Individual Element

Reflective Paper:

Evaluation of project processes:

Me and my team unanimously agreed on choosing menstrual hygiene as our
topic. We had begun with the idea of health and hygiene in general and
eventually landed specifically on menstruation as me and my teammates all
being women were already aware of the struggles and the taboo culture of it.

The name Aafiat was in a long list of names and we agreed it was the most
suitable to define our project as it meant “good health”. We all agreed that
initially, we wanted to hold seminars to educate young girls and eventually
realised we would need to not only expand our target audience into the lower
class but also would need donations to provide the most issue-saturated group
with sanitary napkins necessary to maintain their hygiene.

Evaluation of Project Outcome in Achieving Project Aim:

Pakistan is a country where menstruation itself is a taboo and as we went along
we realised that the reason why menstrual health was ignored was mostly due to
financial hurdles as well as cultural and religious misconceptions. Therefore, we
decided to not only financially help women become more hygienic but also to
teach them as much as we can about the gravity of the situation. We visited
women of all age groups(early teens to women in their 40s) experiencing
menstruation and ensured our audience was diverse. We visited girls from 2
branches of our school, women living in slums and even housemaids. In the
end, we managed to reach over 350 women in Lahore. We also managed to
collect PKR 12000 in monetary funds out of which we donated PKR 8000 to
Waduha Welfare Organisation and the rest was used to buy sanitary napkins for
the women living in slums.

At the seminars we held at LGS Awasia and LGS Punjab branch, we educated
young girls about menstrual hygiene and the dangers of its lack thereof. We also
distributed surveys to them to collect data for our primary research which
showed that when it came to seeking medical attention, only 5% visited
gynaecologists regularly, 22% visited once or twice, while 73% had never been
to one even when they experienced abnormal symptoms(e.g., intense cramps,
delayed menstruation, excessive/ bare bleeding)

We also interviewed esteemed professionals in gynaecology and oncology

throughout Lahore; Dr. Maria Farooq, Dr. Umme Habiba Ishfaq and Dr.
Nausheen Tauseef. They were kind enough to help us expand our knowledge on
the subject of menstrual hygiene, the common myths women believe concerning
this and the types of patients they deal with. We also paid a visit to Avicenna
Medical College where we interviewed many professors and students.

However, we did encounter many difficulties. We had wanted to visit TCF(The

Citizens Foundation) which would help us expand our audience. We also
wanted to interview men—as many men make mentruation a shameful taboo
and either aren’t aware or do not care for the health of their women— whether
they were gynaecologists or the husbands of the women we interviewed.
However, no one was willing. We also struggled to arrange international
interviews, however, at the last minute we managed to schedule an interview
with Dr Rida Zafar from UAE. We posted all our progress, seminars and
interviews on our Instagram page.

One of our biggest drawbacks was our inability to reach a larger

audience(mainly the illiterate lower class where the issue was the most
saturated). This was due to our main advertisement being on social media, and
that too only on the Instagram platform, which is inaccessible to the lower class.
Our posters, brochures and surveys were all in English which these women
could neither read nor understand. We also had wished to hold a bake sale at our
school to raise more funds but failed repeatedly due to issues like permissions
from the school, our dates overlapping with other groups holding bake sales and
management of funds. Overall, I consider our outcome to be quite successful
although there is much room for improvement.

Communication:
We used WhatsApp to communicate and met during short breaks, homeroom
and after-school sessions at school. We wanted to schedule more in-person
discussions outside of school but we were unable to do so due to transport
issues and lack of permission from our parents. I struggled to communicate my
ideas effectively or get them implemented as my team and I had personal issues
that we repeatedly failed to separate from our work which I regret as it made us
ineffecient and prevented us from being more productive.

Evaluation of individual performance:

As the focal person I felt a responsibility to do everything myself but soon
realized that I am also part of a team and am supposed to function like it and
delegate tasks.

I took part in suggesting names and slogans for our project and although the
names I suggested weren’t selected, I am glad that the name Aafiat, suggested
by my team member Nayab Tanveer, was chosen unanimously. However, the
slogan I suggested “sehat o salamti ka safar” which means “a journey of health
and well-being” was chosen. I actively took part in designing our brochure and
poster while the flex was designed by Minahil Ali and Hamna Israr and the logo
was designed by Minahil and Fajar Tariq. I was also the one to design our
surveys and wrote the questions along with Nayab for them and our Google
forms. I was also in charge of the printing of all our campaign material and
finding a place to print the best quality at the cheapest price which I felt
exhausted while doing as I was running throughout Lahore from place to place
trying to collect samples and compare them. This went on for a week and after
my team had discussed the costs and had viewed all the samples in person at
school, I finally placed the order.

