她正在改变人们对女性经期的耻辱感

她正在改变人们对女性经期的耻辱感

When Freweini Mebrahtu got her period at age 13, she panicked.

范伟尼梅布拉图13岁来月经时，她很恐慌。

"I was terrified," she said. "And I remembered (hearing) that it's actually a curse to have a period ... or that it meant I am ready to be married, or (that) I'm being bad."

“我吓坏了，”她说。“我记得(听到)，来例假其实是一种诅咒……或者这意味着我已经准备结婚了，或者我很坏。”

Like most girls in northern Ethiopia, she suffered in silence, never mentioning it to her mother or sisters. With no access to sanitary products, she coped by using rags.

和埃塞俄比亚北部的大多数女孩一样，她默默承受着痛苦，从未对母亲或姐妹提起。由于没有卫生用品，她只能用破布对付。

"One time I had an accident in class and I was so scared and ashamed," said Mebrahtu, now 54. "Even today I remember how I felt."

现年54岁的梅布拉图说:“有一次我在课堂上来了例假，我非常害怕和羞愧。“直到今天我还记得当时的感受。”

Mebrahtu went on to study chemical engineering in the United States. She still remembers her first trip to an American drugstore in 1983.

梅布拉图在美国继续学习化学工程。她仍然记得1983年第一次去美国药店的情景。

In Ethiopia -- and many other parts of the world -- menstruation is still considered taboo. According to UNICEF, the subject is generally not taught in schools and most girls never discuss it with another person.

在埃塞俄比亚和世界上许多其他地方，月经仍然被认为是禁忌。据联合国儿童基金会称，学校一般不教这个话题，大多数女孩也从不与他人讨论。

Disposable sanitary products are very expensive and often unavailable, so nearly 75% of Ethiopian women and girls don't have access to the menstrual supplies they need to manage their periods.

一次性卫生用品非常昂贵，而且经常无法获得，因此，近75%的埃塞俄比亚妇女和女童无法获得经期所需的月经用品。

The situation has serious consequences. On average, one in 10 girls in Ethiopia miss school for reasons related to their periods; in some rural areas, this increases almost 50%. Missing school can lead girls to fall behind in class and eventually drop out.

这种情况有严重的后果。在埃塞俄比亚，平均每10个女孩中就有1个因月经原因缺课;在一些农村地区，这几乎增加了50%。缺课会导致女孩在课堂上落后，最终辍学。

Mebrahtu believes no girl should miss school because of her period.

梅布拉图认为任何女孩都不应该因为经期而缺课。

In 2005, she designed and patented a reusable menstrual pad. Today, she and her team produce 750,000 pads a year at her Mariam Seba Sanitary Products Factory, named for her daughter.

2005年，她设计了一种可重复使用的月经垫，并申请了专利。如今，她和她的团队每年在她以女儿名字命名的玛丽亚姆塞巴卫生制品厂生产75万个卫生巾。

Since 2009, nearly 800,000 girls and women have benefited from her work.

自2009年以来，近80万女童和妇女受益于她的工作。

Traditionally, girls have used rags or dry grasses to deal with their period. Mebrahtu's pads are fully washable, with an absorbent cotton lining and waterproof backing. They are secured to the underwear with a button.

传统上，女孩会用破布或干草来处理月经。梅布拉图的卫生巾可完全清洗，有吸水棉衬里和防水衬垫。它们用一个纽扣固定在内裤上。

The pads cost 90% less than a year's worth of disposable pads and can last up to two years with proper care, making them environmentally friendly.

这种卫生巾的成本比一次性卫生巾低90%，在适当的护理下可以使用两年，对环境非常友好。

More than 80% of the pads she manufactures are sold to non-governmental organizations that distribute them for free.

她生产的卫生巾80%以上都卖给了非政府组织，这些组织免费发放卫生巾。

Mebrahtu also worked for years to end the stigma around this issue by speaking to students at schools.

梅布拉图多年来一直致力于通过对学校学生的演讲来消除人们对这一问题的偏见。

"The whole goal was not only making the pads, but also attacking the cultural baggage to it," she said. "But it was very limited, because it was just me working on my own."

她说:“我们的整体目标不仅是生产卫生巾，还要打击其中的文化包袱。”“但这是非常有限的，因为只有我一个人在工作。”

That changed when she met Dr. Lewis Wall, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology from the US. He was greatly impressed with how much she was doing and in 2014, he and his wife created a nonprofit, Dignity Period, to support her work.

当她遇到来自美国的妇产科教授刘易斯·沃尔博士时，情况发生了变化。她所做的工作给他留下了深刻的印象。2014年，他和妻子创建了一个名为“尊严时期”的非营利组织，以支持她的工作。

Now, in partnership with Mekelle University, the organization has greatly expanded Mebrahtu's efforts. To date, the group has conducted educational workshops for more than 300,000 students, teaching girls that menstruation is natural, not shameful. Mebrahtu speaks at these events occasionally and enjoys seeing thousands of students receiving this message.

现在，通过与梅克尔大学的合作，该组织大大扩展了Mebrahtu的努力。迄今为止，该组织已经为30多万名学生举办了教育研讨会，教导女孩月经是自然的，不是可耻的。梅布拉图偶尔会在这些活动中发言，并乐于看到成千上万的学生收到这样的信息。