In 2014, at the age of 20, he registered his NGO, Humans for Humanity, and began his journey to spread awareness about menstruation
WASH project
Ferns N Petals Pvt Ltd firmly believes that 'giving back' is one of the foundational principles of life. The communities that the company has been engaged with and continues to interact with have been fundamental to its business and success. Internationally acclaimed Ferns N Petals supported Humans for Humanity's WASH Project, which has helped the organization reach out to thousands of women from 2021 to 2022. Humans for Humanity empowers by educating women and young girls on menstruation, menstrual hygiene management, and nutrition and conducting workshops to produce low-cost sanitary pads. The health check-up camps & counseling sessions have helped many women deal with various media issues and tackle mental health issues. The WASH project started by Humans for Humanity has reached over 3 million women in over six states in India in the last five years.
ADVERTISEMENT
Journey of Anurag Chauhan
When 14-year-old Anurag Chauhan stepped up to volunteer for various social causes, little did he know that the desire to change the world would run deep. The more he volunteered, the more he learned about the harsh realities of our society—particularly menstruation and the taboo surrounding an otherwise natural biological phenomenon. Fortunately, Chauhan was sensitized to the subject at a young age. "As an immature and gullible boy watching advertisements for sanitary napkins on TV, I believed that they were meant to soak up ink. And considering most of us used fountain/ink pens for school, we always had ink at home. I would secretly go into her cupboard and take a few pads to see if the ink absorbed as it did in the ads. That's when my mum sat me down and explained that people were shy to discuss periods openly, and that pads weren't meant to absorb ink."
Soon, Chauhan began purchasing sanitary napkins for his mother but was often met with bewildered expressions. "One time, I had asked the shopkeeper for Ultra napkins but he ended up handing me a pack of Ultra cigarettes." It was incidents like these that opened his eyes to the fact that menstruation was considered taboo almost everywhere. "It made me realise that it was all about conditioning and upbringing. Even the superstitions surrounding menstruation started to seem silly to me. It made me wonder how they came about in the first place. Women weren't allowed in the kitchen when they were on their period because menstruation tends to physically exhaust a woman. That makes sense, but not the contortion and convolution of it." Of course, this only spurred Chauhan's curiosity. He began to read up and learn more about menstruation and even went on to earn a degree in social work (Chauhan holds a Master's Degree in Social Work & BSW from Amity University).
After reading a 2011 report stating that over 1.8 lakh women in India die every year due to menstruation-related health complications, Chauhan decided that he needed to bring about a significant change. "I was completely shocked by the figure. If someone walks up to a group of people and begins shooting them, it becomes world news. But our own women were dying not because of a shootout, but because of poor menstrual hygiene, a lack of awareness, and the fact that it's a topic that's not even up for discussion." In 2014, at the age of 20, he registered his NGO, Humans for Humanity, and began his journey to spread awareness about menstruation.
Under Humans for Humanity, Chauhan and his team started the project WASH—Women, Sanitation, Hygiene. "The idea behind WASH is not just to spread awareness, but to make rural women independent. We go from village to village, spending weeks and months at a time, to educate them and help them break that stigma. But we also teach them how to make sanitary napkins so they don't get sick, or contract any diseases or infections."
Chauhan is proud of their endeavours citing the lockdown as a clear example of how successful the project has been. "Sanitary napkins were not part of the 'essentials' list when the lockdown began, and it was a big problem for urban women. It wasn't a concern for the women we have trained—in urban slums or rural areas. They didn't care about what was available in the markets because they were making their own sanitary napkins."
It was Chauhan’s foresight that has been instrumental in giving women that empowerment. “I knew that at some point or another, for whatever reason, we would not be able to reach out to them, and vice versa. And we didn’t just want to hand out free sanitary napkins because that’s something everybody’s doing. Teaching them how to take care of themselves and the women in their community just means they can be self-sufficient and independent. This is the ultimate goal of WASH.”
The way forward
Chauhan and his team work with five major points in mind—creating awareness, helping women understand nutrition, providing counselling to break the stigma and teaching them how to use sanitary napkins, reaching out to women who are in the age bracket of menopause, and finally, teaching them how to make sanitary napkins. Of course, their work is not limited to just the women of the village or community. “We try to reach out to the men as well because it’s their sisters, wives, and daughters that need their support. And I’ve realised that a little encouragement tends to go a long way.”
Currently, the group is collaborating with various other organizations to reach a more significant number of people to help them spread awareness and teach them how to make sanitary napkins. "The biggest problem in our country is that people have not understood the difference between social work and charity. Charity is noble; it's a beautiful thing to be doing charitable work, but that makes people dependant. The purpose of WASH and of Humans for Humanity is to make people independent. It's as the saying goes, 'Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for the rest of his life'," he signs off.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
