No More Shame: A Seed Grant Restoring Period Dignity in Rural Rwanda

Yesterday, the world marked Menstrual Hygiene Day, a global call to end the stigma and silence that still surround menstruation. But for Leonce Hirwa, a 25 year old medical student from Rwanda, this fight started long before any international awareness campaign. It started in the classrooms of his childhood, where empty seats told a story no one was willing to say out loud.

As a boy growing up in Rwanda, Leonce watched girls disappear from school for days every month. Some used rags. Others simply stayed home, weighed down by shame. No one talked about it. Years later, during his clinical rotations as a medical student, the same silence followed him into examination rooms. “I feel dirty when I bleed,” a young girl told him. That single sentence changed the course of his work. “No one should feel ashamed of something so natural,” Leonce says. “This project is my response, to educate, uplift, and restore dignity.”

That response became The Pride in Periods Initiative, a grassroots menstrual health education program that brought reusable sanitary pads and life changing knowledge to schoolgirls across Nyamagabe District. And a seed grant from The Pollination Project’s Daily Grant Program gave it the resources to begin.

With $500 from The Pollination Project, Leonce and a team of medical student volunteers set out to visit a handful of schools. They ended up reaching 12: G.S Uwinkomo, G.S Murico, G.S Gikongoro, EP Ruganza, EP Muse, G.S Gasaka, G.S Kigeme, G.S Munini, G.S Mbazi, G.S Kitabi, G.S Kinyana, G.S Kibumbwe, and G.S Kiyumba.

The grant funded soft cotton fabric and waterproof lining for reusable hygiene pads, sewing materials, menstrual health workshop handouts and printed awareness brochures, handwashing soap, hand sanitizer, chalk markers and flipcharts for teaching, local transportation for volunteer outreach visits, and internet bundles for project coordination. Every dollar was stretched with intention, and every franc went directly toward activities that put girls at the center.

The impact numbers speak for themselves:

• 4,800 girls received menstrual health education
• 3,600 boys were trained to understand and support their classmates
• 50 teachers were equipped to continue menstrual health conversations in classrooms
• 450 reusable sanitary pads were distributed to girls who had none
• 12 schools across Nyamagabe District were reached
• 8,450 people directly impacted in total
• 200 volunteer hours contributed by medical student volunteers

The Pride in Periods Initiative was designed around a simple but powerful idea: ending period stigma requires everyone. Medical student volunteers led peer to peer workshops that taught girls how to manage their periods safely, how to make and care for reusable pads, and how their bodies work. But the program did not stop with girls. Boys attended parallel sessions where they learned about menstruation, challenged teasing behaviors, and committed to supporting their female classmates. Teachers received separate training so that the lessons would continue long after the volunteers left.

“Boys told us they would stop teasing classmates about periods,” Leonce shared. “Teachers now continue the lessons on their own. Most importantly, school attendance among girls has started to improve.”

Pre and post workshop quizzes confirmed what volunteers could already see: knowledge scores improved significantly across all 12 schools. Girls knew more about hygiene, pad use, and their own bodies. In feedback sessions, they said they felt less ashamed and more confident. Many asked questions about menstruation openly for the first time in their lives.

The road to 12 schools was not smooth. Heavy rains turned roads to mud, forcing volunteers to walk long distances or ride motorbikes on slippery paths. Taking photographs proved difficult due to poor lighting in crowded classrooms, and some girls were understandably shy about being photographed near menstrual products. The team navigated these challenges with patience, always asking for consent and waiting for the right moments.

Despite these obstacles, every planned activity was completed successfully, a testament to the determination of a volunteer team that believed deeply in the mission.

The initiative caught the attention of MEDSAR, the Medical Student Association of Rwanda. Recognizing the value of the project, MEDSAR contributed additional funding that covered transport tickets for volunteers traveling to all 12 schools and helped purchase more reusable sanitary pads. This endorsement from Rwanda’s national medical student community signaled that the initiative resonated far beyond Nyamagabe District.

“MEDSAR’s support is a form of recognition from Rwanda’s young health leaders,” Leonce explains. “It shows that others believe in this work.”

The Pride in Periods Initiative has already exceeded its original goals, reaching over 20 times the number of girls initially promised. But Leonce sees this as just the beginning. The next steps include follow up visits to the 50 trained teachers to check on progress three months after the workshops, fundraising to distribute more reusable pads because 450 were not enough, and expansion into two additional districts in Rwanda.

“We have seen that this model works,” Leonce says. “Educate girls, include boys and teachers, provide pads, and break shame. With more support, we can reach thousands more.”

The Pollination Project’s seed grant did more than fund materials. It offered something rarer: trust in a young medical student with a vision. “TPP did not just give money,” Leonce reflects. “You trusted a young medical student with a big dream. That trust made us work harder and go further. We promised 400 girls. We reached 8,450 people. We learned that even small resources, when used with heart, can change a community.”

As the echoes of Menstrual Hygiene Day continue to ripple across the globe, The Pride in Periods Initiative stands as proof that compassion, paired with even modest philanthropic investment, can transform the lives of thousands. In rural Rwanda, girls are walking back into classrooms with confidence, boys are standing beside them as allies, and teachers are carrying the conversation forward. Dignity has taken root, and it is growing.

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