NOVEMBER 2 CELEBRATION

CAN YOU JOIN US?

This Saturday, November 2, is our regular monthly workday.  But, we're also celebrating a couple of birthdays.  First of all, my mother would have been 100 on Saturday.  Second, on Friday, Days for Girls International marks its 11th birthday.  There will be a cake from Sweet Life Patisserie.  We'll have lots of components to work on, and great volunteers to chat with.  Can you join us?  Can you bring a present?  Our wish list is in the October 4th post.  Any/all supplies (or monetary donations) are very welcome, but what we seem to need the most right now is underwear (scroll down to We Are Not Ovaryacting for details).  

If you're available to join us Saturday, please let me know.  If you're on our email list, just reply to the meeting reminder I send out.  

And please be aware that we will NOT meet on December 7, as Our Sewing Room has a special member event occurring that day.

KENYA RENEGES

In 2017 the Kenyan government promised to provide pads/tampons for girls so the lack of such supplies wouldn't be a barrier to attending school.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.  Now, the head of the Education Ministry reports that there are only funds for four months.  This year, they're hoping to have supplies for girls during the testing period, but it looks like perhaps only certain counties will receive those.  Interesting article.  Those funds would go a long way if they bought each girl a Days for Girls kit--and thousands of Kenyans already have them!  Our kits last 3 years or more, with proper care.

MORE ON NEPAL

I've posted before about the harsh treatment of menstruating girls and women in many areas of Nepal.  Chhaupadi was banned in 2005 and since 2017 anyone forcing women into chhaupadi faces a fine or 3 months in jail, but in many areas it continues.  Enjoy this comprehensive article in the Washington Post.

ZAMBIA

Here's an article about reusable pads and school attendance of impoverished girls in Zambia.  There are links at the end to related articles about girls in Malawi, Kenya and Uganda.

DAYS FOR GIRLS VIDEOS

On daysforgirls.org, you can find a link to official videos under the "About Us" heading on the main page.  And if you go on YouTube and search for Days for Girls,  you'll probably find enough videos to enjoy for quite a while.  Keep in mind that the ones on YouTube are not official, and (especially any kit-making directions) are often out of date.  

But, there are many heart-warming, informational videos.  Here's one  from a couple of years ago to start with.  After I showed this one to a group of female teens in Eugene, one said, "I will never complain about my period again!" Grab a cup of coffee, then go to YouTube or to the Days for Girls website links above.  Lots of choices, long and short, including founder Celeste Mergen's Ted talk, in which she shares how this all got started.

A SCHOOL IN TANZANIA

A few years ago, I had a 9:00 am appointment with my new primary care physician.  In chatting to get acquainted,  I told her about my involvement with Days for Girls.  She told me that her 8:30 appointment (also a first-time) patient had set up a school in Tanzania, and we might want to touch bases.  I gave her my card and said I'd welcome contact from that woman.  Juliette, a retired educator, did indeed contact me, and told me about Shikabania, the school she had set up in Tanzania, where students are taught in English from PreK on up.   Previously, students in that area weren't able to attend secondary school, because it was taught in English and their lower level schools weren't.  Her results are amazing.  I just received a report from them, and urge you to read it (below) and support them (Shikabania is the nonprofit) if you can (your donation will be matched!).  Such positive results can occur when you provide what is needed.  Kids completing their education at Shikabania now have the English fluency needed to attend secondary school.

Juliette and I got together 3-4 times before she moved from Drain to California last year, to be closer to family.  I sent shields for the girls and teachers, and the girls learned to sew liners (from the woman who makes their uniforms and with DFG instructions) with some flannel I also sent with Juliette.  

I don't much believe in signs and the like, but there seems to be something strong trying to connect me with Juliette. Those back-to-back doctor appointments for both of us, and the physician paying attention and making connections.  And last week, at Our Sewing Room, I was telling a few people about the school Juliette started.  We hadn't been in touch since she moved many months earlier.  When I got home from Our Sewing Room, there was the email with the report on how well her students were doing.  Serendipity?  But twice?  It gave me chills.  I wrote a check (which will be matched) and sent it to her the next day!  It's so amazing to see all that she's accomplished with Shikabania.

