Good program experiences!

[Deborah]

Hey, i think it's a legit question, not vulgar or rude. It was posed in the Brat Camp forum as well.
It's billed as a 'realty' show, and this is certainly reality.
Shortbus should have some feedback on it.

[Troll Control]

On 2005-08-08 16:25:00, Anonymous wrote:

"ok, I have a question, and I'm not trying to be vulgar or crude, I just really am curious.  In wilderness programs, what do girls do when they are on their periods?  Do they get tampons, or do they have to use leaves or tree bark or something?  It must be an awful experience having to walk 10 mile hikes when youre PMSing with cramps so bad it feels someone's tearing your ovaries apart.  Do they get asprin or midol?  probably not.  Anyone know?"

She'd probably just be called a "faker" or a "drama queen"  until she fully bled-out and dropped dead.

[Anonymous]

Dysfunction you don't know much about women do you? You dont "bleed out" and die from having a period without tampons or pads. You just have to change your clothes more often and are embarrassed as hell!  :roll:

[Deborah]

I'm pretty sure DJ was being facetious. Although my money is on them ignoring any discomfort and pushing them on down the trail.
It's been reported that some girls completely stop bleeding.
What DO they do? Do they have adquate extra clothing, unders, etc? Do they get to shower and clean up? Showers, if you can call them that, at sagewalk happened once a week. Does the whole line of hikers stop while the young lady hits the woods to do a quick change. Course she'd have to dig a hole and bury the waste, then change clothes, so it wouldn't be quick.

And TSW, what you said is true, they do acquire the same cycle timing, or can.
Now, if they want to emulate NA culture, all those young ladies would lavish around in the moon lodge. They wouldn't lift a finger. Food would be brought to them and all their needs met. Pretty clever way to eliminate or avoid the wrath of PMS, huh? It was considered a very sacred time when the women 'dreamed' together.

[Deborah]

Indian maiden: Quit your bitchin and get those roasting ears in here. And check on that pumpkin pie.

And given that their group cycle most often came with the full moon, perhaps that contributed to the 'madness' as well.

Anywho, I'd really like to hear from some ladies who have direct experience with this. What IS the reality?

[Shortbus]

One of the programs only allowed pads. You know,  mousie mattresses. Everyone was give a brown lunch bag and a ziplock. All waste was to be carried out. None buried. After going to the bathroom everyone used hand sanitizer. Before every meal we did a group hand wash with camp suds. Every three or four days my groups had private hygiene time. Youd get a pot of water (we didnt have traditional cooking pots, each person was given a can that was approx one gallon in size) picture institutional sized can vegetables. Sometimes wed have time to heat up the water.... youd start by washing your face, then your nether regions or coochie or junk or whatever you want to call it. Next came feet if necessary. When your feet are in boots most of the time they reallly dont get that dirty. Then, instead of dunking your dirty underwear into the water you pour water onto them and then add a little camp suds. Scrub scrub, squeeze out as much sudsy water into your socks. Do this by pouring a little more water onto them. Scrub scrub squeeze. This way you are not wasting water or camp suds. So youve kind of rinsed your underwear and youre working a lather up in your socks. Scrub scrub squeeze your socks. If your socks are the last thing to wash, squeeze water onto ground. So now youve scrubbed socks and underwear - and lets not forget bandanna. Take the least dirty thing - probably the bandanna and slosh it around in the water thats left in the pot. Wring bandanna out and hang to dry. Next do the underwear, and then the socks. Good personal hygiene has been achieved. When youre out on backpacking trips and water is scarce this is a great technique. Id rather have a swimming hole but I guess you have to work with what you got.

Now back to the rag business. Everyone is responsible for their personal trash. Whenever we needed to we stopped for whoever needed to stop. And there are times when everyone doesnt line their periods up... if Im distributing birth control pills I know pretty much when someones having their period. And I would distribute midol or aleve or whatever if someone asked for it. I hated to though because it just generated paperwork. Blech. The other program let you use whatever person hygiene products you wanted. Your choice. This program would give you a ziplock, some aluminum foil?? and a brown lunch bag. Once again you were responsible for your own icky trash. Or, I forgot, you could burn it if we were having a camp fire - this applies to both programs. But I still dont get the foil thing. It was never explained to me. They also adopted the pee rag technique that Outward Bound uses. That is instead of drip drying or using toilet paper (a priviledge youve probably lost anyway because someone tried to put it in a cat hole and got busted) you use a bandanna as a pee rag. Pee is sterile so you can keep on using you pee rag. Its usually tied to the outside of a womans pack so it can dry out. So there you have it.

