Days for Girls Smile Star’D Social
Enterprise | Kenya
Alice Wambui Mwangi grew up in Kenya, where she excelled in school. After
her first period arrived, she struggled to manage her menstruation. Her family
did not have money to buy feminine hygiene products.
Desperate to continue her education, Alice often used whatever materials
she could find to absorb her menstrual flow, including old rags, pieces of a
mattress, or pages from books. She often experienced infections that set her
further back in school.
Despite setbacks, Alice went on to graduate college at the top of her class.
“After my first degree, I remembered all I had gone through as a teenage
girl and promised that—one day—I would do something to help the lives of
girls who might be suffering from lack of menstrual supplies, like I did.”
Alice started the Days for Girls Smile Star’D Social Enterprise in 2018. So far,
she has reached more than 1,000 girls in rural schools across Kenya. She did
not stop there. In order to fulfill her mission, she knew she needed a sewing
center, where women could produce Days for Girls Kits.
Presidential Diamond Corinna Barrus and Wellness Advocates Molly Purvines
and Giada Hansen wanted to help. With the support of the dōTERRA Healing
Hands Foundation ® , they raised $23,577 in 2019 to fund this new sewing
center. The Smile Star’D Enterprise sewing center in Nakuru, Kenya, is now
complete and open for business!
Fighting the Stigma | Nepal
Wellness Advocates from Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Canada, and the United
States conducted Days for Girls trainings in Nepal for more than 200 women
and girls. The training focused primarily on menstruation and reproductive
health and hygiene. Following the training, several women stated they could
not wait to bring change to their communities by sharing reproductive health
and hygiene principles with their partners and speaking openly on the topic
of menstruation. Additionally, they plan to teach their children about puberty,
menstruation, and reproductive hygiene openly and without embarrassment.
They want to prevent their girls from suffering the same stigmas and
problems they have.
“As members of the dōTERRA ® team shared their experiences and taught
the girls about self-respect and personal safety and their value as human
beings, I could see the joyful tears in their eyes and feel the happiness that
both the Wellness Advocates and the participants were experiencing. It was
clear to me that this type of training can make a major difference in Nepal,
where—even near the capital—the people are lacking in health education
and use incorrect traditions to subjugate women in the social system.”
— Paige Whipple Glidden, Days for Girls International
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dōTERRA HEALING HANDS FOUNDATION I ANNUAL REPORT 2019
doterrahealinghands.org
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