Here's the report I received from Juliette this week:

     We are thrilled to announce the results of the National Exam taken by our 2019 graduating class.  They finished second in our local Meru district (out of 75 schools) and in the top 2% in the country of Tanzania (out of 7,102 schools)! This shows again that kids from all over can love to learn and can succeed! Here is their picture, smiling and enjoying math class. We are so proud of them and will eagerly follow their continuing education. 

 

     In a huge step forward for Shikabania, the newly built staff room has electricity (we now have two rooms with electricity!). In July our board member, Joe Sherer, brought six laptop computers (donated by Squire, Patton Boggs) so the teachers for the first time have access to the Internet and can share materials and documents with each other and with me back in the U.S. Joe came with lots of advice and inspiration for the teachers to use in setting up classroom testing and communicating.

     We continue with more improvements, planning to make more time for the teachers to be in the classroom, for the environment to be prettier, safer and easier to maintain, for the students to have better equipment and healthier meals. 

 

     We added another pilau with meat dish to our lunch menu of organic vegetables and other local foods. Morning porridge also has organic milk from the farm of our Administrator, Max Pallangyo.

 

Morning porridge also has organic milk from the farm of our Administrator, Max Pallangyo.

 

    The muddy areas of the rainy season have been replaced with flower-lined gravel paths, which are delightful to see and a boon to the cleanliness of the school.  I’m sure you would be very proud of your beautiful school!

    In very exciting news, the brand new playground is in full use, with the lower school children having a place to slide and swing and the upper classes a place to play soccer, basketball and volleyball.  (Our board member, Paul Sherer, visited the school this fall with a treasure trove full of balls and jump ropes!)

 

     Also we are very pleased to have received the gift of an excellent microscope for our science program!  Our generous donor brought lesson plans and instruction manuals with her, so we will be expecting to produce many budding scientists.  

 

     We are still hoping to receive funds over and above our operating expenses in order to meet the promise of matching funds up to $50,000 for our endowment, by our donor, Marion Weber and her Flow Fund Circle. 

     Our website, Shikabania.org has been updated and hopefully will be useful and inspirational to our family of donors and potential newcomers. You will find short bios of the staff, ways to help the school, products from our store, and much more.

     The most important thing is the change we see everyday in the happy, eager, smiling children.  We see them blossoming, learning, speaking English, trying hard to please their teachers and parents. They remind us by their efforts that you are making a difference in a widening circle of lives. This seems to me some of the happiest work to do in a struggling world.

     A continuing reminder: The address for donation checks is Juliette Reilly, 82625  62nd Avenue, Thermal. California 92274. Or the website at Shikabania.org.

     With never-ending gratitude for your generosity and all our love from me and the children of Shikabania,   

                             Juliette 

For more information on Juliette and Shikabania, click here, and scroll to pages 6 and 7.


Oh, and if you want to make a donation to Shikabania, keep in mind that as with Days for Girls, donations you make via check go 100% to the nonprofit.  Online donations arrive minus the processing fee--which is usually about 5%.

PERIODS ARE NOT LUXURIES

FIRST NATIONAL PERIOD DAY

Saturday, October 19.  Maybe this will be one of those days about which you say, "I remember where I was, what I was doing." Whether you celebrate by reading some articles, working on kit components, making a donation, telling others about period equity or Days for Girls, or participating in the Portland rally, you're helping solve the problem.  I just heard about periodequity.org on NPR--it has links to some articles.  Thirty-four states still charge a sales tax on menstrual products--and in addition to groups lobbying their lawmakers to eliminate that, there's also a lawsuit claiming gender-based discrimination. Watch this video!

