Young Women from the Rugby Ward recently completed a year long project to help girls of a similar age in less-developed countries have a better quality of life. The young women sewed 14 bags and filled them with sanitary and hygiene products for the international organisation Days for Girls. Lynda Tatham, a Young Women leader, was motivated to help this organisation after she learned of the challenges faced by girls all over the world, she said. “We wanted to do a project that our girls could easily relate to. Realising that these girls from poor countries were missing school, and therefore life opportunities, helped our young women to appreciate how lucky they were.”
Days for Girls (DfG) is committed to supporting a girl throughout her entire life cycle, from providing her with a DfG Kit to teaching her health education to offering training for her when she grows older so that she too can produce DfG Kits and support hygiene needs in her local community. Since DfG began their work in 2008, more than 1 million girls in over 100 countries have received kits, which typically last two to three years. Service projects are a regular feature of the Young Women programme in Rugby.
Previously they have been involved in a shoebox appeal, collecting toothpaste for the local food bank and processing stamps that would be donated to charities. Abby Platt, aged 14 said, “I really enjoyed doing the Days for Girls project. I was so glad that I could be a part of making the world a better place. I was able to help the girls in Africa so they can go to school while they grow into young women. I would recommend lots of people doing this because it was a wonderful experience.”