Give us your undies!

After the absolutely horrific genocide in the late 1970's - 1980's, the gentle people of Cambodia are striving to regain their community, peace, health and education.  Many of the skilled birth attendants were killed in the genocide and I am not exactly sure what sort of care a women now recieves who is pregnant or labouring.


Poverty is  also a massive issue in Cambodia. Living on next to nothing per day is the pits and seeing humans living in such conditions is heartbreaking and soul shattering. If you are female, it seems to isolate and restrict you even further in the world you live in.

From what I know, many of the girls stop attending school during the time they menstruate, simply because when they bleed they don't have sanitary items, so choose to stay home for this time. This of course makes them fall behind in their studies, with a high possibility of them dropping out of education. Thus continuing the cycle of poverty.

A VERY SIMPLE and life altering donation suggestion from Life Options Inc. has been that we donate underwear! New, cotton undies, from sizes 8 - 12 in adults and all kids sizes.  Giving underwear seems almost silly in our western culture of abundance and overconsumersim, but for many women, giving them a new, clean pair of underwear will make a difference on whether or not they get an education and break the cycle of poverty. 


Cloth pads are also massively useful. If you are able to donate some cloth pads, whether you sew or buy them, we promise you that the women of Cambodia will enormously appreciate it! We have started a facebook group for this, so if you want more details please click HERE and it will give you info and details on what to do, how to make them and where to send them to :) I just want to say a big thankyou to some women who have taken this mission on with a passion and are organising cloth pad sewing sessions as I type! - so thankyou to Jo, Sazz, Sarah, Kint and Loz! I know there is many more, and you will all get a public declaration of our love as well, once you send us the goods!! ;)


It is amazing that what we take for granted and what we think is 'just the basics' is something that many women around the world don't have. To be honest, I have NEVER linked underwear and education together until a couple weeks ago. To realise that young women wont go to get an education if they dont have underwear to wear when they menstruate and thus continuing the cycle of poverty breaks my heart. We can do something about this. And we can do it right now. 


Send us some undies!


New, cotton undies, size 6 -12 adult and any kids sizes. The Cambodian girls and women arent fussy and will take any color or prints! If you are interested in doing so, drop me an email and i can give you an address for one of the few drop off points around Melbourne that you can take them too. Alternatively, you can post them to us as well. Just give us an email!
Xo

Also, I just wanted tos hare a quick little story about underwear. When I went to my favourtie cafe the other day, I had let people know I would be there, so if they wanted to drop off donations for the trip then they would know where to drop them off. I was wondering around with my daughters, over near the sandpit, going to get a seat, when I heard a beautiful friend yell out "Hey, Sheree, I have some undies for you!" I was very excited about it and I know I made heads turn as Georgia pulled out 3 packets of cotton undies from her bag and handed them to me. My face lit up with excitement as I exclaimed at how excited I was to be getting undies from her :) I put them in my bag and told her how I was so thrilled to be given underwear, in a cafe midmorning on a wednesday :) So, it is all beautiful sisters! Let's help our Cambodian sister out by giving thems some undies and breaking the cycle of poverty and strengthening the bond of sisterhood, community and civilisation on a whole 


Xo