AMAZON SMILE

Don't forget--you can choose a nonprofit to receive a donation with every purchase you make at smile.amazon.com.  Same products, same prices, same service as Amazon!  Their donation is half a percent of your purchase cost, so that adds up.  For the last quarter, DFGI received a check for $1070 thanks to supporters shopping at that version of the Amazon website.  Sometimes if I'm browsing on Amazon.com, it will ask if I want to switch to smile.amazon.com, but not always, so double-check to make sure your purchase triggers a donation.

And, did you know I created a wishlist on Amazon?  The prices typically are not the best for the items we use (especially if you watch for sales and coupons elsewhere), but it's there if you need a quick reminder.  There is more on our October 4th blog entry and in print (on orange paper) wishlist, of course.  One of the other leaders suggested the Amazon list that their donors can check if they need something to get their total into the "free shipping" status, so that's an idea.

CHECK THIS OUT

The website diaryofaquilter.com features Days for Girls.  Nice video to watch.

ANDREW CUOMO SIGNS

On October 12, the International Day of the Girl, New York Governor Cuomo signed a law requiring menstrual products to list their ingredients.  Fantastic--I hope the rest of the states follow suit!

WHERE ARE THOSE KITS WE MADE?

Do you ever get asked where our kits go?  Kits from our Eugene/Springfield Chapter have been distributed in Afghanistan, Ghana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Peru, Puerto Rico (after Hurricane Maria), Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Texas (after Hurricane Harvey), Uganda and Zimbabwe.  We've also shared kits and components with other chapters, but I neglected to write down where those were heading.

UPCOMING WORKDAYS AT OUR SEWING ROOM

Our next workday will be Saturday, November 2, 10-4.  That's the day we'll celebrate Days for Girls' 11th birthday (November 1) and the 100th anniversary of my mother's birth (November 2), and I'll bring a Sweet Life cake.  Presents for DFG are always welcome.  Our wish list was posted in the October 4th blog entry, with desired items listed in order of current need, so scroll down to see if there's anything you'd like to bring.  At the top of the list is  "Cotton  underpants, girls sizes 10, 12, 14 & 16, and women’s sizes 5, 6 and 7, as colorful as possible (for hiding stains). The styles we use are bikini (preferred by most of the girls), briefs, and hipsters.  Please no boy shorts or thong styles.  Fabric restrictions apply here too (except that solids are great). Do not wash the undies."  

In celebration of this 11th year milestone, Days for Girls is shipping 33,000 kits to women in refugee camps.  Our chapter contributed 527 kits, which depleted our undie supply by 1054 pairs!

We will NOT have a workday on the first Saturday in December, because Our Sewing Room is hosting a special event that day.  We may schedule a substitute date if we have a deadline looming, so stay tuned.

OUR KITS COME WITH EDUCATION

Education and knowledge create a girl force that's unstoppable. That’s why in addition to distributing washable pads and menstrual health products, we focus on health education for girls around the world. 

This education is the key to creating long-lasting, sustainable change in communities, shattering stigmas surrounding menstruation, and empowering girls to chase their dreams.

KENYA

When we first started out as a team, Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife (based in Junction City) requested kits for the girls in schools they support.  Browsing my records, I just came across this feedback from the recipients: 

o The kits are comfortable

o They don’t need to change very often.

o There is no burning sensation.

o There is no leakage.

o The girls are happy because the shields and liners are easy to clean they can use ordinary soap that they have available

o They are happy with the colors and the patterns, and the material. 

o Sizing. Almost all of the girls fit the 10/12.

When I first saw the photos, I experienced a happy jolt to see familiar fabric that had been patiently waiting on the shelves of my sewing room for just the right project, now in the hands of these lovely young ladies, thousands of miles away! 

We sent kits to Kenya a few times in our early years, but no longer do.  The local women expressed interest in making and selling the kits, and FKSW stepped up and paid for them to receive training at Days for Girls University in Uganda.  They now are one of several Kenyan Enterprises, providing kits for nonprofits to purchase in country, education presentations for distributions, and individual components for the local girls and women to purchase as they need to supplement their  kits!  

MAYBE IF WE ALL . . .

