These are no tell-tales. These are real stories of girls and women exposed to sexual abuse and exploitation due to what has become known as ‘period poverty’.
Afia’s mother got sick when she was 12 years old. She had to move in to live with her aunty at Techiman where she was enrolled in a school.
It was at the school she first had her menses, something she lacked knowledge about. She soiled her uniform and boys in her class made fun of her.
When Afia got home and informed her aunty about her experience, she was emotionally abused and received no support; neither education on her menstrual cycle nor access to sanitary pad.
She resorted to using toilet roll and went back to school after two weeks.
During her second menstruation, she soiled her dress again. This time, a man in his 30s saw her in her state of distress and invited her home to wash down.
“I saw him as a father figure in the community and saw no harm in following him,” Afia told David Akuetteh on Luv in the Morning show.
The man promised to provide her with sanitary pads every month, in addition to a daily stipend of Gh1.50.
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