This month, Her Campus UBC had the pleasure of speaking with Zeba Khan, founder and president of PERIOD. UBC, a non-profit foundation that provides menstrual and other hygienic products to homeless shelters in Vancouver. Since their founding in January of 2017, they have been recognized for their work by Kotex for distributing the largest number of care packages among all the other chapters of PERIOD. They have also earned the Showcase Award at the Student Leadership Conference at UBC in January 2018. Meet the amazing person behind the UBC chapter, Zeba!
Full name: Zeba Khan
Year: 2nd
Major: Integrated Science
Why UBC: I watched a video of UBC online and instantly fell in love with this institution. UBC’s motto, tuum Est, resonated with my dreams and vision–it inspired me to take action and believe that it is up to me to make my dreams into a reality.
Favourite thing about Vancouver: If I had to pick a favourite, I would say the people! Simple practices like thanking the bus driver before getting off makes the people of Vancouver friendly and welcoming.
Least favourite thing about Vancouver: Living expenses! I think that all broke UBC students living alone can relate–Vancouver is an expensive place for student working part time.
Tell me a bit about PERIOD. UBC…How did you get started?:
When I was in High School, I was working on a project where I was given the opportunity to interact with a homeless family. I learnt that there are communities in Bangladesh (where I grew up) that don’t have access to menstruation products at all. People skip school, and often aren’t allowed to take showers in the communal pools when they are on their periods. Once I moved to Vancouver, I realized that accessibility to menstruation products is a global issue. I stumbled upon a YouTube video of Nadya Okamoto talking about her organization PERIOD. Nadya inspired me to take action, and I reached out to her with the idea of starting our own branch in Canada. In the beginning it was just me and my best friend purchasing pads and tampons from Walmart to make the care packages. Later that year I received the International Community Achievement award, which gave me the funds to make PERIOD. At UBC into a proper AMS Club.
What are your main goals with PERIOD.?:
Our primary goal is to provide a consistent, free supply of menstruation hygiene products to those who can’t afford it. We are also proud advocates of the menstrual movement–we try to break the stigma surrounding menstruation by organizing events and workshops.
Why do you believe that this work is so important?:
Before PERIOD. At UBC started, a lot of homeless shelters in Vancouver did not have steady supply of period products. I believe that our work is important since PERIOD. UBC is helping people who don’t have access to period products manage their periods by supplying free period products.
How have you seen it make a difference?:
Last summer, one of the members of our club and I visited some of the homeless shelters and spoke to the coordinator of one of them. She mentioned that our service has really helped them out since they didn’t have the budget to provide period products to the residents of their shelters. She also mentioned that they didn’t have access to other hygienic products. We later partnered with Mission Possible and have added hygiene products such as shampoos and conditioners in our care packages.
What is the most rewarding thing about the work that PERIOD. UBC Is doing?:
The impact that we are making is quantifiable. Since we began our journey last January, we have distributed almost 20,000 period products through the monthly menstruation care packages. I love how this club has given me the opportunity to build a community of leaders who are passionate about issues related to menstruation.
How aware do you feel the general public is about the lack of access of hygienic products to homeless people? How do you think we can spread more awareness?:
Topics of menstruation is steeped in stigma, and people don’t always speak up when they don’t have access to menstruation products. This results in a lack of displayed need, which is why this problem never gets addressed. I think that there is a lot of opportunity for us to raise more awareness about this issue, simply by talking about it on public platforms. We have a very talented animator, Robyn Wadey, working with us, who has created a series of illustration about period facts and myths. We take advantage of any event where we can host a booth or connect with people to talk about our work. Talking about this issue on social media goes a long way, and we are constantly trying to utilize these platforms to raise awareness about this issue.
How does your club afford to buy complimentary care packages for the homeless shelters:
Our club organizes fundraising events regularly and uses the membership fees collected from our members to create these care packages. We also receive product donations from companies such as Kotex and the Diva Cup. We purchase period products in bulk (we are talking about thousands of products at once!) which helps us reduce the cost of creating one care package to $2.
You mentioned that the club also fosters youth leadership…why do you think that it is important to empower youth?:
Youth are mobilizable, passionate and often the least inhibited members of the society. The PERIOD movement is built entirely on youth activism, and we’ve proven that activating and empowering youth brings real systemic change.
How can others get involved with the work PERIOD. UBC does?:
Any UBC or non-UBC students can become a member of the club and join us at the bi-weekly packaging events. The packaging events are a great way to socialize while doing something great for the community. Our club has several committees, members can also join a committee that the like and contribute to the planning and administration of the club activities.
Check out PERIOD. UBC on Facebook and YouTube!
All photos provided by PERIOD. UBC