Kits for Girls
The plans for the Mission of Healing Family Wellness Fair are well in place for February 2017. One new teaching discussion that we will have in the coming year is entitled "Menstruation: Myths and Facts." As part of the teaching charla, we hope to offer the girls and women washable hygiene kits. We are using the patterns and instructions from Days for Girls International and we invited women and women's groups to help create the kits.
The response has been tremendous! We should have close to 500 kits for the North alone! (depending on how the January sewing events go).
Because the kits are sure to be wildly popular, we encourage continued and increased involvement! The Mission of Healing Family Wellness Fair model takes us into different rural communities in the Northern region each year. The Central South Fair is held in the capital city, and people are bused into a central location. In both settings, women and girls will continue to need kits. The kits are designed to last for 3 years, but we know that with good care, the women and girls will be able to use the pads and liners for longer than that. The challenge is that there are literally thousands of girls and women in our sister church communities who need these kits! With limited supply, we will focus on those who are most in need and have little or no access to traditional feminine hygiene products.
We are working in concert with our Salvadoran partners. They are busy sewing the drawstring bags which will hold the kits. During the upcoming Mission of Healing events, we will hold a training day on which Salvadoran women (and men!) will learn how to make the kits for themselves. This is an important part of making this a sustainable project.
There is so much enthusiasm for this project! And not just from menstruating girls and women. We have received requests for the kits from older women who experience urine leakage. This is another health issue which people do not talk about (in the US too!). Adult protection for this problem is very expensive and not really available. In past years, we have often stuffed suitcases full of adult disposable products, but would it not be much better to provide women with a washable option? And, of course, we now have heard from men who also are interested in having some kind of kit like this for their leakage issues.
Creating washable, sanitary products for menstruating women and girls is our primary focus. Perhaps there will be a time when we are able to provide kits for other purposes, but for now, it is all about Days for Girls!
Learn more by visiting the Days for Girls web site. To send kits or donations in support of the efforts of the Mission of Healing Family Wellness Fairs, please contact me via email or in the comment section. Share your photos in the comments too!!
(In case you missed the link up top, find the original posting about this project here.)
The response has been tremendous! We should have close to 500 kits for the North alone! (depending on how the January sewing events go).
Because the kits are sure to be wildly popular, we encourage continued and increased involvement! The Mission of Healing Family Wellness Fair model takes us into different rural communities in the Northern region each year. The Central South Fair is held in the capital city, and people are bused into a central location. In both settings, women and girls will continue to need kits. The kits are designed to last for 3 years, but we know that with good care, the women and girls will be able to use the pads and liners for longer than that. The challenge is that there are literally thousands of girls and women in our sister church communities who need these kits! With limited supply, we will focus on those who are most in need and have little or no access to traditional feminine hygiene products.
We are working in concert with our Salvadoran partners. They are busy sewing the drawstring bags which will hold the kits. During the upcoming Mission of Healing events, we will hold a training day on which Salvadoran women (and men!) will learn how to make the kits for themselves. This is an important part of making this a sustainable project.
There is so much enthusiasm for this project! And not just from menstruating girls and women. We have received requests for the kits from older women who experience urine leakage. This is another health issue which people do not talk about (in the US too!). Adult protection for this problem is very expensive and not really available. In past years, we have often stuffed suitcases full of adult disposable products, but would it not be much better to provide women with a washable option? And, of course, we now have heard from men who also are interested in having some kind of kit like this for their leakage issues.
Creating washable, sanitary products for menstruating women and girls is our primary focus. Perhaps there will be a time when we are able to provide kits for other purposes, but for now, it is all about Days for Girls!
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| This is what a suitcase full of 900 pads looks like! |
(In case you missed the link up top, find the original posting about this project here.)
Thanks for trying to help our people, God will pay you all your good will for us....
ReplyDeleteGreat endeavour! Happy New Year and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.
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