Empower Girls in Uganda with Menstrual Health

Hello,

Thinking of you as we focus on Thanksiving and now Giving Tuesday today, because YOU make so much thankfulness possible for so many girls and women. Your important giving and support of Days for Girls has helped thousands of girls and women have access to hygiene they can count on month after month. You have helped them have freedom to stay in school or work, and to have more dignity, more health. In honor of your support, we wanted to share recent reports from a few of the girls who have received kits because of your support. We have attached a letter from a 16 year old in Uganda so you can see her message in her own writing telling about the kit she received that you made possible. Another girl, Gladys N. from Kenya writes, "I want to thank Days for Girls for the sanitary towels. My days are no longer shameful, I feel like I can face each day with confidence and now I do not have to miss school when my periods come. Thanks to Days for Girls." You made that possible with your support too.   

There is another powerful component of Days for Girls that you have made possible: health education about what a period is and how to manage it. This is a subject so taboo that millions of girls and women are left at risk because, let's be honest, the world doesn't want to talk about periods. We are working to change that, you are helping make it possible. In Kenya, a bright, articulate 16 year-old girl who trained with Days for Girls to train others was overjoyed to learn what a period is, because she had been assuming for 2 years that her menses meant that she had AIDS and she had just lived with the fear until she learned from Days for Girls that there was no need for fear nor for shame. It's an important topic one well worth breaking silence and shattering taboos for.

Sharon N. is a student at Victoria Secondary School, Buikwe District, age 16. She shares what it was like to not know, saying, "One day I was sitting in class at school and felt something wet pass through my skirt.  It was strange and I felt scared about it.  I lived with only my brother and no one had ever told me about periods.  I didn't know what was happening and I was not prepared with anything to manage it.  I felt very bad.  I used a piece of cloth but it was very dirty. I didn't know what else to do and I couldn't tell my brother.  I'm happy now that I have information about my body and a reusable pad."

And Olivia N., a 14 year old student at Victoria Secondary School, Buikwe District, told our team about what it was like to start her period without knowing what it was. She reports, "When I was 9 years old I woke up feeling pain in my stomach.  When I reached the toilet I found blood.  I asked myself, 'What is this?!?!'  I didn't tell my family about what was happening because I feared that they would abuse me and beat me.  I went back to bed.  I woke up in the morning and sat at the table and thought that the blooding must have started from an insect entering inside of me.  I worried that I was going to die.  Then my mother came and asked me, 'What are you doing?'  I told her that I saw blood coming from my private parts.  She told me that this was normal for women and that I was not going to die.  She gave me a piece of cloth and told me how to use it to catch the blood.  Then she told said, 'Repeat after me.  One, two, three.'  I did and then she said that after three days I would stop bleeding. This is the story of my first menstruation.  I feared a lot because I thought I was going to die.  No one had ever told me about menstruation before.  I am happy that Days for Girls came to tell us about menstruation."

Thank you for all you do to make a difference for girls and women around the globe with us. We promise to keep working hard to ensure that your support adds up to results that really count and keeps adding up to more change lives.

With gratitude,

Celeste

PS: I thought you might like to see the recent TedX talk featuring the story of Days for Girls! The link is below. Thanks again for your support. Together we can change so many lives.

Links:

• TedX talk featuring the story of Days for Girls