Spotlight: Days for Girls

by MAGEN OLSEN

For a lot of women, especially in developed countries, menstrual cycles are just a minor inconvenience that crop up every 28 days or so. But, for countless young girls, in over 125 countries around the globe, having a period stops their world from turning for a whole week. For many girls, it means staying indoors and missing school. Days go missing until their cycle is complete.

An organization, with a chapter in Utah, is looking to change that by giving these girls back the days they have lost. Days for Girls began in 2008 when Celeste Mergen visited an orphanage in Kenya. She saw a dire need for supplies and health education for young girls. After a series of trial and error kits, her team developed a program that gives girls the best possible outcome.

Days for Girls puts together period kits, complete with reusable pads and liners to reduce waste. What makes the program unique is the training that comes along with kits. Rather than just shipping kits to areas in need, Days for Girls sends volunteers to educate the girls on how to use them, how to take care of their bodies, and self-defense training.

“In many parts of the world, periods are a very taboo subject,” says Lisa Chudleigh, Utah’s Regional Rep for Days for Girls. “Our trainings aim to teach them that a period is the sign of a healthy woman, not a bad thing. The main mission is education for these girls, to teach them their value in society and about their health.”

Since its founding, a decade ago, Days for Girls has reached over 1.5 million girls in 100+ countries and continues to produce kits and trainings for girls all over the world. They get girls outside and back to school, every day of the year.

“An educated girl can change not only her own life and her family, but also her whole community,” says Chudleigh. “With these new products, they are able to make up that lost time.”

Chudleigh shared that chapters in Utah are particularly successful, because the communities in the state are so service-oriented. She loves seeing the program connect young women all over the world, to support each other in something they all have to go through.

“Days for Girls is not only a nonprofit service providing period kits. More than anything, it is a connector,” says Chudleigh.

The program helps people connect through serving, saving the environment, and creating a world of understanding and support for women everywhere. It helps the world connect through giving girls a brighter future.

For more information on the Utah chapter of Days for Girls, visit their website.