Days for Girls

Bette has been volunteering for a group called Days for Girls for the last several years.  I have heard the whir of her sewing machine on many a day sewing and making supplies for this amazing organization.

Here is a brief history of this program:

Days for Girls was founded in 2008, when Executive Director Celeste Mergens prepared to travel backto Kenya to continue working with orphanages and communities in the wake of great political andeconomic upset. One night she awoke with a burning question: “Have you asked what the girls aredoing for feminine hygiene?” When she asked the assistant director of the orphanage she was working

with,  the answer was shocking: “Nothing. They wait in their rooms.” 

The conditions were cramped, unsanitary, and would leave girls without food and water for days unless someone brought it to them. Furthermore, sanitary products were available, but only if girlswere willing to suffer sexual exploitation in exchange. This moment was the beginning of awareness tothe vulnerability millions of women and girls face throughout the world every month, simply due to this basic biological function. These women and girls suffer in silence, due to cultural ideas and taboos surrounding this issue. Because of this, girls and women can feel that they are tainted, or fundamentally flawed or less in some way.  Washable, quality hygiene kits and accompanying education changes all that.   http://www.daysforgirls.org

I emailed Saroja last spring and asked her if she would be interested in this program and she said that she thought it would be great so Bette arranged for me to be able to bring over 50 kits to the girls here.  What a gift she gave to us! 

On one afternoon this week, we headed to Pastor Kathi’s church to speak to a group of girls. I talked to Saroja on the way there and tried to understand how much girls are told about their bodies, about the comfort level in talking about this topic with others, and about what sex education is like here in India.  She encouraged me to be as open as possible. We wanted to set a tone that would allow the girls to feel free to ask questions and to not be embarrassed about these things.

So, I tried to follow the rough outline provided to me from the Days for Girls materials. I showed the girls the kits, explained how to use and take care of the supplies and talked about basic hygiene. Giggles went around as I got out a pair of new underwear and showed them how to snap these pads securely around.  Then we talked about anatomy, about what is happening for women in our bodies each month when an egg is released, about the miracle of creation that God has woven into women’s bodies… Feeling like I was jumping off a cliff, I shared as openly as possible using all the correct anatomical terms (with the comfort of knowing that Saroja would edit as necessary as she was translating for the girls.)  Let’s just say that I’ve never before talked about vaginas and penises before in front of 50 or so girls in a village in remote parts of India.  Tina Sellers and Julie Metzger, you would have been proud. 

One of the funniest things that happened during the time was that there was one older gray haired woman sitting there listening to us in the midst of the adolescent girls. At one point, she got up and left. Amy and I laughed later when we both commented to each other that we had noticed this. She probably was thinking, “Oh good grief… I don’t need to be here. Been there- done that!”  We figured that she had heard that some guests from far away were coming to speak and she was curious to hear what we had to say. But upon figuring out that we were talking about sex ed, she promptly got up and left knowing that she had far better things to do with her time since she knew all of this already and since these pads were not going to be anything that she needed in this stage of her life anymore. J

We handed out the bags to the girls and some of them made it a point to shake my hand and look me in the eye with a heartfelt “thank you.” 

 I am hopeful that these kits will at least remind the girls that their bodies are special and are nothing to be ashamed of. I am hopeful that they really will make some positive changes for them and that they will feel empowered as girls.

Before we departed, I wanted to leave them with a blessing and I sang them the song we sing to Anna and Taylor each night before bed from Zephaniah 3:17-19:

The Lord our God is with you.

He is mighty to save. 

The Lord will take great delight in you.

He will quiet you with his love.

He will rejoice over you with singing.

I don’t pride myself in my singing voice, but I figured that if I could get up and talk about sex education with these girls, I could definitely muster up the courage to sing to them.

Girl power indeed….