'I felt shame' - Leeds girl, 15, forced to improvise due to lack of period products

Ajmal Said, 15, of Harehills, is one of three menstruating women in her home in Harehills and as the pandemic broke out they realised they did not have enough products.

Supermarket shelves had been stripped bare in their local shops and even when re-stocked the family were limited to four packs by the retail restrictions.

Ajmal and her sister had to instead use toilet paper until her family received products from Freedom4Girls.

She said: "I was embarrassed and annoyed because people had so many that they didn’t need that month - knowing that other people would need them.

"It was very stressful. I had already had a lot of stress for other things, so it was just added on stress. It got to the point where I didn’t know what to do.

"I felt shame. It was very sad."

Her mother, Sada Abballa, 47, said she was horrified when she realised that she would have to resort to the method she was forced to use as a child in Africa, using 'kanga' - the fabric worn on women's heads - instead.

"It was really bad. I can’t lie. Explaining that to my children was every worse. This is how we did it when I was a child and now I’m going to pass it on to you. It was really heartbreaking to be honest. I never thought of that. I never thought that moment would come into my life again, of having to use the old method.

"It’s still not good., it’s not comfortable, it’s very itchy, it’s not hygienic at all.

"My children did not want to do that. So I had to tell them to use toilet paper.

"That was the struggling time for me and my children."

Sada now volunteers as a distributor for Freedom4Girls among her Swahili community and said she gets approached constantly by women desperate for products.

She said: "More people are coming. If they see me in the street, they ask me ‘Have you got any? Can I come?’ Because many people have three or four girls in the house, not just one person. They don’t have enough for three or four people every month - that’s a lot of money.

"They feel very relieved [to get products]. Knowing that they have a place that they can rely on. They don’t have to worry about it any more, especially those who have young girls."

A message from the Editor: Leeds has a fantastic story to tell - and the Yorkshire Evening Post has been rooted firmly at the heart of telling the stories of our city since 1890. We believe in ourselves and hope you believe in us too. We need your support to help ensure we can continue to be at the heart of life in Leeds.

Subscribe to our website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Click here to subscribe. For more details on our newspaper subscription offers click here.

Thank you

Laura Collins