500 Kits To Nicaragua

In mid-June, I received an email from the Global Links Program Manager for International Medical Aid to see if we could send 500 Days for Girls kits to the Women’s Prison and the Psychiatric Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua on the next Global Links shipment in the beginning of July. Our kits would be received by a Global Links employee (who has taken the Ambassador for Women’s Health Training) and she would distribute the kits to the women and these two locations. The women in these locations were lacking access to basic supplies, such as personal hygiene items, to cover their basic needs. Along with the kits, we sent three Spanish flip charts; one for each location and one for Global Links to have on hand in Nicaragua.

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The Pittsburgh Chapter of Days for Girls meets on Wednesdays via zoom so that we can keep connected while we can’t meet in person. Those of us who are able to sew at home arrange pick up and drops offs at Third Presbyterian Church, but the building remains closed. We were able to get special permission for the three DFG co-leaders to enter the building to pack up kits. We wore masks upon entering the building until reaching our work stations in the DFG room. Once we had our plan in place we were able to stay more than six feet apart at separate workstations to accomplish our goals. We did remove our masks while at our own work stations and continued to sanitize as needed. It was good to be together, but also strange for our room to be so empty (we usually have between 30 and 40 people in our space at time). If you are interested in working with us you can learn more about our COVID-19 response and about volunteering from a distance.

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It took a good bit longer to pack 500 kits without all of our usual help. Constance came in one extra day and I worked late a few days in the Days for Girls room. It was really strange to have virtual church meetings while I was in the building, but it was fun to show off our DFG room and talk about the project with a wider variety of people. The cheerful colors of the DFG kits is a really cool backdrop!

After we finished packing the kits, we loaded them up and drove them to the Global Links warehouse. We look forward to hearing about how the distribution went and hope to see pictures too. Mostly, we are thrilled to partner with Global Links and look forward to what more we can do together.

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Global Links is a medical relief and development organization dedicated to supporting health improvement initiatives in resource-poor communities and promoting environmental stewardship in the US healthcare system.

Since 1989 Global Links has been working to redirect still-useful materials away from US landfills to support public health programs in targeted communities throughout the Western Hemisphere. We share our experience and technical knowledge with international and domestic partners and educate our volunteers, donors and the community on issues of global health and environmental stewardship.

Respect for all people and our planet guides our mission. We believe health for all is a global good.

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We are hoping to receive pictures and feedback from the distribution later this summer.