By Dr. Saumya Parida
The cage that was supposed to be used for birds is now the new Pad Bank for girls of Bonda Ghati of Khairiput Block and Jakalkundi of Kalimela Block. Jayanti Buruda a 34-year-old lady is trying to give new wings to the girls of Koya, Paraja, and Kamara tribes of Malkangiri district, Odisha. Being one among the eleven children of her parents life was not so easy. But nothing stopped her from helping girls from her own Koya tribe and a few other tribes later on.
“Menstrual is not shameful, It is natural” With this slogan Jayanti Buruda started the awareness campaign with twenty volunteers. But now there are nearly a hundred and with the name “BADA DIDI” (elder sister) Union they are trying to educate and empower girls through different awareness campaigns. But the eye-catching one is the menstrual hygiene and free distribution of pads. After a few years of campaigning, now young girls are aware of menstrual hygiene and sanitary pads. They don’t even want to use those unhygienic clothes anymore. But most of them can’t afford pads due to poverty. So, the pad bank helps girls to pick pads from there free of cost. The pad bank in which sanitary pads are kept is made out of birdcage and is available in a few places by Bada Didi Union. There are so many myths and wrong practices related to menstruation seen in tribal communities. And Bada didi Union is trying to fill that gap.
27-year-old Sambari Badanayak from Bodbel village of Andrahal Panchayat is very happy with the Pad Bank initiative. Because in the market the packet costs around 40 to 45 rupees for less than 10 pads. Girls don’t have money to afford even one packet. And for the use, every month they need more than one packet is too costly an affair for them. And for those few who can afford it again, it’s too difficult for them as well. It’s difficult to go down from Bondaghati to buy pads as there is no such nearby market available there.
35-year-old Puni Madkami of Jakalkundi village of Telarai panchayat couldn’t control her emotions. She added that this is the first-ever such initiative. We and our girls don’t need to worry now. We are getting free pads and as much as we need for ourselves every month from Bada Didi. The best part is it has already been kept in a place and we just pick our free pad from that Pad Bank.
Jayanti Buruda from Serapalli village of Malkangiri district started her volunteerism with free tuition when she was doing her plus two in 2007. Initially, she started free tuition for 5th to 10th standard children of Bandabakli and Nuaguda villages. Then she realized that no one is focusing on their local challenges but much more is needed for those children. She thought for the same she could access the district administration and other stakeholders only through the media. She tried her luck in journalism and got admission to Central University. Her friends not only financially helped her but also managed to keep her accommodated in a place for two long years for her studies. After completion of her journalism, she joined the mainstream media for a few years. Being a journalist she interacted with so many girls and saw their struggle, their sufferings, daily health hazards, and child abuse issues very closely. Then she thought of helping girls from smaller ones starting with awareness of bad touch good touch, early marriage, early pregnancy hazards then menstrual hygiene for the grownup one. With the help of district administration and a few more nongovernmental bodies, she is now sensitizing girls to know their rights through Bada Didi. The volunteers now are interacting with individuals as well as with communities and trying to sensitize all grades of girls and women. Through social media, the team has managed to get two hundred packets of pads in a month through a Bengaluru-based organization. Again which is very few if we will see the work area and enthusiasm of the hundred numbers Bada Didi team. But they are hopeful to tie up a few more. So, that the supply chain will be vast. Even Jayanti Buruda dreamt of setting up a sanitary napkin-making unit in Bonda Ghati itself to make a sustainable livelihood for women.
Writer Dr. Saumya Parida is Bhubaneswar based Author, Columnist, Social Entrepreneur .
Saumya brings more than 20 years of experience in broadcast and new age media. She has the unique ability to manage large teams, partners, experts and service providers through different assignments. Currently she is with Kalinga TV 24×7 satellite Odia news channel as the Deputy Editor. Saumya is also the guest editor to Dharitri, the leading Odia daily. Her edit page features always focuses on very common yet important social issues related to women, underprivileged, Odia language, Issues related to NROs etc.
Saumya has worked with organizations like ETV Odia in Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar as senior reporter from 2003 to 2011. She has also worked with Doordarshan-Bhubaneswar, Senior editor with Orissdiary, Executive editor with Odishalive and associated with “Think Talent-India” as media consultant, majorly engaged in media advisory services. Done Media consulting work with Sahara TV to define structure
and key roles.
She always loves to work for a social cause and believes in Individual Social Responsibility (ISR). Apart from her writing and reporting skills she focuses on plantation, seed ball making to spread green among different generations in Mumbai as well as in Odisha. Through her activities and social media pages she tries to create awareness among different stakeholders. She has got space for her green work in Aajtak-
MumbaiTak, Mid-day Mumbai, Times of India-Odisha, Dharitri_Chhutidina special coverage and different main stream media houses of Mumbai and Odisha.
saumya.consultant@gmail.com
9338566587
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