Hygiene Kits

Why Hygiene Kits?

In impoverished communities worldwide women and girls are using leaves, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks, rocks ... anything they can find and use to keep from missing school or work while menstruating. Worse, girls are often exploited in exchange for money to buy supplies. And when there is nothing to use, they remain home, sitting on a rag for the duration of their period.

D4G helps girls gain access to quality reusable feminine pads by direct distribution of hygiene kits sewn by US volunteers. Personal hygiene kits allow girls and women to attend school and work when they are menstruating and can last for up to 3 years. Disposable hygiene items are expensive, difficult to distribute in rural areas, and add to waste management and sanitation problems.

The kit pattern D4G sews was developed by Days for Girls (daysforgirls.org). These life-changing kits cost only $10 to produce and include:

8 washable liners
2 reusable sanitary shields
2 pair underwear
1 drawstring bag
1 washcloth
1 bar soap

D4G has sent over 2,500 kits to Kenya since 2015. The hygiene kits have already proven to reduce school absenteeism, drop out rates and even early pregnancies!

Our Kenyan recipients were so impressed with the kits and the freedom they provide women and girls that they wished to start a sewing enterprise to sew kits for their own communities. In 2016 D4G provided funding to send a Kenyan seamstress, Gladys, to the Days for Girls University in Uganda to learn to sew DfG kits. Gladys is currently overseeing the Kenyan DfG Sewing Enterprise and instructing women in this growing business.

We have also sent over 5,000 to Liberia through Joe Boway, founder of Liberian Children's MInistry, and continue to send shipments yearly. After realizing what a blessing the kits are to their students they are currently creating sewing classes in two of his high schools in order to sew DfG kits for their communities.

It is the desire of D4G to introduce kits in communities where they are a blessing, and then to stand beside organizations who wish to create them in thier own country.

Scroll down to learn about our distributing partners and see photos from Kenya and Liberia

Want to sew kits?

Dignity4Girls uses a pattern developed by Days for Girls International.

how to begin

Partners who distribute kits

Kenya

After recieving over 2,000 U.S. sewn kits, which helped introduce the washable pad concept to the region, Kisii, Kenya no longer receives U.S. kits. The skilled ladies of Kisii, led by seamstress Glaldys, have their own established Days for Girls trained sewing enterprise and have sewn over 1,500 kits for their community.

These trained seamstresses distribute to schools and churches while presenting special health education. The team has reached over 20 schools 35 churches, and three special girls schools for the deaf.

Liberia

Over 5,000 U.S. sewn kits have been shipped to Liberia, to schools operated by the Liberian Children's Ministry, under the direction of Joe Boway. Joe was born in the jungles of Liberia and as a child came to Christ through a missionary family. Due to civil wars, Joe and many others ended up in refugee camps.

For 14 years civil war prevented most schools from operating; as a result, today more than half of the adults in Liberia are illiterate. Joe, who now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with his wife and sons, created the Liberian Children's Ministry as a way to educate children in the jungle regions. Joe now oversees 14 schools and over 5,700 students!

A team from Elmhurst, Illinois, traveled to Liberia in 2019 to help distribute kits to school girls and teachers. Those who received the kits shared the importance of the snaps and how that provides them the ability to move freely, even during their periods. A freedom they had not had before. Their previous restricted movements often caused embarrassment so the girls were very thankful.