Teen girl from Jammu and Kashmir makes people aware about health, menstruation

17-year-old Seher Mir, who studies in Class 12, is from Pampore in Pulwama.

As a part of her campaign, she carries out awareness drives in government schools and among women in rural areas, reports ANI.

Andleb-i-Firdous, also known as ‘ZOON’ is a non-profit youth organization, whose seeds were sown by Seher Mir in October 2021, the Indian news agency reported.

The organization works at creating awareness about menstruation and mental health by important uplifting landmarks and their people.

The organisation’s main aim is to teach the values of women’s health, menstrual hygiene management and sanitation among rural girls and women.

While talking to ANI, Sehar Mir said “When we talk about Kashmir, women have been most targeted and isolated when they accept the menstrual cycle as a natural phenomenon and openly talk about it. In rural areas, women lack safe spaces where they can openly talk about periods and related issues. They are unaware of safe menstrual hygiene practices and sustainable menstruation solutions.”

“Majority of rural women of Kashmir still use filthy cloth pieces as absorbent during periods because of many reasons. One of the main reasons behind not using any sanitary products during periods is shyness. They feel ashamed of buying sanitary napkins. We started from the birthplace of an important Kashmiri personality Habba Khatun. At her birthplace, Chandhara, we lead many menstrual health drives to provide accessible menstrual products while educating young girls on menstrual health and hygiene,” she said.

She said that they are doing awareness campaigns not just on menstruation and mental health, but also on climate change and economic stability.

“We are also doing awareness in government schools. Our focus is to shift to private schools as well now. She said. I started with my own pocket money but eventually, I started a fundraiser and collected around 50k. Then apart from this, I have some people who voluntarily donate money to the organization,” she said.

“Over time, Andleb-i-Firdous, commonly referred to as ZOON, has broadened its objectives and presently addresses not only mental health and menstruation but also issues like climate change and economic stability in its awareness drives. The drives are characterized by the distribution of sanitary pads at the end,” she further said.