We have been supporting the charity Days for Girls this term and managed to collect a fantastic amount of items that will be put together for kits for Tanzania next month, including 190 pairs of knickers, 121 flannels, 53 soaps, fabric for bags and around £400 from Parent Pay donations.

In addition, a bag of toiletries was given to Ealing Foodbank and excess material was donated to Berrymede school sewing club in Acton and so gratefully received. The charity educates girls in developing countries about hygiene, menstruation, reproduction, self-defence and human trafficking. The charity has been running for 12 years and has reached two million girls in 144 different countries.  More importantly these schoolgirls do not have any access to menstrual kits and have to miss many days off school and suffer such stigma whilst sitting on rags or coconut husks. The group creates re-useable hygiene kits for the girls by hand sewing liners and bags and putting together hygiene kits, but they rely heavily on donations of knickers, fabric, travel soaps and flannels, which is where our donations come in!

We received this lovely letter from Mrs Hutchinson from Days for Girls:

Dear Mrs Johnson,

A huge thank you for all your support and raising awareness for the West London team of Days for girls. I spoke at our meeting this week about all the efforts that the fundraising week has raised so far and they were so grateful and impressed.

I started in this group  around 8 years ago alongside my 2 close friends, all 3 of us are ex NHEHS girls so really this effort has been truly special for us. The group has grown from a small group of neighbours to now a group of over 20 local members all with their unique role to play. We have also expanded to train and launch another group based in Ealing alongside us.

We do not always hear how our efforts have helped the girls so it is really heart-warming when we do. In March 2022, SIDRA Somalia distributed the 500 Kits that Days for Girls UK delivered to them and  Safia, one of the members of the Ealing Team organised the distribution and fundraised for the Kits to be shipped.

We recently received some feedback and photos from SIDRA and I thought you may like to see them. It’s always so fulfilling when you actually see these kits in their hands.

All of the NHEHS donations will be used to create kits for Tanzania to be sent next month. Please pass on our thanks to the girls and their families for such an incredible achievement and we are thrilled to have members of our community who are so dedicated to reaching women and girls. 

Mrs Hutchinson also shared some wonderful photos of some of the girls who received our Kits and health education below.