Help Young Women Thrive

ChildVoice, a ministry supported by FPC, serves children and families in war-torn areas of Uganda, South Sudan, and Nigeria. This summer, ChildVoice shared a unique need with Pastor Bryan and I, and we are excited to ask for your partnership in meeting this need.

Many of the young women ChildVoice serves lack reliable access to feminine hygiene products. This lack of access means that they are missing up to a week of school each month, which is 25% of their learning time. You can imagine how this would impact their ability to succeed in school. Missing or dropping out of school puts girls at a higher risk of ending up on the street and falling prey to human traffickers. This has a life-long impact on their ability to thrive as adults and impacts families for generations.

Girls are particularly vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and forced labor. Tragically, girls are being exploited at earlier ages and for progressively more brutal uses, such as sexual slavery, chattel for trafficking, and as armed combatants. This exploitation of girls often precipitates a two-generation impact – the girl herself and the children she bears. ChildVoice’s desire is to break this cycle of abuse aimed at adolescent girls.

Some aid organizations provide disposable products, but these present several problems. First, one-time use products are not sustainable. Supply storage is difficult, and disposal can be challenging as well. Second, disposable products rely on underwear to be worn, and because of cultural differences and need, most girls do not have underwear. These problems compound the difficulties girls and women face at school and in the workplace.

ChildVoice has come up with a unique, sustainable solution that is already having a positive impact on school attendance. They have created reusable feminine pads that tie around the waist and use Tyvec mailers for a waterproof layer. Soft, absorbent inserts can be switched out during the day as needed, then washed and reused. Each sanitary napkin kits costs about $7 to make and will last about one day (allowing time for the inserts to be washed and dry overnight to be used again the next day).

There are two ways we can support this project: financial gifts to purchase supplies and sewing the inserts/holders/bags. The Missions Committee has designated funds for the first 150 kits our church makes. There are opportunities for both sewers and non-sewers! The inserts are made of fleece which simply needs to be cut to the appropriate size. We have a sample kit available if you’d like to look at it, as well as a project pattern. You can also see an example of these kits (and purchase directly from ChildVoice if you’d prefer) at this link: https://childvoice.org/allproducts/hygiene-kit. Kits can be made by individuals at home or as a group at church. There are lots of ways to be involved!

Karin Podhajsky is planning for sewing groups to begin working on kits in January; I am so thankful for her skills and leadership!  I’m excited about this opportunity to help girls and young women succeed in such a practical way. So often we hear about injustice in the world and feel helpless, but this is a tangible way that we can be a part of changing the future for generations of girls and women.

Ways you can pray for ChildVoice:

**At the Imvepi Refugee Settlement in Uganda, they are seeing a huge increase in new refugees from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as an increase in child-headed households; some households are headed by children as young as 10. Pray for ChildVoice as they equip and protect these children and households, as well as for wisdom as they care for everyone at the settlement.

**In Nigeria: for the team’s safety and for the effectiveness of the ministry God has called them to there, including a new outreach in Dauchi serving 13-18 year olds (in addition to the work they do in three other communities, serving a variety of ages).

**In Moldova and Ukraine: Their work with partner organizations and churches. This year, a partner organization opened to two transition serving at-risk youth displaced by conflict. Pray for these teens as they learn new routines and new ways of living, as well as for the staff supporting them in their healing.

**At the Lukome Center in Uganda, where their sanctuary village setting provides these girls and their children with a safe place in which to build a brighter future as they receive love, education, counseling, and vocational skills--all with the goal of having them reintegrate within their communities as self-sufficient leaders and valued income-earners.

ChildVoice's most recent newsletter is available here.

You can also learn more about this project here.