Knights craft with impact to aide girls internationally

Imagine living in Southeast Asia where girls on their period are not permitted to use the same water
facilities as the rest of the community for fear of contamination.
Now, imagine UCF students and alumni taking their Pinterest skills to the next level by crafting a solution
to this global problem. It looks something like this: girls around the world becoming educated, healthy
and dignified.
Similar opportunities to make an international impact happen through service-learning courses at UCF,
where students gain an appreciation for the relationship between civics and academics.
A UCF senior, Olivia Hayhoe, decided to spend her summer sewing. As a costume design major, Hayhoe
connected her love of DIY crafting to a local chapter of Days for Girls International (DfGI).
DfGI is a grassroots network of thousands of volunteers and supporters who provide quality sustainable
feminine hygiene in the form of kits. These specially engineered packs include washable pads and
shields that are functional and beautifulstopping leaks and cultural taboos about menstruation.
As a volunteer, Hayhoe sews the reusable products that are sent to girls in South Africa, Thailand,
Ecuador, even Pakistan. Any of the more than 75 nations on six continents could benefit from her
summertime crafting.
These kits that seem simple to us mean so much to those girls, Hayhoe explained. It means they can
feel comfortable with themselves, and not feel contained to their homes because of their periods. It
means they can be a woman and still get an education.
Hayhoe is a member of Introduction to Womens Studies, an interdisciplinary course that explores issues
related to women from various perspectives, emphasizing the intersections of gender, race, class and
sexuality. As a service-learning course, students are required to volunteer a minimum of 10 hours of the
semester toward civic engagement.
My favorite part [about service-learning projects] is that I can apply skills from my major, costume
design, and my minor, womens studies, to impact women around the world! exclaimed Hayhoe. Her
professor, Leandra Preston-Sidler, agreed that the value of service-learning courses is two-fold: not only
are students able to see theory in action, but are also making a difference in the communitylocally
and globally.
I am so inspired and proud of the range of projects my students create and the impact they make in
various communities. It puts the ripple effect in motion in a palpable way, which is especially important
for feminist movements, given the history of emphasis on community and social change.
Jessica Bejarano, a recent UCF graduate, is the Central Florida DfGI team leader responsible for
coordinating volunteers, planning events and assembling kits for distribution. A culmination of these
efforts can be seen in the Second Annual Global Sew-a-Thon on October 11, 2014, the International Day

of the Girl. This 24-hour event raises awareness, funds and supplies to support the DfGI work. And
Bejarano is in charge of our regions efforts.
Its so exciting to see individuals and teams sew as many pieces as they can in 24 hours! She
encourages anyone with an interest in Pinterest to come out and help cut, sew and package DfGI kits.
Going on two years of volunteering, Bejarano also found DfGI through a service-learning course at UCF.
Being introduced to DfGI by a professor changed my life by giving me the ability to impact the world in
an area Im passionate about, believes Bejarano. Theres something about crafting the items in each
girls kit with your own two hands. It goes far beyond a simple donation.
In countries where menstrual stigmas still pervade cultural attitudes, girls are kept locked in their rooms,
sitting on cardboard, missing out on school, work and sometimes food. And when girls must leave their
homes, the only solutions they have for feminine hygiene include leaves, corn husks, newspaper,
rocksanything to hide what they are taught is shameful about their bodies.
DfGI found that over the course of three years, girls miss out on more than 180 days of school and work
while on their period. Thats two full semesters without education or income. But with one kit DfGI gives
these six months back, helping to break the cycle of poverty and female oppression.
Bejarano called her work crafting with impact, a notion Hayhoe supported: DfGI is an amazing
organization that makes me feel empowered by empowering other women. It means I can put my
sewing skills to use for a great cause and make a difference in girls lives.
And DfGI doesnt just need craftersvolunteers can put any skill to use, such as helping with graphic art,
publicity, fundraising and interning internationally. Hayhoes classmate, Lauren Holiday, reached out to
the founder of DfGI, Celeste Mergens, to see how her major in advertising/public relations could be put
to use.
I dont know the difference between knitting and crocheting, but I love to write, said Holiday. I
connected so deeply with DfGIs mission that I wouldve done anything to help out. Luckily, Celeste
worked with my strengths and put me to work promoting DfGI locally and reimagining the websites
media page.
When asked about her students involvement with DfGI, Preston-Sidler responded, I like the global
emphasis DfGI provides and I appreciate the range of possibilities it enables for my students.
Its this sort of flexibility, determination and meaning that creates the true DfGI impact on Every Girl.
Everywhere. Period.