Meet Sara Eklund, the woman behind Ethiopia’s first menstrual cup brand.
Menstrual cups, thought by many to be a relatively new phenomenon, actually date back to the 1930s. Invented by the American actress Leonora Chalmers as a discreet alternative to the cumbersome feminine hygiene contraptions that women once wore belted around their waists, menstrual cups are finally showing up on the shelves of major drugstores.
While major strides have been made in the States to reduce the stigma surrounding menstruation, such conversations are still in their infancy in East Africa. As a teenager, Eklund remembers loading up her suitcase with tampons on family vacations to California which she would bring back to Ethiopia, where they are still considered taboo and not widely available.
Working under the slogan “Every Queen Bleeds,” Eklund takes a grassroots approach to raising awareness. To coincide with the launch of Noble Cup last year, she began hosting interactive workshops on menstrual management in universities and schools across the country with the help of a small team of friends, extended family, and volunteers. “There is such a stigma around periods to the point that even purchasing basic menstrual products can be quite difficult for young women.
With buzz quickly building on a local level, Eklund’s campaign is now beginning to attract high-profile international attention. Over the summer, Pakistani activist and Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai was among those who joined a Noble Cup workshop at a high school in the capital Addis Ababa. Above and beyond providing products, these gatherings have been instrumental in helping create safe spaces where young women feel empowered to think differently about their own bodies.
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