No Period, No Life
Inspired by ASWA III training, a tailor in Adamawa is using his skills to change the story around menstrual health.
In some cultures, men do not talk about menstruation. Some believe it is taboo for a man to even mention it. John Japhet is different.
Japhet lives in Ganye Local Government Area in Adamawa State. He is a tailor known for stitching elegant outfits that make his customers stand out. People trust his hands. They wear his work with pride.
But Japhet believes looking good is not enough. There is a group that deserves to feel confident, comfortable and dignified every month. Women and girls during their period.
“Menstruation is life. If there is no menstruation, there is no life,” he says.
Japheth says his logic is simple. Menstruation means fertility. It means health. Without it, there would be no pregnancies, no childbirth, no continuation of life. It is not something to hide. It is something to understand and support.
In Ganye, as in many communities across Nigeria, managing a period can be hard. Stigma weighs heavily. Knowledge is limited. Family and community support is thin. The cost of safe products is high. The risk of infection is real. All of these make a natural process harder than it should be.
Japhet has seen it at home.
“I support my wife. I have had to buy sanitary pads for her,” he says. “I understand how important they are to women's health. A woman can develop an infection if menstruation is not properly managed.”
He also knows the price keeps many away. In low-income communities, disposable pads are simply out of reach.
So, when the Ganye Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) unit invited him to a capacity building programme on menstrual hygiene management, he did not hesitate.
The training was part of the Accelerated Sanitation and Water for All initiative, ASWA III, funded by the Netherlands to improve water, sanitation and hygiene services across Adamawa. “I was excited and eager to see what the training would be like,” he recalls.
The sessions brought together men, women, girls and boys to learn about good hygiene, proper menstrual hygiene management and how to create a safe and supportive environment for girls and women to manage their periods.
One part stayed with him more than the rest. Learning to make affordable, reusable menstrual pads.
“That was the topmost part of the training for me,” he says, his excitement still clear.
The training gave him a new sense of purpose. As a tailor, he already had the skills. The training showed him how those skills could protect the health and dignity of women and girls in his community.
“Being a tailor already, it was easy for me,” he says. “The training opened my eyes to an area that is so important to our women's wellbeing.”
He did not wait. Right after the training, he started sewing reusable pads, affordable, easy to use and made with care.
“I have schoolgirls and women as customers,” he says. For him, each sale means more than income. It means a girl can go to school with confidence. A woman can work without fear. It is proof that his craft can do more than make beautiful clothes. It can change lives.
Japhet is not alone. In Adamawa, more than 150 people including teachers, adolescent girls and boys, and tailors have been trained on safe and dignified menstrual health management using the new Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management manual. The inclusion of boys and men matters deeply. They are critical to breaking myths and changing attitudes.
When asked if he feels uncomfortable making pads as a man, because some say men should not be part of this conversation, Japhet just smiles.
“Why wouldn't I? Menstruation is life.”
His answer captures a growing truth. Menstruation is not only a women's issue. It needs community support. It needs homes, schools and communities where girls and women can bleed safely, hygienically, without stigma and without having to break the bank.
In Ganye, Japhet views every reusable pad he stitches as a statement that no girl should miss school, no woman should miss work, and no one should feel stigmatized because of something as natural as menstruation. His needle may have been accustomed to stitching clothes. Today, with skills strengthened through ASWA III, it is helping stitch together something bigger: dignity, confidence and a community willing to talk about periods without shame.
