On March 6, journalism students from the University of Illinois will travel to Sierra Leone for Spring Break 2024 to produce a film examining how women there are responding to the global issue of period poverty by providing washable, eco-friendly menstrual pads to schoolgirls around the country.
“Period poverty” refers to a substantial negative impact on one’s quality of life due to shame, economic destitution, and/or religious and cultural taboos associated with menstruation.
The reporting trip, the first of its kind for the Journalism department, is part of a new pilot class led by faculty members Charles “Stretch” Ledford and Alison Davis. They hope the class, “Globally Focused Advanced Documentary Filmmaking,” will be offered by the Journalism department each spring semester.
Designed to train advanced media students to apply and develop their skills as documentary filmmakers and multimedia backpack journalists to work in the Global South reporting on issues of pressing international concern, the Spring 2024 pilot class is being executed in collaboration with Dr. Sophie King-Hill of the University of Birmingham (UK) and Dr. Francis Sowa of Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
“This project is something I’m excited for, but I also acknowledge the weight of telling their complex story with the most care and attention,” says senior Stephanie Wayda.
While they are in Sierra Leone, Illinois students will partner with multimedia and broadcast journalism students from Fourah Bay College to shoot primary footage for the film, “From Shame to Celebration: Sierra Leonian Women Reframe the Culture of Menstruation.” The film will focus on how a local woman-led grassroots organization, “Uman Tok,” is making tangible progress to alleviate period poverty and menstrual exclusion while also educating a generation of girls in sexual and reproductive health.
Junior Faith Lee hopes the project leaves a positive impact on women’s lives. “In society, we look at menstruation as shameful when it is really something normal to be celebrated,” says Lee.
The film will premiere on the web and broadcast in Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom and the United States on May 28, 2024, which is recognized worldwide as Menstrual Hygiene Day.
The project is funded by: