Taking a project aimed at spreading menstrual hygiene in Zainabad to the next level, grade 1 girls of Mahatma Gandhi International School (MGIS) in Ahmedabad have reached out to the salt pan workers, convincing them to use sanitary pads. The project not only aimed at mere interactions but the students also provided them pads for few months, to make the initiative more sustainable. While raising funds to buy 4200 pads was a challenge, students organized a fund raising concert, performed and raised Rs 18000 to buy pads. Every year, students have to invest 150 hours in Community, Activity and Service (CAS) project. Speaking about her project, Rukmini Chariar, grade 11 student of MGIS said, "The salt pan workers in Zainabad have a huge lack of resources. They have used things like ash hay and cloth as opposed to pads. When we came to know about the situation, we really felt the need to help them. Another reason is that our senior batch has done a similar project last year and we wanted to continue giving the same by taking it to another level." She added, "I am passionate about singing and women's rights. Along with my classmate, I organised a charity concert to raise funds for the Laal Project which aims to provide biodegradable sanitary napkins to rural, underprivileged girls and women. Through this project, we were able to impact the lives of almost 100 girls and women. We worked with around 60 teenage girls in Zubeida Begum School, Zainabad by creating awareness about menstrual hygiene through interactive activities about the importance of using sanitary napkins instead of cloth or sand. Apart from Rukmini, Samruddhi Srivastava, Manushi Pandya and Mukti Chaturani worked on this project. Sharing challenges, the students said, "The kind of myths the girls shared was shocking. One of the most common myth was they thought that it was important to burn the pads or else the snake god would wish them ill omen. Their biggest concern was embarrassment that occurs when dogs tear the used pads and make their village dirty. Hence, we wanted to use biodegradable pads and taught them how to dispose them off to avoid such instances." The students raised funds to equip them with 6 months worth supply of sanitary napkins. "We managed to distribute 600 sanitary pads across the salt pan area reaching out to most of the women and adolescent girls living there. The hardest part was going door to door and distribute the pads," the students concluded.

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