The other side of the corona pandemic is that it has forced many people to pick up challenges thrown before them through social media.
The aim of such challenges is to help people drown their boredom while staying indoors due to lockdown. The challenges include sharing old photographs, videos of dancing, singing and cooking.
A group of youths in the city, Ritva Foundation, has thrown down the gauntlet before women on social media: The Pad Pandemic Challenge. Their aim is to motivate women to surrender normal plastic pad and use reusable sanitary pads to keep the environment plastic-free.
They have shared a one-minute-four-second video. In the video, it is written: “We are contended to tell you that amidst the lockdown a number of people have taken up the challenge of making reusable cost-efficient pads. They are green-friendly, sustainable and comfortable.”
In the video, some youths, males and females, are saying, “I support Pad Pandemic Challenge. So, all we have got to say is that. What are you waiting for, I am making mine, are you making yours?” They have also shared a one-minute-two-second video telling women how to make such pads.
Founder of Ritva Foundation, Tanisha Pundit, has told Free Press as shops are closed, such items are not easily available in the market. Against this backdrop, women are being made aware about reusable pads through the campaign, she said.
About the aim of the campaign, she said the normally used sanitary napkins release 300 to 500 pounds of plastics. If a woman can afford expensive items, she should use reusable sanitary pads, and its cost is Rs 120 and can be used whole year. A reusable pad, made of clothes, will not harm the environment when it is disposed of, she said.
About the hygiene factor of cloth-made pad, she said, “It is hygienic if it is washed in Dettol and dried in sunlight.” It is good for health and environment, and that it keeps cervical cancer and white discharge problems at bay, she said.
Air doesn’t pass through plastic pads which causes white discharge problem, she said, adding that, most of the college students use reusable pads. Reusable pads made by big Indian companies are available in the market, she said.
Besides that, the foundation is teaching women how to make reusable pads with the help of new or clean cotton clothes, water sachets and milk packets.
In case of heavy flow, water sachets and milk packets should be used otherwise it is not necessary, she said. “We can also make it by using multilayered cotton clothes. Earlier, women used clean cotton clothes,” she said.
Tanisha said they wanted to make women aware about it by visiting them, but it could not be done because of lockdown and social distancing. They started the online campaign, especially for those women who are living in cities and using plastic pads, she said. She said once the lockdown is over, they would visit rural areas to teach women how to make and use reusable pad.
She said the foundation was getting huge response from youths, and men are also supporting them. The team comprises Preksha, Aaditya, Bhavanshi, Vippasana, Sakshi, Himanshi and Surabhi.
