doTERRA and Days for Girls Celebrate International Women’s Day with Service Project
The world’s leading essential oils company doTERRA International, partnered with Days for Girls to assemble 1,770 reusable feminine hygiene kits for women around the world. The project marked International Women’s Day with service from doTERRA employees and Wellness Advocates.
Nearly five hundred doTERRA employees and local Wellness Advocates gathered to assemble the life-changing feminine hygiene kits. The young women receiving the kits are in desperate need of feminine hygiene education and supplies. These reusable kits make it possible for young women to stay in school where previously they would have skipped class and fallen behind or eventually dropped out of school altogether.
“Our goal is to reach every girl, everywhere, period. There are so many things that are hard to change in this world. This isn’t one of them.”
-Celeste Mergens, Founder, Days for Girls
How It All Began
Days for Girls began in 2008 when Founder and CEO Celeste Mergens was working with a family foundation in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. That is where she began assisting an orphanage. In the wake of historic post-election violence, the population at the orphanage had swelled from 400 children to 1,400.
As she was getting prepared to return to Nairobi, Celeste went to bed with the devastating situation weighing heavy on her mind. In the middle of the night, she woke up with a nagging question: “What are girls doing for feminine hygiene?” Seeking an answer, she ran to the computer and sent an email to the Assistant Director of the orphanage.
He replied right away, “Nothing. They wait in their rooms.”
Celeste learned that girls were sitting on cardboard for several days each month. They would often go without food unless someone would bring it to them. This set in motion her first intervention – disposable pads. But Celeste and her team quickly discovered a major problem – without any place to dispose of the pads, this was neither a viable nor a sustainable solution. It was time for Plan B: a washable, long-lasting pad.
The first Days for Girls Kits were quite different from the design in use today. Each of the 28 iterations that followed would be informed by extensive feedback and designed to meet unique cultural and environmental conditions in communities throughout the world. Days for Girls’ made a difference by creating a hygiene solution. This would make assist women and girls to break the cycle of poverty and live lives of dignity.
Today, Days for Girls has reached more than one million women and girls in 124+ countries with DfG Kits and menstrual health education. This translates into over 115 million days of dignity, health, and opportunity!