Women's Project 2025 - Sharing Kits and Inclusive Learning

During the third week of January, students began the 2025 academic year. After the kids were settled in school, the Los Héroes Women's Project got things organized and started producing this year's batch of Days for Girls kits.  It didn't take long for school directors and community leaders to start sending invitations to Pastor Sonia, the Los Héroes Women's Project coordinator, to come and lead education sessions and distribute the menstruation kits to girls who need them. If girls don't have access to hygiene products, they cannot attend classes. Teachers and directors recognize this need. School staff are interested in learning about the kits themselves so they can promote their use.

Over the past 9 years, it has been most common for teachers and community leaders to gather groups of women and girls, not men and boys, to participate in the menstruation education classes. Guys were never specifically excluded, but they were not typically included in the target audience. When it comes to reproductive education, we have generally found it helpful to have a combination of divided and combined opportunities for boys and girls, men and women to learn.

During a secondary school teaching campaign in 2023, we started our day in a classroom of 15-year-old students, about an equal mix of girls and boys, who were studying in the specialization track for future  healthcare workers. We discussed menstruation and talked about the health benefits, the economic benefits, and the ecological benefits of using the Days for Girls washable menstruation kits. Some of the boys were a little uncomfortable and put their hands over their faces when we got into the nitty gritty of period management. Sonia told the boys not to be embarrassed. "Some of you have sisters, friends who are girls, and maybe girlfriends," she said, "and some day you might have wives. Boys need to understand how the female body works, to understand the challenges of menstruation, and to know what girls and women go through and what they need to manage their periods. Every boy must be comfortable buying Kotex at the store, or doing whatever else is needed to support the young women in their lives."

At the end of the presentation, we opened up a space for questions. A couple of girls asked about menstrual pain. We walked around distributing the kits to the girls and making sure they knew how to use and wash them. At the end of class, two boys lingered by the door, looking a little nervous. "Do you think," one asked, "that we could each have a kit for our mothers?" As moms of boys ourselves, Sonia and I both recognized how brave and caring this was for these teen boys to overcome their discomfort and be considerate of their mothers' needs. Sonia told the boys that at the end of the day, if there were extra kits, they could each have one. 

We continued teaching classes, and at the end of the day, there were exactly 2 kits left in our plastic tote. We tracked down the boys, and each one received a kit for his mom. "Do you remember how to explain the use of the kit?" Sonia asked them. The boys both nodded firmly and said they paid attention.

This experience with the teen boys really stuck with Sonia. In the classroom setting, we have worked hard to normalize boys and girls learning together and to make everyone feel comfortable asking questions. Out in some of the remote communities, where talking about menstruation can still be viewed as taboo, men sometimes hover near the edges of the conversation. Sometimes it has been quite helpful to have men, including my husband, be part of the teaching and outreach team.

Opening of the Los Héroes Community Health Center

In January 2025, the new community health center in Los Héroes was inaugurated as part of the Misión de Sanación Adelante (the ongoing Mission of Healing). The Centro de Salud Comunitaria Dra. Debrah Adams is named for the nurse practitioner who founded the Mission of Healing in Los Héroes 25 years ago. The center was dedicated on a Saturday morning, and that very afternoon, we held a women's health workshop. The focus of the workshop was breast health and menstruation - two topics which Doctora Débora (as she was known) was passionate about.

Dra. Débora's daughter, Jenny, brought the fake boob. Each year before the Mission of Healing, it was her mom's custom to borrow the model breast from her local clinic. On that Saturday afternoon, Jenny pulled out out the boob for the workshop and taught the women how to feel for the hidden lumps. We felt around on our own breasts over our clothes, to model the idea that it is OK to do that! The men, women, girls and boys in the learning circle all practiced. We mentioned that men sometimes find lumps in the breasts of  their partners, and they need to speak up if they do! And we discussed male breast cancer. Eliminating the embarrassment and having factual, realistic conversations like this saves lives. Within that Saturday afternoon circle of participants, every single person knew someone with breast cancer, including one person with an uncle who died from it.

Jenny looks away so the pastor can teach this young guy about breast cancer.
There is no embarrassment in learning about the human body.

The second topic of the day featured a really great new banner for teaching about the menstrual cycle. Sonia and Nurse Lorena led this conversation. They emphasized how important it is for girls to speak up if something does not feel right, or if their periods are causing them trouble. No one should be embarrassed to ask if something is "normal" or not. Lorena spoke about her troubles with ovarian cysts. She talked about how it impacted her studies, and how now, as a young mom, how it had impacted her ability to get pregnant. These personal testimonies are so important. Over the last 9 years, the workshops attached to the distribution of Days for Girls kits, have made leaders and participants much more comfortable asking questions and sharing their experiences with one another.

The girls who have not started their periods yet are now ready
with their kits and more knowledge. Their moms are really happy
for this kind of education support.

A few days ago, Sonia and her team went out to Aguilares to lead a half-day workshop about women's health. In addition to talking about menstruation and the Days for Girls kits, Sonia focused on hygiene. She said the girls were really proud of themselves for learning so much in one morning, and one girl asked Sonia to take her picture.

So far in 2025, the Women's Project has given out 121 kits to girls and young women who need them. The next teaching event will be held on March 26th in the Central Park in Tonacatepeque during the annual International Women's Day celebration. It will be a great opportunity for the grandmothers and mothers and big sisters who have learned about the Days for Girls kits and received education over the last 9 years, to bring the younger girls so they will be ready for when their special day arrives. 

The Los Héroes Women's Project is completely funded through donations. The mission is:

•  To produce Days for Girls kits locally and work in partnership with sister churches and donors in the US in a way which is beneficial spiritually, emotionally and economically for the women who make the kits
• To distribute Days for Girls kits at no cost to girls who need them in the region surrounding Los Héroes and through networks of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church and national women's organizations
• To  provide education workshops at the church in Los Héroes and in schools and communities wherever the kits are distributed.

To learn more about how you can support this effort, leave a comment or email me at linda.muth@gmail.com.