On a warm Saturday afternoon in Kibera, a hush falls over a room of 150 adolescents, community leaders, and teachers as the opening scenes of Impure flicker to life on the screen. Hundreds of kilometers away at the Kakuma refugee camp, a similar group huddles around a TV screen to watch the same film. In both places, the air is heavy with anticipation. What unfolds over the next hour leaves the audience deeply moved and forever changed. This is no ordinary film screening. It’s part of a bold new initiative called Flow With Pride, a campaign that is using the power of storytelling to challenge deep-seated menstrual stigma, one community at a time.
At the heart of the campaign is Impure, a coming-of-age film inspired by the tragic true story of Jackline Chepng’eno, a 14-year-old girl from Bomet County who died by suicide in 2019 after being period-shamed at school. Impure tells the fictionalized story of June, a young girl who is chased out of school for an accidental period stain. Her pain and silence echo the experiences of countless girls across Kenya who face ridicule, misinformation, and anxiety for a natural biological process.
Launched by UNFPA with support from the Embassy of Denmark in Kenya, the Flow With Pride campaign seeks to address a crisis that remains hidden in plain sight: period stigma, silence, and shame that marginalize millions of girls and women in Kenya and around the world.
For Moses, a teenage boy who attended the Kibera screening, the experience was eye-opening. “I never knew shame could be a silent killer,” he reflects. “Girls can be discriminated against for something as natural as periods.”
This is precisely the kind of shift Flow With Pride is designed to ignite. As attendees engage in facilitated dialogue after each screening, they begin to see menstruation not as taboo, but as a normal, human experience that deserves empathy, education, and policy support.
The campaign is grounded in the understanding that menstrual health is not just a hygiene issue, it’s a matter of human rights. Poor menstrual health and lack of access to safe products, facilities, and information can limit a person’s ability to attend school, work, or participate in society. In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, school absenteeism during menstruation is as high as 31%.
“Menstrual health is deeply linked to the right to dignity, education, health, and gender equality,” explains Dr. Rael Mutai, Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist at UNFPA. “It is not a side issue, it’s a foundation for a girl’s ability to thrive.”
UNFPA’s focus on menstrual health is part of a broader global effort to build a period-friendly world, as emphasized during this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day, marked globally on May 28th.
The Embassy of Denmark in Kenya has played a pivotal role in bringing this campaign to life. Their support has helped fund the community screenings of Impure, enabling the film to reach schools, refugee camps, informal settlements, and rural communities, places where period stigma is often most entrenched.
The impact of the campaign is already being felt. Girls attending screenings have shared stories of anxiety, confusion, and shame around their periods. Some spoke about the fear of staining their clothes in class or being mocked by boys. “My mother never talked to me about periods,” said Elizabeth, a teenage attendee in Kibera. “I was completely unprepared.”
By creating space for these conversations, the campaign is actively shifting community attitudes. It is also building pressure for stronger implementation of Kenya’s Menstrual Hygiene Management Policy, which currently suffers from underfunding and limited rollout in schools and public spaces.
