"These are the kind of things you never think of."

S.A. Miller in Wahington Times: Abigail Thomas, a graduate student from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, escorts a 14-year-old girl named Sindu to the clinic for counseling. Sindu had begun menstruating for the first time and had no female relatives left to guide her. According to local custom, a young girl's first menstruation is cause for a monthlong celebration, with cleaning rituals and special foods prepared by the girl's mother. "None of that is happening," says Mrs. Thomas, 28. "These are the kind of things you never think of."