Saturday, 1 June 2013
THE FIRST TIME I SAW MY PERIOD WAS THE WORST DAY EVER
THE FIRST TIME I SAW MY
PERIOD WAS THE WORST DAY EVER
By Chinua Marie
I didn’t know the meaning of menses until I turned 10. When I was younger than that, I used to see my aunt rolling up tissue and putting in her pant. I never understood the meaning. I just thought my aunt was weird. There were also times I saw her removing something that looked like paper with red paint spread all over. I never knew what she was doing until I got admitted into a boarding school.
That was the time I started
hearing about “pap”, “bread and stew”, “killing foul…ah, the list is endless. My
first lecture in Home Economics was “Menstruation and Menstrual cycle. When I first
heard the lecture, I remembered my aunt and what she used to do down there. I laughed
at my ignorance. Again, while I started getting used the hostel life, I began
to see most of my seniors with a pack of something they called “Pad”. At a
point, I became so confused that I decided to ask questions. My fellow JJC’s
laughed at my questions but before weeks passed, I learnt all there was to know
about Menses without forgetting the part that said “ALL WOMEN MUST EXPERIENCE
IT”. I heard it was very painful too and that blood rushed from the vagina like
a river flow.
I panicked and prayed
to God to delay mine till I was ready. I hated being a woman, developing
breasts and hips and all that. I hated all that. I just wanted to be like the
boys. At that point, it seemed God answered my prayers as most of my classmates
began to see theirs and I didn’t see mine! JSS1 came, JSS2 came, I did not see
it. JSS3 came, I began to get worried. I was 13 and seemed to be the only girl
that has not started her “PERIOD”. My cousin, Nneka, whom was in my class, 14
yrs, had started seeing hers that month. That was when my panic-strickness
turned tables. I began to get worried, what was wrong with me? Why am I not
like the others? Come January, I started witnessing some intruders in my
private region. They were whitish in colour. I didn’t know what it meant too
and I was worried. I went to ask my cousin. I said, “Nneka, it seems am ill”. She
asked, “whats wrong?”. I told her that for the past three days, whitish drawing
liquid have been coming out of my vagina”. She laughed and shouted, “HOSTEL,
Marie has started seeing her pap ooooo”. All eyes turned towards me. I became
so shy. I asked Nneka in a very low tone what she meant oblivious of the fact that that all my
hostel mates heard me. Nneka called me MUMU and told me that my period will
soon start.
What?! I didn’t say a
word. I went straight to my bed and started crying. I felt humiliated. Anything
that concerned my vagina is not something I wanted to be discussed in the open.
Now everybody will know that am about to see my period, now everybody will be
looking at my bom bom to know if blood will drop out. I became scared that one
of those girls in the hostel will tell the boys in the class and all of them
will keep looking at me in awe just like they did to Sopulu. Then, I cried
myself to sleep till the next morning, forgetting assignments I had to submit
the next morning.
The next morning, I woke
up in a start. I felt perspirations all over my face. I was sweating profusely.
I tried to remember what happened last night. I became very sad when the memory
caught up with me. My feelings became worse when I remembered that I was yet to
finish my English assignment to be submitted that morning….and mheen, the
English aunty was very mean!
I forgot about my menses
predicament and hurried to finish the assignment, without realizing the sharp
pains I was feeling below my tummy. Did I tell you that my school uniform was
white in colour? I did not write the assignment because that day was Tuesday, my scheduled day to wash the rest room. Invoking English Aunty’s anger is better
than experiencing that dreadful wrath of the Matron. The rest room must be
washed before 6pm or else…and I woke up by 5:30. So the assignment had to wait
till after the Morning Assembly and the English class was the first to be held
every Tuesdays. What a good day its gonna be!
After the assembly, as
we usual, we all rushed to our seats before we were caught standing because…if
the English Teacher catches you standing, you remain standing till the end of
the 2hours lecture. My sit was in the front row, just a step before the teacher’s
position. It was when I sat down that I felt a sharp pain below my abdomen,
followed by a rush of something very wet on top of my panties. I felt very wet
and uncomfortable. I didn’t understand what was happening to me, I felt very
bad. I couldn’t leave the class either or else…
The English teacher
wrote “English” on the board, including the day’s date. She then introduced the
day’s topic and turned to face the class. She said, “I remember I gave you people
assignment, how many people did not do it?”. I raised my hand, only me. GUSH!! The
teacher stared at me in surprise and said, “Marie? A whole you!! What happened?
