I want to be a medium : Collecting Menstrual Relief for Earthquake Survivors in Turkey and Syria

Abhilasha Fnu
Feb 8, 2023
3 min read

Updated: Feb 9, 2023

Today as I sit in my room in this peaceful neighborhood of North Hollywood, I feel so much pain and discomfort.

It’s my periods - my first day of almost recurring event every month since past 16 years.

And yet it pains the same as it felt when I first got my periods.

I have clothes, food, cold water to drink, warm water to bathe out my bleeding vagina.

I have herbal tea bag to make my mood soothing.

I have a wooden floor with a privilege of a grey carpet that can fit 3 persons vertically but I have the space to have it right beside my bed, and I lie, diagonally, just to stretch my back.

I have music for my ears when I feel a want to groove, because sometimes, some dance moves release good hormones.

And visual full of content for my distractions from whenever I have my contractions.

I have people to talk to just one button away.

I have access to all the information and services for any severe pain I experience.

I am at home and sanitized and still, it is so painful, such a discomfort - every time.

Though today as I do some stretching to feel better...

My mind goes to those teenagers, who are surviving a catastrophe, a natural disaster.

Those who are sleeping under an open sky as they bleed, hardly a cloth on their body.

What is their discomfort?

What is their pain?

What is their physical and mental distress?

What about that girl who got her first period on the day when she finds her family crushed under her own childhood walls.

Now, as I vent about how I can’t accept this 'woman thing' ever, this pain that I go through every month... How does it even look in front of that teenage girl who just got her first period and has no clue why is her whole world bleeding red and hurting so bad?

So I decided to stop venting and do something!

In my understanding, Turkey embassy is accepting relief supplies as in kind-assistance.

I have written an email to the embassy asking and to get a confirmation if volunteers can send menstrual supplies. Hopefully they will reply and if not, I will call them tomorrow.

But I am hoping to collect volunteer supplies and taking the responsibility of packaging according to the embassy requirements. Any volunteering help is most welcomed, please contact me for that.

Why am I doing this?

This initiative feels like a strong calling for me, I need support and help to execute this. I don't know how far and what is going to be the scale of this initiative but I believe that those females need my service, they need assistance in their shaken life, they need support, they need someone who is thinking about their basic needs while their believes are distorted at the moment, while their realities have changed forever.

What am I asking from you?

If you can send any supplies listed below through shopping delivery sites, or drop-offs at the address given below, or want to donate money for plastic bags, or want me to buy supplies, you can Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal on the phone number below with a note 'Relief Fund'.

I would request you to spread the word, if possible. It might be helpful.

I am also researching on Syria direct relief ways, as there' s no Syrian Embassy in US currently for direct contact. Let me know if you have any lead.