I was a teenager and loved to ride a bicycle. Cycling wasn’t encouraged in our city but I did with my father. I was a bookworm. I used to read travel books and dreamed about traveling all over the world. One day I was coming from school and my mom saw blood in my cloth and told me about menstruation. That day I was handed over some piece of old cloth and told to use that during menstruation and told not to ride bicycle. I didn’t know much about the menstruation and not about the stuff to be used or to do during that time. Everything stopped.
Twenty years after that when I was riding through our country to aware girls about menstruation, picture wasn’t changed a bit.
Being the victim of a patriarchal society when two girls planned to visit every corner of Bangladesh with a motorcycle (not very common to ride a bike for women) and deliver the message of empowerment and freedom to the school going girls of the remotest area, people didn’t think that was a very good idea.
I was in medical school and loved to travel. Let me tell you in my place women traveling solo or in group was frowned upon. I was a fan of cycling and biking but girls who ride bikes are not labeled ‘GOOD’. I found the idea very troubling.
At that time me and my friend Sakia Haque founded Travelettes of Bangladesh for women and their safe traveling. Our motto was to empower women through travel. And both of our dreams was to ride every part of our country by motorbike. We were inspired after seeing the movie ‘Motorcycle diaries. Without thinking about the difficulties, we were about to face, we announced the project “Narir chokhe Bangladesh” which means Bangladesh through women’s eye.
The project started from 6 April,2017 t and ended on 5 May 2019. we have traveled approximately 13000 kilometers and visited every 64 districts in Bangladesh. Our mission is to spread the freedom and enlighten girls about the roots of the misconception about menstruation.
In Bangladesh, menstruation is a taboo topic. Sad but true, here girls are not comfortable to talk about this, let alone be aware. I found in many rural areas’ girls are still forced to use old, uncleaned pieces of cloths as there is no supply of sanitary napkins. And some are too poor to buy sanitary products. And thus, the cycle of ignorance goes on. Among city dwellers, the security issue of girls is a burning question. Rape and harassment have been increasing day by day. So, being able to defend themselves, are a chance to be safe.
So, our job was simple. Educate girls and teach them how to defend themselves. Sounds easy, no? but it wasn’t quite simple. We rode our 125-cc bike with our baggage and a companion to every district and arranged a workshop about Bangladesh, liberation war, menstrual health and self-defense. Some people laughed, some frowned, and some got angry. Some of them felt ashamed that we were openly talking about this taboo topic. We were threatened to stop because apparently, people thought we were going out of social norms. But we didn’t stop. And after two and a half year I, Dr. Manoshi Saha and my friend Dr. Sakia haque are two women who completed visiting all 64 districts of Bangladesh as well as empowering almost thirty thousand young girls of my country. That is how dreams come true.