Freedom Kits 2022 In Review

Freedom Kits of Yakima:  The Story of 2022

3660 kits, 11400 pads, 690 guards, 250 bags to 17 countries plus the U.S.

​Pokot, Kenya:  These 290 kits are helping to keep the 8th grade girls in school.  Traditionally the girls leave school after 8th grade, receive FGM (female genital mutilation), and are given in marriage as the 4th or 5th wife to a man in his 40’s or 50’s.  The charity taking the kits over is working with village elders to end this practice.  These kits help them to keep the girls safely in the boarding school.  Traditionally girls and women in this area dig a hole in the ground and sit over it while on their period.  The volunteer sent us videos of the girls receiving their kits and captioned, “these are the girls you saved from FGM today.”  

Eyes4Zimbabwe sent several large trucks to Guatemala, El Salvador, the Amazon, Mexico and Peru, loaded with medical supplies, school supplies, and humanitarian aid supplies.  An important addition is our Freedom Kits, of which they took 1000 in 2022.  Anywhere you have poverty, be assured that girls and women are missing school and work and life because they have no access to feminine hygiene products.

Bangou, Cameroon:  Our 200 kits went to help girls stay in school where cultural norms and taboos force girls to remain home when on their period.  The charity generally does medical mission work and supports a school.  Upon learning about our kits they realized that the girls ARE missing too much school because they have no way to manage their period.

Farmworkers Clinic, Toppenish and Granger:  our 50 kits were given for free to low-income women who struggle to afford both menstrual supplies and incontinence supplies. In the U.S., it costs between $20 and $30 a month for menstrual supplies, and up to $100 a month for incontinence pads.  Our kits are making a real difference for the women who receive them.

Guatemala Village Health:  two chapters of this charity took a total of 240 of our kits with them as they traveled to various remote mountain villages running medical clinics and helping in schools.  Our kits help the girls to manage their period with dignity and remain in school.

Papua New Guinea:  girls and women traditionally must sit in a “menstruation hut” while on their period.  Our 70 kits went to help both women and girls retain freedom of movement for school, work, life.

Dominican Republic:  our 70 kits went with a charity that helps women in prison who are transitioning back to society.  The cost of disposable feminine hygiene is out of reach for these vulnerable women.  

Manilla, Philippines:  our 200 kits went with a charity that is helping homeless women and girls who are living in a cemetery in North Manilla.  The charity is helping the women get job training, and striving to keep the girls in school.  With no access to disposable feminine hygiene, these kits will make all the difference for these girls and women.

Guyana:  a gynecologist from the Farmworkers Clinic went to Guyana to the edge of the Amazon for a medical mission.  She was thrilled to be able to take 70 of our kits.  She said the girls there tend to take used plastic grocery bags, fill them with rags, used paper, leaves etc and tie them around their bodies, just so they can go to school.  The girls end up with open sores, rashes, and infections from this unclean system.  

Malawi, Dzhaleka Refugee Camp:  Our 70 kits went to help the most vulnerable of women in this camp…. The young single mothers, who must work to support their families, but who have no way to manage their period.  A quote from the volunteer distributing our kits:  “Today was overwhelming–a little traumatizing and a lot life-changing.  These amazing ladies helped me distribute a handful of [washable] feminine sanitary kits.  I was only able to bring 70 with me… I wish I could have brought 100 times that.  Even 6000 kits would only put a dent in the situation here…I am grateful for the donated efforts from small groups like Freedom Kits Yakima who believe in freedom of movement for women….As word spread, we were mobbed.  I could feel the desperation rolling off my new friends.  They need these kits….”

Coban, Guatemala:  Our 70 kits went with a charity that runs a school at the edge of the largest garbage dump in Central America there in Coban.  The charity struggles to keep the girls in school because they have no money and no access to feminine hygiene products.  Our kits are washable, reusable, and last up to 5 years, and will allow these girls to stay in school, graduate, and have a chance to escape homelessness and poverty.

Zimbabwe:  The 200 kits sent with Eyes4Zimbabwe were distributed to several schools where girls are vulnerable and tend to drop out within a year or two of starting their period.  They have to miss school 5 days a month, so they fall behind, then they get discouraged, then they drop out, at which point they are usually forced into early marriage, some as young as 12 years old.  At this point they are stuck in poverty.  Our kits give them the freedom to stay in school, graduate, and have choices for their life.

Kenya:  a charity out of Los Angeles supports 3 schools in remote Kenya.  They have taken our 300 kits, plus enough supplies to make an additional 270 kits, which will provide a kit for EVERY GIRL in these three schools.  They know that access to feminine hygiene is essential for keeping girls in school.

Rod’s House:  we have donated 10 “mini-kits” to Rod’s House to for a test to see if the kits are helpful to the homeless youth and young adult population that they serve.  The director is very enthusiastic and will be educating the girls and women, and promoting proper use of the kits.

Mali:  we sent 10800 flannel pads which will supplement the kits that have been distributed there in past years.  Flannel is not available for purchase in Africa, so these pads are highly needed.

Ukraine and Romania:  a total of 872 of our kits went with relief organizations to help women and girls fleeing within Ukraine, and into Romania.  With supply chains disrupted and entire homes destroyed, our kits help women and girls in this desperate time.

Zambia:  we donated 300 pads and 150 guards to a group in Spokane that assembles and distributes washable feminine hygiene kits for school girls in Zambia.

Nigeria:  we donated 250 drawstring bags and 300 pads to a group in Sammamish that assembles and distributes washable feminine hygiene kits for five schools in Nigeria.