On Sunday, February 16th, the Hnin Si team had an insightful experience at the Kyaik Ke Le Nunnery, where we held a pad donation drive and menstrual education session with over 100 nuns. Hnin Si is a service learning group that aims to tackle period poverty and advocate for menstrual education in the local community. We connect with adolescents throughout Yangon to fill the education gap caused by attitudes towards menstruation. Despite being a small group, Hnin Si is committed to work hard every week to create meaningful change.

At the Kyaik Ke Le nunnery, the members of Hnin Si gave a short presentation covering key topics such as the biological menstrual process and personal well-being – the underlying message was that menstrual health is an important topic that should be discussed openly. Then, we had a discussion with the nuns, creating an environment where people could share experiences and views with each other. Afterwards, we distributed menstrual pads.

A key lesson the ISY students took from this experience was that service learning is reciprocal – not only did the Hnin Si members provide pads and give education, but we also gained insight into the needs of the nuns and learned more about the local culture (this was especially true for the non-Myanmar students). This visit was a reminder of the importance of listening and learning from the communities we work with – knowing this will help us better support organizations in the future.

Leaving the nunnery we felt grateful – knowing that our efforts had benefited the nuns – and inspired by our deeper understanding of what service learning is all about.

By Guest Writer Anna Han Kyaw, Student Leader of Hnin Si (grade 11)

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