PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Jean Ahearn at her sewing machine with one of the components of the feminine hygiene kit that she will assemble and ship out.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
PEABODY — Jean Ahearn doesn’t want girls in developing countries to miss school because they happen to be on their periods.
In poverty-stricken countries, Ahearn said girls can lose up to 45 days of school a year due to lack of access to feminine hygiene products. When those girls are on their cycle, they stay home, rather than attend class. They may even sell their bodies to men working at the schools, in exchange for products, she added.
Ahearn, 53, of Peabody, wants to end that practice. To do that, she is sewing feminine hygiene kits, complete with a drawstring bag, reusable shields and liners, underwear, washcloths and soap. The liners act like pads, while the shields are placed underneath the flannel liners on the underwear, further protecting their clothing from leaks. Each one, made with a sewing machine, consists of cotton fabrics designed to be brought to school daily, so they blend with their education materials and are discreetly used in the bathroom. The washable and reusable kits should last three years.
“They take it to the bathroom every time so no one will be the wiser,” Ahearn said.
She’s holding two free events for volunteers to help sew on Saturday from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Creativity Lab at Peabody Institute Library.
The full-time graduate student at Champlain College is pursuing her master’s in early childhood education. She got the idea after her 27-year-old daughter, Jessica Ahearn, read an article about the missed school time and Days for Girls, a nonprofit that was trying to design the hygiene kits.
Ahearn put the project in the back of her mind until 2014, when she was required to complete a community service project as part of her undergraduate degree at Baypath University. She started Sewing to Empower Women (SEW) to help. With previous sewing events at the library and help from volunteers, the project yielded 70 kits.
“Seventy girls that were missing school are now staying in school,” Ahearn said. “That in itself is very rewarding.”
This weekend’s events will be Ahearn’s second time around with SEW. She’s sewed materials sporadically since her initial project, but said it’s difficult to find the time with working and attending school full-time. She buys all of the materials herself. Once the kits are completed, she sends them to Days for Girls, who then distribute them, often in person, to the girls. The kits go to all six populated continents, but many go to Africa, she added.
Ahearn plans to stick with putting together the kits as long as she can still sew.
“It won’t be an everyday thing, but I think it will be a rest of my life thing,” Ahearn said.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley
