period when the time was right and it didn't mean that I was over grown . I felt some relief from then , when I got my periods for the second time I rushed to my mum and reported that the "other things have come again " she handled me with care while teaching me how to take care of my self .

With time I realised that some of my mates used pads and the type was always pads , I also got the urge to try them and I ended up sharing it with my mother . She assured me that my pieces of cloth were better than the pads , though I believed I still wanted to try the pads ,my mum was a market vendor at a market known as belele in Goma North kivu , she used to give me some tips when I helped her so I saved to try out the pads . The expirence was completely different from the pieces of cloth my skin was sensitive and I could get some bruises while moving , the pad was light and portable , it was my first time to use pads I realised that my mothers words weren't true though I did not share it with her .

All in all , every first menstrual periods has a story behind it my third born menstruated at the age of nine years old . She was aware because they had learnt about it from school , she felt free to share it with me with lots of questions . I was worried because I assumed she was still young I visited a gynecologist and he told me that it was normal . She did not worry and behaved normally . To me it was an advantage of education ( learning ) or awareness , I shared with her how to maintain hygiene , the time frame of changing the pads ,how she should treat the cramps Incase they are there . She's now twelve and knows how to count her cycle . A mothers touch is required to every first menstruation because it comes with relief , even if one is educated about it first time will always feel different . Big up to all the parents who attend their daughters first menstruation because it is a memory that will never erase for every girl child .