I also took part in designing our posts and adding English subtitles to our
interviews. I only interviewed 3 women during our slum visit as I lacked
confidence in public speaking and was thankful to Nayab for taking the reins.
Unfortunately, due to transport issues and miscommunication with my team, I
failed to be present at Dr Nausheen Tauseef’s and Dr. Umme Habiba Ishfaq’s
interviews. Although I did take part in the disease awareness speech at our
seminars.

Benefits and challenges of working as a team:

I realised quickly that I was grateful to my team members as we all had skills
that complemented each other. Nayab was our spokesperson and interviewer,
Hamna our photographer and social media handler, Fajar our editor and Minahil
our designer as well as a content writer while I did research and also took part in
designing. Most of the tasks such as editing interviews and posting on social
media were distributed between all of us. Fajar was the one to arrange an
international interview at the last minute which helped us immensely.

However, one of the greatest issues we faced as a team was financing and
miscommunication. Although we had all initially discussed the costs before the
order was placed, we still later argued about the costs and the fault was
repeatedly pinned on me as I was in charge of the printing. Miscommunication
also occurred greatly on problems concerning our surveys, interview dates and
more. My team eventually wanted to kick me out of the team even after my
contributions but thankfully our subject teacher was able to resolve the issue.
We all greatly failed to be professional and separate our issues from our work

I was very enthusiastic at the start of the project and took most of the workload
on myself willingly but as disputes arose, over time, I greatly lost my genuine
interest and passion in the project and started viewing it as more of a chore. I
realised that effective communication and transparency are the basic things that
keep a team intact. I also learned a lesson for the future, that compromises must
be made to not only maintain harmony but also for individual peace.

Different cultural perspectives and personal learning:

the greatest culture shock I received was during the slums visit where women
we interviewed made statements such as, ”I prefer to bleed into my trousers
openly instead of using any product,” “I think using a cloth is more comfortable
in comparison to pads,” and “it’s sinful and dirty to use pads.” The men around
us straight up refused to engage in any discussion related to this topic and I was
even personally scolded by my own father intensely on multiple occasions for
pursuing such a “shameful topic”, as he put it, especially whenever I went for
interviews and fund-raising. Many boys at our school laughed and made fun of
us. We as a team made sure that none of us were fazed by their comments and
continued to educate young girls and women. I am also grateful to the doctors
we interviewed to enlighten us with information which was useful in properly
educating women when we visited slums especially since they were unaware of
the diseases caused by negligence of menstrual hygiene.
Links to our work:
1. Instagram page
https://www.instagram.com/aafiat.org.official/#
2. Logo
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFscHLS1M0/S_5Cp76jyKlLhoSLD5s
b3w/edit?
utm_content=DAFscHLS1M0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_mediu
m=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
3. Survey
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFu_f4x57o/QGGZALYpz87C76mNx
Kg1FA/edit?
utm_content=DAFu_f4x57o&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium
=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
4. Google forms
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KENAxZ1uKVJ5uqijYdiBY6Ws
MIUAzJcj?usp=sharing
5. Flex
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFt_J74wZk/f3xXKp0TT7O7CuDtJhd2
7Q/edit?
utm_content=DAFt_J74wZk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_mediu
m=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
6. Poster
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFuEbgwQis/VlcjgDZyufYCS1xD9iaY
gQ/edit?
utm_content=DAFuEbgwQis&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_mediu
m=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
7. Brochure
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFtSje6WCE/59BJ_xi9ImVjpwuiYqyV
 6g/edit?
utm_content=DAFtSje6WCE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_mediu
m=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
8. Dr. Rida Zafar interview(UAE)
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5PAIu0NzMB/?
utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
9. Slums visit https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3hdPKVNPby/?
utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
10.Avicenna Medical College visit
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cz4EHNFNnZL/?
utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
11.Seminar at LGS Awasia https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy8YP85tVqg/?
utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
12. Seminar at LGS Punjab
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy8Xsm-NGrx/?
utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
13. Professionals’ interviews
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17899178966823004/#