They are classmates and besties. They are also partners, not in crime but in service.
Meet Prisha Bhattacharjee and Asmita Bhattasali of Class XII, Future Foundation School. The two have been working at spreading menstrual awareness and hygiene both amongst their peers as well as underprivileged children since last year.
From starting off with an Instagram page, the duo now have a team of over 10 volunteers, from different schools and colleges in the city, joining them in their mission. They also plan to start an NGO shortly.
It all started when Prisha and Asmita met in school in Class IX. Like any girl friends, they bonded over fashion, music and Bollywood. Going deeper, they realised that they wanted to serve society as well.
“We saw how even our friends discussed periods and cramps in hushed tones. Boys were excluded from it. We realised how mindset still needs to be changed despite all the awareness programmes. If women don’t talk about periods, they will also overlook health issues related to it,” said Prisha.
The friends began an Instagram page, The Good Blood Project, in August 2021. “The aim was to destigmatise periods and start a conversation,” said Asmita.
And the girls were doing just that for a while.
“Soon we realised that social media don’t include a large chunk of young adults, especially the underprivileged ones, who need to be part of such discussions,” she said.
As new volunteers joined them, the girls began organising crowd-funded distributions of sanitary pads. “We raised Rs 14,000 through crowd-funding and distributed one year’s (around 10,000) stock of sanitary pads to the women and girls of a slum near Rabindra Sarobar. The Rotary Club of Salt Lake Downtown helped us in the effort. We also educated the girls on better hygiene,” said Prisha.
Anuja Maitra of Class XII, Indus Valley World School, has been with the girls since the first drive. “Periods is not a taboo. I see boys so oblivious about the cramps and health issues that we go through. Everybody still needs to be sensitised,” she said.
The girls have also provided over 900 sanitary pads to an orphanage at Basanti, under Champa Mahila Society, and plan to organise many more crowd-funded distributions in future. They are also organising talks in schools.
“I am glad these girls are taking the initiative to do something worthwhile. Pubic health is an important issue. We encourage our students to give back to society. We have an interact club too where we motivate our students to do some hands-on work,” said Future Foundation School principal Ranjan Mitter.