Why didn’t you do it?”. Of course you dared not answer a teacher’s question
sitting down, so I stood up.
That moment that I stood
up was the day I made history in Excellence Academy. As I stood up, I began to
hear girls giggling at the back and the guys….laughing uncontrollably. The teacher
forgot her question as she couldn’t understand what was amiss. She pointed at a
guy and asked him why he was laughing like a mad man. The boy continued
laughing. This got the teacher annoyed and she repeated the question. The guy,
Emeka, seeing that the matter was no longer a joke, said “Ma, I just saw you
and remembered the mad woman living behind my compound”. The class burst into
hysterics of laughter. I laughed too. The teacher’s face was so red that she
almost killed the guy with her stoned face expression. She flogged Emeka 24 strokes of
cane and sent us all in the field to cut the class for the whole day…….because
we laughed.
As the teacher left to
get more canes to lash us, the guys continued to look at me and my skirt. By then
I had sat down. It was my girlfriend, Chioma, who came to my seat, gave me her
sweater to tie around my buttocks and requested I follow. I was so confused as
they continued to giggle as we left. On our way to the hostel, Chioma told me
what happened. JESUS! I cried! The most embarrassing moment of the years!! I didn’t
say a word. I just followed Chioma quietly. She talked to the matron and the
matron let us inside the hostel. Chioma was so nice but that didn’t ease the
ache around my chest. She gave me water to take my bath, gave me one packet of
her pad and showed me how to use. She saw my face and said not to worry that
the rumor will die down in a few days. In a FEW DAYS!! I said in my head. I told
her I didn’t want to go back to class that day, that I was too tired. She made
excuses for me and the matron allowed me stay.
As she left, I let out
yellings of cries. I cried and cried and cried. Who am I going to tell that am
now a woman? How am I going to face my classmates again? How will I talk to
Emeka again, the guy I had been secretly admiring since I entered the school? Before
school was over that day, everyone in school was going to be told that Marie
has started seeing her period! OMG. Death was worst than this. I was ashamed of telling my mum. I didn’t want
her to start advising me about boys like she did my sister.
Days passed by, I didn’t
talk to anyone in class, not girls, not boys. I was always looking stone-faced.
My friends tried talking to me but I hushed them away. I decided to stay on my
own, to face the embarrassment alone. Some guys started to call me BIG GIRL at
my back. At times, I came to class to find notes in my locker. One said, “Its
me Iyke, Now that you’re woman, can we hang out some time, cant wait to have my
hands on your ripened juice”. That was so disgusting. Another one wrote, “baby,
nyetu m obara gi kam racha”. The notes breezed in everyday and some without
names, other names, I had never heard before (forged). It was as though
whenever I saw any guy looking at me, he was saying, “I know you are carring
something in your buttocks right now”. This continued for so long and made me
very stern and mean to guys. I hated the way they laughed at me that day. I swore
within me that I HATE GUYS. Some girls that laughed at me later apologized.
However, as time passed
by, people seemed to have forgotten but I know that whenever menses is
mentioned to freshers in school, I always pop into people’s mind. It’s a good
thing though coz I became very popular.
So guys who are reading
this, your laughters during this kind of situation is very hurtful and again,
young ladies out there, learn from my ignorance. IGNORANCE IS A DEADLY DISEASE.
If I had known the meaning of the pains I was experiencing, I would have saved
my self such disgrace coz that was what I considered it to be.
Meanwhile, I didn’t tell
my mum I had started seeing my menses until i travelled, during junior waec
holiday. She was so pissed at me and guess what? The advices still breezed in.
hope u njoyd ma story. HAVE A FUN FILLED DAY
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nice 1 diane ....i must confess you are a good writer,i read ur novel 'the first time' you did a great job.....
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