The Pittsburgh Chapter of Days for Girls is excited to announce our pledge 1,000 kits to the DFG International Refugee Project! You may have seen them stacked in the social hall foyer with information about the project posted on the boxes. We hope that this “installation art” has inspired you to think about ways you can help refugees around the world.
This project will involve getting 33,000 kits to Lebanon, Syrian, and Palestinian refugees this fall. That means a lot of logistics and shipping costs. The good news is that we will not have to pay to ship our 1,000 kits because we have been selected as one of the collection sites. Other teams and chapters will be shipping their kits to us and then we will check each kit for quality before packaging everything for the DFG team to ship from here to the next place and eventually to the refugees. DFG International is fundraising for the shipping costs and getting educators and translators trained to distribute the kits. If you would like to donate to that effort, please contribute to: DFG International
When the kits arrive, the Pittsburgh Chapter may need some additional help with the quality control and packaging of the extra kits. We will be sure to let the congregation know when those extra hands are needed. In the meantime, if you have extra boxes that can be collapsed for now but will be sturdy for shipping later, we would love to have them. You are always welcome to join us on Wednesdays from 10am to 7pm at Third Church.
For more information about what Presbyterians are doing for these refugees in these areas check out this link from the Presbyterian Mission Agency
For more information about what Presbyterians are doing for refugees at our southern border check out this link from the Presbyterian Outlook. Our DFG Pittsburgh Chapter is focusing on the refugees in Syrian, Lebanon, and Palestine for now, but we hope in the future there will be more efforts by DFG International to help other refugees.
Here is more information from Days for Girls International:
| In November 2019 (Days for Girls’ 11th birthday) we will distribute 11,000 DfG Kits to refugee women and girls in three locations, totaling 33,000. We’re excited to share more details about this project, including the first distribution location… Lebanon! There are currently 1.5 million refugees in Lebanon. Approximately 65% are women and girls. The majority of these refugees are Syrians and Palestinians living in formal and informal refugee camps or communities. Please follow these links for more information on Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Refugees in Lebanon continue to have multiple humanitarian needs. One of these important but often overlooked needs is the considerable challenge refugee women and girls face with menstrual hygiene management. DfG Lebanon Country Coordinator Khayrieh says, “Most refugees can’t afford pads because they need to spend what little money they have on food and medicine. They use old white cloths or old t-shirts instead, but the problem is they are too shy to wash this and hang it out to dry. This isn’t safe for their health. DfG Kits provide a wonderful alter-native to this as they are multicolored, don’t look like pads and they are safe to use! The Ambassador for Women’s Health education is just as important because it teaches them information that most of them don’t already know. It makes them more relaxed & confi- dent and it breaks down taboos and stigmas. It has a lasting impact because they can pas the information on to their daughters, who will then pass it down to their daughters.” Local Leaders from 3 DfG Enterprises in Lebanon have rallied to address refugee women & girls access to menstrual health supplies and education, however, the need is immense. Local leaders have reported on the tremendous need for more DfG Kits and health education in refugee settings and invited Chapters and Teams to walk alongside them to meet this need. In addition to responding to this with donated Kits, we plan to purchase Kits from the local Enterprises, and will hire local leaders to teach the DfG Health Education courses. More up-dates on the project can be found here. |
Days for Girls has shared an incredible video by award winning video journalist and filmmaker Tania Safi and video assistant Rachelle Hair called Turning Periods into Pathways.
For more about Days for Girls Pittsburgh Chapter:
A toast to strong women: May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them
It’s Important to Understand Why
From Menarche to Menopause: All of the love and laughter
Period Sermon and Period Sermon Liturgy
Period Pastor Pad 