TODAY IS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL

𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘺 𝘖𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭!

Join us today, October 11 to celebrate girls, periods, and health. Help us reach girls across 6 continents with sustainable menstrual health solutions.

Let's make a difference because every girl matters!

If you want to donate online, here's our link (for donations to our chapter.)  As suggested in the previous post, there are so many ways to support our efforts--take a look.   

OCTOBER 19  =  NATIONAL PERIOD DAY

It's also my sister's 63rd birthday, but I'm pretty sure none of the rallies across the country are celebrating that milestone.  She's a little too private for countrywide rallies.

Thousands of rallies across the USA will be focusing attention on gender inequities and period poverty.  Last month I mentioned that California has a sales tax on menstrual supplies, but not chocolate.  Here are some more:

• In Arkansas, beer kegs aren't taxed, but pads are.
• In Hawaii, erectile dysfunction pills aren't taxed, but pads are.
• In Idaho, chainsaws aren't taxed, but pads are.
• In Michigan, doughnuts aren't taxed, but pads are.

The list goes on and on--menstrual products are still taxed in 35 states.  That tax is adversely affecting women, their families, and their futures.

That's what the rallies in cities across the US are about.  Celebrate National Period Day and speak up about the tampon tax.  

Here's a quick video from DFGI founder Celeste Mergens.

PERIOD SHAME

Funny to see Saturday Night Live's skit on period shaming.  

MAYBE IF WE ALL HAD THEM

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe . . . .   Thinx ad banned because of a string!  This one should put a smile on your face.

OUR SEPTEMBER WORKDAY

So much was accomplished October 5th.  We have the best volunteers and supporters, and I am so proud of what we create to change lives!

PIONEER QUILTERS' DONATION

Our Days for Girls Chapter was one of three nonprofits to share in the profit made at the Pioneer Quilters Quilt Show last month.  Our share is over $500, which means almost 5 dozen more girls will  receive kits to help them continue their educations and brighten their futures.  Thank you to all who purchased raffle tickets and admissions to make the show at the Cottage Grove Armory a big success, and thanks to Pioneer Quilters for choosing us as a beneficiary! If you know a Pioneer Quilter (other than me), please tell them how much this means to you--and the girls! 

A SOMBER NOTE

On September 13, I posted about a young Kenyan girl who took her own life after being humiliated by her teacher for staining her skirt the first day of her first period.  Our own volunteer Kalani wrote this moving tribute to Jacqueline:

JACQUELINE

Kenya, September, 2019

I heard the news of your suicide two days ago.

The ground came up to meet my knees as I slumped down, weeping. 

This cannot be, I cried, not one more time. 

Yet, it is, many times over, because

of the lack of education

and adults who

use girls as whipping posts and shame them, or as sexual objects,

trading sex for menstrual supplies.

How quickly can we meet a need that has gone on for years and years? 

How can we make haste to save these girls from the lacks they suffer? 

So many of us are on the move, preparing in any and all ways to 

supply these kits to girls. 

For many of us, any spare moment is spent in dedicated service to 

Days for Girls, 

And yet,

Another girl is gone.

All over the world, where women are treated as trash, 

they are dying.

In freezing cold huts where venomous snakes enter, 

they meet their deaths. An innocent 12-year old has killed herself. 

They are dying because of a natural cycle in their lives. 

Sitting here, warm and dry, I am attempting to forgive.

As a female priest and therapist working with survivors

Of sexual abuse, this is my calling. 

I must move past the rage I have felt since hearing the news,

Rage is not the answer—action is. 

I will find another half hour, another phone call where I

can work and finish bags simultaneously. 

I will make a shirt for all the Jacquelines so I can speak of this

If people ask,

These deaths will not be in vain, and one day, 

They will cease. 

(Rev. Dr.) Kalani Goins 

Eugene Chapter, Oregon

WE ARE NOT OVARYACTING

WE ARE NOT OVARYACTING?

