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It is winter solstice time for those of us in the northern hemisphere, where days are getting shorter and the nights are longer and dark. As we pay attention to cycles, aware that we are intimately woven into these greater cycles of nature, we can't help but notice that in the last few weeks, life has felt darker and colder
in more ways than one. Auroville - our beloved home and community is undergoing a crisis which is affecting all of us deeply. Pressures to accelerate the pace of growth of Auroville have amplified polarised views within our community on how this development should happen. An ecological perspective has always been central to our work at Eco Femme and the recent bulldozing to start road building through our precious forests has been alarming and painful. For more information, please visit www.standforaurovilleunity.com. We invite you to stand with us as we grapple with these issues and to add your name to this petition if you feel inclined to support.
On a more positive note, we have been warmed and encouraged by some wonderful highlights these last months. In this newsletter we are happy to share a video with Saphara showcasing the powerful ways menstrual health education is making a difference and an inspiring story, about the work our intrepid ambassador Prerna is doing, combining her passions of menstrual education and rock climbing! There is also a link to a fabulous podcast about menstrual cycle awareness and lots of other juicy bits of news such as the launch of our first period kit and the results of our recent art competition. Enjoy!
As the year winds to an end, we take this moment to extend our heartfelt gratitude to you all - our partners, ambassadors, retailers and friends and well wishers worldwide! We have been bolstered by the support and encouragement that your loyalty and friendship gives us. As our sunlit days get longer, may we all start to feel some restoration of energies for the new cycle that lies ahead.
With much love!
Kathy and Jessamijn (co-founders)
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We launched our First Period Kit!
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As you know, menstrual education is at the heart of our work. Therefore, we created a first period kit to give girls the opportunity to begin their cycling years with all the essentials
to experience sustainable and healthy periods right from the start!
The 8 pads in 4 different sizes make it
easy to handle the flow with flexibility and confidence. Besides 2
Panty liners, 2 Day Pads, 2 Day Pad Plus, 2 Night Pads, it also contains 1
Carry Pouch to use when one is out and about and 1 special Cloth Pad
Soap (making washing so much easier!).
The First Period Kit is available on our website and you can watch our YouTube video to see how it looks like!
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Saphara India's generous donation!
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We were honoured to join hands with Saphara to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child 2021. Saphara made a powerful short film which was screened at the One World Festival which showcases the work of Lakshmy Das ( Eco Femme Ambassador), Angana Prasad ( Eco Femme Partner and director at Project KHEL) and Nikethana from Eco Femme. It focuses on the incredible work they have been doing to empower adolescent girls to handle their periods sustainably in the midst of the pandemic and explores how menstrual education, when done well, can be a catalyst for ending taboos and liberating girls voices. We are deeply grateful to Christine from Saphara for her passionate and tireless commitment to supporting the special needs of adolescent girls and for giving our work visibility through this special film: Eco Heroes in a Pandemic - Girls speak out! The message is powerful - take a look!
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Events are picking up again!
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Events are slowing picking up again in India. We are grateful to our ambassadors Anisha, Nandini and Sandhya who represented Eco Femme at the September and November editions of the art and music Shift Festival in Jaipur.
Anisha shared: "We managed to stir conversations about sustainable menstruation in these two days with not just females but also with the men folk at the festival through our exhibit." We were very glad to hear that, once again, men are also interested by our topic! Even, last edition, Anisha gave a talk about menstrual health where all genders were part of the audience and all listening very attentively as you can see on the picture! 😻
Here’s a glimpse of what the event looked like and another edition is happening this weekend, so see you there!
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Prerna & climbing women Lights, camera....ambassador action!
Meet our ambassador and professional climber Prerna who initiated Climb Like A Woman (CLAW).
CLAW aims to create a positive space through rock climbing where women can learn, grow, and get inspired in an unbiased and encouraging environment. Amazing, isn't it...?! Every year the project CLAW brings together women from all over India to share the joys of climbing in a pristine outdoor location. Through climbing they challenge the limits of their comfort zone. Yet it is so much more than just climbing! It is about camaraderie, vulnerability, strength, learning and unlearning, developing their abilities and discerning the opportunities around them.
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Furthermore, Prerna shared: "Despite the many ways in which we are all different, the one thing that unites us is the menstrual cycle! And, feeling confident in our own skin is one of the focuses of our project. We love associating with brands that enable that. So this year, we introduced our participants to the colourful, organic cotton cloth pads made by Eco Femme in a bid to celebrate the spirit of our periods in a sustainable way!
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They all loved the Panty Liner and the Day Pad Plus we gave them! It was a new concept for some who were intrigued by them while those who knew about cloth pads were super excited to be able to get two samples! And, the panty liner was definitely declared as an essential traveling companion!"
Photo credit: Gayatri @Gayatri Juvekar and @climblikeawoman photographer.
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Podcast about menstruation by the Red School We are, like nature, cyclical beings and we belong to Life itself. This is something that our menstrual cycles constantly remind us!
Learning to listen to, and respect our fluctuating tidal natures bestows countless benefits which become more visible as we adopt a regular practice of menstrual cycle tracking. We grow in self awareness of our own unique patterns and can learn to "go with the flow" in life. This is one of our core values and something we are extremely passionate about at Eco Femme.
We recently came across this wonderful podcast and wanted to share it as the message contained is so inspiring and resonant with this understanding. Katie Shepherd Cohen is a leader in the menstrual movement and her talk How Menstrualism can Birth Social and Environmental Change, hosted by our friends at The Red School is powerful and visionary.
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Menstrual products & their disposal
This recent report produced by Toxic's link is a fantastic resource document for anyone who wants to understand the reality of sanitary waste in India. It is a well researched report that dives into the health and environmental impacts of disposable sanitary napkins. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in this topic!
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Petition: We need Plastic Free Period Products! On a similar note, here is a petition initiated by our brand
new Eco Femme ambassador Artika who's a Menstrual & Sexual Health Educator
and made this petition in collaboration with Global Shapers Hub, Delhi. The petition is asking for plastic free and toxic free
period products! The petition requests the government, regulatory
authorities and manufacturers to progressively reduce and eventually
stop using plastic in period products. Have a look at it and sign if you wish to see this come true!
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Result of our cloth pads design competition!
In October, we organised a design competition on social media inviting proposals for creative fabric designs or prints suggestions for the back of our pads. We had 35 submissions including 2 men! 😍
It was very challenging to choose only 3 winners who each received a set of cloth pads. Congratulations to Suraj (a guy!🙌) as our first winner followed by Shruti Gupta and Christina Fernandez. Thanks to everyone who participated by submitting fantastic proposals and beautiful designs! Here are the winning submissions:
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And, special thanks to our super ambassador Anisha for proposing and leading this great initiative! 😃 💜
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In October, our dear Ranjini, who's been with us already for a few years taking care of the Online Shop and Production, left the team for a few month to give birth to her second child which turned out to be a baby girl!!!😍 We're super excited for her and curious to see the baby girl soon!
Raji, who is also from Auroville, joined us to replace her while Ranjini is on maternity leave. See you soon Ranjini!!! ♥️
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As we are getting close to Christmas and New Year, we wish a merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it and a wonderful and happy start to 2022.
Looking ahead…
💢 A new cloth pad special edition is in the making and will be released early 2022 💢 Our limited indigo pads edition will get a re-release and… 💢 We will be moving office during the first months of 2022 - hooray!!!
Stay tuned on our social media channels ( Instagram, Facebook and YouTube) for more live updates. See you in 2022…!
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