HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- The Dulong sisters are siblings in concert when it comes to improving the world from their dining room table. Emma, Lucy and Sophie are on a mission to stitch and send special care packages around the globe. The kits, which take about eight hours to make, include feminine hygiene products for girls in impoverished nations like Haiti and South Africa.
The sisters call their kits Days for Girls. Emma said the items are crucial for teens who may be forced to miss class time during their menstrual cycle.
"Girls on average miss about 80 days of school a year because of something that is completely natural to us around the world," Emma said.
So far, the home schooled sisters have spent their own money to create dozens of cloth bags which includes soap, plastic bags and shields which snap onto a girl's underwear. For the girls, it is a year-round project rich in rewards.
"To us they really aren’t strangers. It is almost like we know them," Sophie said.
Recently, the siblings traveled to the Philippines to hand deliver 50 homemade bags. Snapshots of grateful girls holding their new kits just arrived from the Philippines.
"They are my age and they have the kit and they’re holding it and proud to have it and happy to be there with each other," Emma said. “Honestly, I want to take this photo and frame it.”
While the siblings will probably never meet the recipients, they said just knowing they can make a small difference in the lives of young girls their age is music to their ears.
"I know it’s going to stick with us for a long time and that dining room no matter how messy it gets from all of the fabric pieces that will be worth it," Sophie said.
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