[Shortbus]

So happy troll where the hell are you. All this is for you!!!!!!!!!!

[Shortbus]

On 2005-08-07 09:29:00, HappyTroll wrote:

"If anyone on this site, which I kind of doubt has had positive program experiences and would be interested in writing a story for a new referal/ truth about wwasp site let me know, rewards offered for best essays!"

Cmon, when you gonna kick down with the swag dude???

[Shortbus]

The reward is probably just the satisfaction of a job well done.

[Anonymous]

I know you guys were trying to be as clean as possible with the few resources you had, and the order you washed things in, but geeze, I was homeless for a couple years there and I lived with more sanitarily than that.  Why did the one program only let the girls wear pads?  If you're showering only every 3-4 days it's much cleaner to wear tampons, unless of course they don't always stop when someone needs to change. I'm not saying your camp did this, but some programs might have only "regulated breaks" and don't want a girl getting TSS.  This is something parents need to think about before sending their daugthers away, which they don't always do.  Also, although toilet paper may be mountain man's gold, it shouldn't be a privledge, even when I never had TP I always had -something- napkins, cotton balls, papers, tissue papers, something.  If I had to use a piece of cloth, like a bandana, I would wash it out right afterwards.  I used to get Hood River vodka in the plastic bottles and carry that around as disinfectant and to clean things out with, as mouth wash, to sip, etc... :grin:   I understand that's really NOT going to fly in a program, but you think parents are paying thousands for it, they should be able to afford some damn rolls of generic 1 ply.    But pee rag... oh boy, forget dipstick, I think I've found my new favorite insult.   :em: you pee rag

[Deborah]

Well that covers #1, how bout #2. That considered 'sterile' too?

How did unders/socks dry in the cold weather?

I was surprised that they allowed birth control. Their 'moon times' would never line up if they were all on the pill.

[Shortbus]

On 2005-08-09 04:42:00, Deborah wrote:

"

Well that covers #1, how bout #2. That considered 'sterile' too?



How did unders/socks dry in the cold weather?



I was surprised that they allowed birth control. Their 'moon times' would never line up if they were all on the pill."

Ill try to answer all the questions. Pee is sterile, we know that feces are not, you can pick up e coli, hepatitis and who knows what else. My groups were made to use hand sani after going to the bathroom, and before handling or eating any food. You never shared utensils or food and you never reached into a bag of food, you poured it out into a cup or hand and ate from the cup or hand. In winter I tried to have kids change their socks after lunch if possible. Less sweaty that way. In summer its easy to get your socks to dry out. Change them and tie the sweaty ones to the outside of your pack. In winter, when you go to bed, put your socks and footbeds (the inserts that come out of your boots) down at the foot of your sleeping bag. Then you add the water bottle full of hot water to help keep your toes toasty. Works like a charm, feet stay warm, your have a bottle of water to drink when you get up and your body heat dries out your socks. I spent a couple seasons in Antarctica living in a tent and everyone did this.

The reasoning behind pads probably stems from toxic shock. Forget to change a tampon and bad things can happen, lots worse than not changing a pad.


All the groups would start out with TP. We had resupply a couple times a week. THey knew how much we had and what they needed to do to get to keep it. I cant stand it when Im out on a vacation backpacking and find a blob of toilet paper just sitting there. Or unburied poo. Thats lazy and disrespectful to humans and to nature. Its a way the students can police each other.

And we also had wetnaps. These are great for cleaning those hard-to-clean spots. Ive worked for the forest service and lots of fire fighters carry them to achieve that "fresh feeling" that they might be lacking.

And I have met women that have gone on Outward Bound trips and afterwards adopted the pee rag technique.

In the therapy program everyone is give two bandannas, its a students responsibility to keep them straight. And everyone is issued a bowl, cup and spoon which is labeled with your name.

And we clean them after ever meal and most nights clean them with boiling water. If not enough water, a few drops of diluted bleach.

Fingernails are kept short and I expect kids to scrub them with a nail brush and a little bleach every few days. (long fingernails are poop-collectors).


Hope this answers most of your questions.

[Shortbus]

Tequila ooooooooh bad, crown royal bad tooo, bacardi 151 oooooooooooohhhhhhhh scary bad

[Nonconformistlaw]

Hey TSW, what ever happened to the Martian story?
 ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::  ::bigsmilebounce::

[Shortbus]

Give us the scoop on the martians. All of it.




                     :em: