Days for Girls East Angles Event, 22nd September 2018

Ten of us met to look at presentation on Days for Girls which included a very thought-provoking video about girls trying to manage menstruation without any products and the vital difference those products can make.  Aaf and Maria then took us through the contents of a pack and our sewists helped make either a bag, a liner or a shield.

Mary gave feedback from lovely Assumpta and the other KMSS girls who trialled the packs she took to Pathein in June, the main one being that the flannel liners are too thick to dry easily in the wet season, which means we are going to look at cotton or bamboo liners as an addition, with permission from our DfG mentor.

Big thank yous to:

• Fr Mark for allowing us to use the Crypt as our venue and for quality checking our lunch;
• Ian for generously sharing the DfG idea in the first place, via his friend Tina in Rome and for making a mean cup of herbal tea;
• Maria for being our first sewist and one of our East Angles sewing gurus and for making the best lunches in Norfolk as we planned the event;
• Aaf for holding my hand through the scrutiny process, making all of our bags for Myanmar, being our other East Angles sewing guru and for generally being a gorgeous, stylish inspiration;
• Kate who flew down from Edinburgh specially for the event, made great sandwiches and helped out at every turn;
• Katie who took away a pack to show others who may be interested in taking the idea to north-west Cambodia;
• Anne, Eilish, Christine and Kay for being so interested and for wanting to do more.

Next steps will be:

• Writing to all of our attendees and prospective attendees (Mary);
• Finding out why our scrutiny process is taking so long (Mary);
• Setting up smaller groups locally (Maria and Mary);
• Accessing more cost-effective materials through DfG (Mary);
• Contacting Keith Morris at the diocesan newspaper with photos (Mary);
• Working together to decide on a March date for another full East Angles meet-up (Mary, Maria, Ian).