Anonymous

I began the journey of change from girl to woman in a boarding house full of hormonal teenage girls. Together we experienced the same transformations in our bodies, minds and souls, we were becoming women. We shouted, fought, cried and hugged, usually in that order.

As we grew up, we sang and laughed together as we fell asleep under the same roof each night. We wrote long letters to each other, talked about boys in detail and wished for the day we would fall in love. Every detail of our womanhood was discussed and analysed as we tried to understand what was happening inside us.

In those days most girls including myself used sanitary pads, which were eventually deemed gross, messy and uncomfortable. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and having to change my sheets and my underwear, and sometimes even my pyjamas, because there was blood all over my bed. I was mortified by it, even though I was surrounded by other girls going through exactly the same experience.

I had a close bunch of friends at the time and one of them, the ballsiest and the leader of our small clan, suggested I start using tampons. I hadn’t known about them before this. After becoming aware of my predicament, my friend was adamant that I was going to learn to use them.

So it was that one afternoon she pulled me along to our bathroom, with a pink tampon box in hand, to explain how they worked. She pulled out the instruction sheet and opened the page up to show me the picture. I remember feeling shy and embarrassed when I realised I would have to stick the thing up with my finger. I was scared it was going to hurt, that it would get stuck and never come out. I thought, “What if it gets stuck and someone else has to take it out?”

On the prompting of my friend, I finally took one out of the box and locked myself in one of the toilets with my friend standing by for encouragement. With a one quick movement, I pushed the tampon up into place and, feeling slightly uncomfortable, waddled out the bathroom.

I felt liberated and in charge the rest of the day, having faced the unknown and come out a woman. I have used tampons ever since and never looked back. Every now and then I remember that first time—I have a good chuckle at the whole experience and am reminded just how important it is to have girlfriends.

The writer is a primary school teacher who is happily engaged and believes in the power of love to overcome all obstacles.