Chandigarh
18 May 2020
DIVYA AZAD
A unique project for women living in the COVID containment zone of Bapu Dham initiated by seventeen-year-old Rehmat Swani, a student of Class 12 in Strawberry Fields High School, Sec 26 here, has concluded. The social project encompassed a collection & donation drive of sanitary napkins for underprivileged women living in Bapu Dham. Rehmat collected and donated as many as 5000 sanitary napkins. It is noteworthy that the young girl’s thoughtful initiative was held in association with her ongoing project, TRIYA. TRIYA was co founded by Rehmat in 2017 with a team of like-minded peers to spread awareness about menstrual hygiene, to remove the stigma behind discussing menstrual hygiene and to promote use of sanitary products.
Rehmat Swani says, “I was able to collect the sanitary napkins through community donations. The napkins were handed over by me to the Sec 26 police for further distribution among needy women living in Bapu Dham, which a COVID high risk area with a population of over 60,000. The idea behind the initiative was to fill the gap in menstrual hygiene care during the lock-down. While most essentials like food, masks, sanitisers etc were being provided for, I felt sanitary napkin provisioning was needed.”
Rehmat collected the sanitary napkins through donations of the same made by concerned citizens in a drop box affixed outside her Sec 9 house as also through personal collection of the napkins by Rehmat & her team. The drive was successful as Rehmat worked tirelessly for achieving the objectives.
It is noteworthy that Rehmat has before this engaged with women and children at orphanages, slums, and low-income schools, to spread awareness about importance of menstrual hygiene. She has distributed resources by setting up Pad Banks, and conducted research on the impact, general well-being, and happiness quotient before and after the use of sanitary pads. What’s more, Rehmat has also arranged rallies, street plays and fund raiser campaigns to support the cause.
