Since Israel blocked the entry of personal hygiene products into Gaza, Aya Ashour, a young Palestinian journalist, began to tell in her videos for the “Women with Gaza” project what it means to live without soap and sanitary towels. Her testimony to Fanpage.it: “We feel as if we have been deprived of our dignity as human beings.”
Interview with Aya Ashour
Palestinian activist and journalist
“We have a lot to talk about. About the condition of women pregnant women, teenagers and any other Palestinian woman who lives today in Gaza.” This is one of the first messages he sent me Aya Ashour directly from Gazawhere he currently lives and works.
Aya collaborates with “Women with Gaza”an Italian-Palestinian project of collective mutualism, supported by many Palestinian and Italian feminist associations. Their goal is to raise funds to help women victims of menstrual poverty and raise awareness on the topic, making it known to as many people as possible what it means to be a woman today in Gaza.
The story of Aya a Gaza
Aya is a young 23-year-old Palestinian journalist. Since when, since the beginning of the war, Israel has banned the entry of products for personal hygiene, she decided to take her smartphone and tell what this means for the women of Gaza, forced to live without soap or sanitary padseven during the days of the menstrual cycle. In fact, the few products available have prohibitive prices to say the least: a single bottle of soap can cost as much as $30.
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This deprivation of the most basic rights It is called “menstrual poverty”: a condition which, in addition to causing profound humiliation, can also lead to death. “In Gaza if you don’t die of hunger, you can die from lack of personal hygiene products“, Aya says in one of his videos.
A Fanpage.it Aya narrated what he saw and experienced in recent months and what she and the other 690,000 menstruating women currently present in Gaza are forced to suffer due to the lack of personal hygiene products and sanitary napkins.
Photo of Aya Ashour
How does the shortage of personal hygiene products affect the health of women in Gaza and put them at risk?
To Gaza any product is missing for personal hygiene, not just intimate hygiene: from shampoo to laundry soap to sanitary towels.
The shortage of soap and shampoo favored the spread of various diseasesbut above all not being able to have sanitary napkins has led many women to develop serious intimate infections and deep cracks in the skin. In fact, we often have to carry the same pad throughout the day and this causes irritations and abrasions similar to burns, which we cannot cure because even medicines are difficult to find.
But the shortage of other products is also causing many problems: for example, the lack of shampoo on the market has favored the spread of lice. Many women had to shave their heads or cut their hair very short. Me too I had to cut my beloved long hair: I felt like I was losing a part of my identity.
The fact that we can no longer find laundry detergent, however, forces many women to use locally produced powders, products that are too aggressive for the skin which end up causing severe burns and hand infections.
You told me that health problems do not only affect women of childbearing age, but also pregnant and younger women. Can you explain me better?
As for pregnant women, the greatest risks concern those who suffer from malnutrition: They may die during childbirth or have serious health problems after the baby is born. Furthermore, theinability to take vitaminsnecessary for the health and correct development of the fetus, further threatens both their lives and that of their children.
How do younger girls experience this period?
For younger girls, adolescents and single women, the problems are physical and mental health. What can their life be like if nThey cannot use sanitary pads why aren’t they there? Many girls are forced to make do as best they can, using cloths or rags instead of sanitary pads. But these solutions are not safe for their health: the poor hygienic conditions due to the use of these improvised sanitary pads favor the formation of bacteria in the genital area, which, without treatment, can penetrate deep into the reproductive system, up to the uterus, causing long-term health problems.
All this, in addition to taking a toll on their physical health, has a strong psychological impact which at this age girls cannot face without suffering trauma.
What does it feel like to have your period without having pads?
I’ll try to tell you what I tried when I was for months forced to use only one sanitary napkin all day during your period. It was like walking on embers all day. I continually had the feeling of being forced to do something that made me deeply uncomfortable and I was obsessed with the fear of getting dirty.
I felt like I was deprived of my dignity of woman and human being.
In addition to the physical consequences, this problem also has a strong psychological burden. Can you help me understand?
We are experiencing a trauma that we will never overcome because simply we don’t have time to process it and heal. I could never forget what I saw and experienced while I was working in one of the UNRWA centers (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East).
I still have it imprinted in my mind images of women in line to have a few more absorbents. Or that time a 15-year-old girl approached me asking for tampons and underwear. He had used his so many times that it was worn out. Those few pads that are around are so expensive that the girls feel guilty asking for money to the family because they know that the priority is food.
Imagine what all this means for a woman used to living in a conservative social and cultural context.
What does it mean?
It robs us of our humanity and our privacy in a degrading way. All these traumas impact our mental health, making us feel deprived of our dignity. Many women have developed forms of anxiety and depression. Some even have seriously thought about suicide.
Why did you choose to tell what’s happening with your videos?
It hasn’t always been easy to share my videos for i frequent connection problemsbut I never stopped trying. We really have need the world to know what women are going through here, especially feminist organizations and activists. We can no longer accept don’t feel like any other woman in the world just because we live in Gaza. We need to feel that women are with us and that they empathize with us.
