Rita Benouna is on a mission. Her dream: that all young girls in Quebec have a positive memory of their very first period.
“Positive, not like me…”, says the mother, an entrepreneur somewhat in spite of herself, who just last year launched a discreet, yet flirtatious, little turquoise pencil case called “Ocazou”.
Inside: everything you need “just in case”, as you will have understood, with towels, of course, in organic cotton as a bonus (to avoid possible irritations), but also a small hot water bottle, an information booklet, even a small logbook.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The Ocazou kit
That’s not all: given the enthusiasm for the thing among those around her, particularly among single fathers, Rita Benouna has also set up a training course, which she has given in about ten establishments (public and private) over the past year. And if it were up to her, she would visit all the elementary schools in Quebec. She is knocking on every door and every level of government to obtain funding.
The reason: “The majority of girls are afraid when they are not prepared,” she says. “They are afraid because menstrual education is not done at school or at home…”
Avoiding trauma
It all started a few years ago. Her eldest daughter, then 9 or 10 years old, arrived with a menstrual pad in her hand. “What is that?” asked her daughter, who clearly had no idea. Her mother’s reaction? “I wasn’t ready to talk about it,” confides the main person concerned, who has come a long way since then, with complete transparency.
“I knew I wanted to support him in a positive, caring way,” she says, “but I didn’t have the tools.” Above all:
I wanted to spare him the trauma we had when we were younger.
Rita Benouna, founder of Ocazou
Born in Morocco, Rita Benouna remembers herself, when she was very young, “terrified” by an unusual stain she found one day on her panties. Imagine the anguish. “I thought I was going to die!” she remembers. After a few hours, she finally confided in her caretaker, in tears: “I have a problem…” Astonishment: “Congratulations, you’re a woman,” she replied. “I was 11 or 12 years old. I wasn’t a woman! Still a young girl. It really shocked me…”
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The Ocazou “kit” is intended to be both practical and educational.
No, no one, neither his mother nor his family, much less his teachers, had yet spoken to him about the affair…
And she is not alone. Just watch Andréanne Théberge’s documentary series PMS: The Glories, Sorrows and Mysteries of the Menstrual Cycleposted on Tou.tv Extra in mid-May, to confirm this. The arrival of the first menstruation is rarely joyful. Yes, even today. Here, in Canada.
Of course, young people have access to sex education at school, Rita Benouna concedes, but it is not the same as “menstrual” education. “We will only touch on the subject,” she laments. “Menstrual education goes beyond menstrual protection and the transition to adulthood. However, we tend to focus on that, but it’s all in the preparation!”
Learning
By doing her research to find her famous “tools” to respond to her daughter, Rita Benouna understands that to properly “prepare” and “support” her child, she still needs to understand the different phases of the cycle, find the right words to describe them, grasp their potential impact on daily life, and above all suggest ways to take care of oneself, through all of this.
“Periods appear on average around the age of 12, often earlier and earlier. Over 38 years of our lives, that’s not insignificant!”
Instead of denying and hating this period […] you have to learn to live with it!
Rita Benouna, founder of Ocazou
Hence the idea of the “kit”, therefore, the small kit, which also includes an accomplice guide to understand everything about your cycle, hygiene advice (in terms of healthy lifestyle habits) as a bonus.
Of course, not all young girls are in a void, and many, inspired by their friends, older sisters, or even social networks (!) are already preparing kits of this type, all by themselves, like big girls. “Yes, but what about the others? And single dads?”, argues Rita Benouna. “We would like there to be a fair, equal education for all young girls. So that we can put an end to precariousness.”
“We never forget that first day,” she concludes. “Without prior preparation, the girls are left with a bitter taste, a feeling of fear and unease. It’s time to change that.”
Visit the Ocazou website