By Campbell Plowden | Project Leader and Executive Director
While the main focus of Amazon Ecology’s work is helping traditional artisans increase their income by making and selling fair-trade handicrafts, we also want to help them improve their health and well-being in other ways. Meeting Dana gave us a wonderful new opportunity to support the girls and women in our partner communities. She is a retired American school teacher who does computer-based learning and menstruation education programs with young people in the Iquitos area. Dana visited the Kukama native community of Amazonas on the Marañon River with us last March where she shared a video in Spanish about menstruation with dozens of girls and gave out 40 kits from Days for Girls (DFG). Women volunteers in this group sew high-quality cloth washable pads which girls can use during their periods as an alternative to sanitary products. A kit also contains panties, a washcloth, and soap in a colorful drawstring bag. The name of the group comes from their desire to help girls keep going to school even during their periods since lack of access to comfortable ways to deal with their normal menstrual flow often used to keep them at home.
I then connected with a DFG chapter near my home in Pennsylvania, and they were happy to give me 50 kits they made which we gave last fall to other women in Amazonas who had not received one before. The artisan leader Francisca said the kits were much appreciated because they were more comfortable and cleaner than the rags they used to use, saved them time and money to buy paper sanitary products in Nauta and reduced the disposal of these items in their communities.
In February, I carried one and a half duffel bags of DFG menstruation kits with me to Peru earmarked for the village of San Francisco – a neighbor of Amazonas. We were grateful that another American friend Anna was able to join us this time. She has lived in Peru for many years and used her master's degree in Public Health with a focus on sexual health to develop education and treatment programs about cervical cancer.
Our program coordinator Yully presented the video about menstruation to a room packed with girls and young women in the artisan Doris’ home. Yully and Anna then showed everyone what was in the kits and how to use the reusable cloth pads and panties. While Yully gave a kit to each girl according to her size, Anna chatted with others about what they felt or learned watching the video and answered any questions they had about the items in their kit. Doris rested comfortably in her hammock feeding guaba fruit to a baby coati she rescued after its parents were killed by a dog.
After all the girls had received a kit, some older women artisans arrived to get one too. They were well used to their periods, but they welcomed the chance to save precious income and reduce pollution by switching from disposable sanitary products to the reusable cloth pads. We gave out a total of 68 kits which was enough for every female in the village who wanted one. I hope we can start giving these kits to the girls and women in our partner villages in the Ampiyacu during my next trip. We sincerely thank the volunteers in Days for Girls who sew these kits.
We also very much appreciate your support which makes all aspects of our work possible.
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