I stole that phrase from an amazing program  I watched last week.  Please set aside some time to watch it.  You'll be glad you did.  It's Episode 4 of the National Geographic Global Citizen program--Keeping Girls in School.

I am so grateful that Days for Girls isn't the only group working to eliminate period poverty and help ensure that females worldwide don't continue to have menstrual barriers to continuing their education.  It's such a HUGE worldwide problem it will take many minds, businesses, and hands in addition to much effort and money to solve.  Thank you for being part of solving this global issue.

Watching the National Geographic program makes me want to run back to my supplies and wash, dry, cut, sew and serge more kit components!  (While watching the program, I actually paused it and went to put more fabric in the washer!)

I've had a couple of people tell me recently about trips they're planning in a few months, trips where they could tote a suitcase full of supplies to a contact in another land.  We always appreciate our kits/components getting a free ride.  That helps us reach more girls and women, and change more lives.

IT'S OCTOBER, AND THAT MEANS . . . 

At this time of year, Days for Girls supporters and volunteers have special dates to celebrate:  

October 5 is our monthly workday at Our Sewing Room.  We'll be there 10-4.  Parking is free in the bank lot across the street and in the lots north and south of the library.  Nearby on-street parking is limited to 2 hours.

October 11 is International Day of the Girl.  This day was designated by the United Nations in 2012: 

“Empowerment of and investment in girls are key in breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and in promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights.”

October 19 is the first National Period Day.  It calls attention to period poverty and period inequities in our country.  Did you know that menstrual supplies are taxed in many states?  The most amazing example of screwed up priorities that I've read is the fact that in California, there's a sales tax on tampons and pads, but not on chocolate! 

There are rallies planned throughout the country.  If you can make it to Portland, you might want to join in the events there.

November 1.  Last time I checked, November 1st isn't in October.  BUT, it is Days for Girls 11th birthday!  I'll bring a cake to our workday on November 2nd.

With all these dates to celebrate, please consider a donation to our chapter.  We receive 100% of check and cash donations.  If you prefer to use a credit card, we'll get about 95% of it.  You can do that here.  With all three methods of donation, we can provide you with an official receipt.

Some supplies are only available, or most reasonable when ordered through our headquarters or a wholesale source, so that's where cash donations go.  We receive no financial support from Days for Girls International.

Of course, in kind donations are always welcome, and receipts are available for those too.  I've recently updated our wish list, and listed supplies in current order of need.  This is from the back of our handout:  If you'd like a paper copy of the list, there are copies at Our Sewing Room--or ask me if they're out of them.

DAYS FOR GIRLS

  Eugene/Springfield Chapter

Donations Wish List 

In order of current need.

Fabric restrictions:  Medium/dark to dark colors, in busy stain-hiding designs, such as florals. Because of cultural considerations, we need to avoid prints depicting weapons, people/animals, insects (butterflies are OK), patriotic, camouflage, food, religion, words, or holidays.  Avoid solids.  No metallics/glittery.  

Cotton  underpants, girls sizes 10, 12, 14 & 16, and women’s sizes 5, 6 and 7, as colorful as possible (for hiding stains). The styles we use are bikini (preferred by most of the girls), briefs, and hipsters.  Please no boy shorts or thong styles.  Fabric restrictions apply here too (except that solids are great). Do not wash the undies. 

PUL fabric in colorful prints or solids (no faces or juvenile prints).  Babyville is one brand.

Polyester serger thread—good quality, medium/darker colors.

Polyester thread in medium and dark colors (Gutermann is a good brand).  

Quality cotton flannel (see fabric restrictions above).  If you have time to wash, dry and press it, that’s greatly appreciated.  Better quality is more absorbent, better for our kits.  We are phasing away from the thinner Snuggle and Snuggle Plus flannel carried at JoAnn's.

Rotary cutter blades, 45mm or 60mm

Quality cotton fabric, the prettier the better. (see fabric restrictions above).  

Cotton washcloths, in darker colors.  No Costco 18-packs—they are too poorly made.