This week, HER (Himalayan Entrepreneur Resources) US co-directors Krystal Gail and Rachel Skoog speak about their groundbreaking project serving women in Nepal on this episode of The Truly Co. Podcast. This episode is a testimony of what can happen when everyday women take a step of faith. Rachel Skoog is a wife and mom who loves to cook, garden and travel. Krystal Foster, a nurse of 16 years and Spiritual and Emotional Intelligence Coach, recently bought a farm with her husband and children with the intent to create an organic, self-sustaining resource.
Informed by a woman from Nepal named Hannah, Rachel learned women have very little education about puberty and what happens to the female body. Consumed by myths and cultural stigmas, menstruation is a subject that brought shame, rejection, disease, and danger to the lives of women each month. Myths, stigmas, and the realities of menstruating women include:
- Contact with a menstruating woman will bring bad luck; therefore, women cannot make food.
- Women are not allowed to touch livestock for fear the animal will get sick.
- Painful UTIs or yeast infections are considered normal. At HER’s most recent visits to the village in Western Nepal, the team found that over 85% of the women dealt with UTI or yeast infections.
Compelled by this knowledge, HER was founded in response to a caste system that’s created enormous economic disparities, human trafficking, and a culture that shuns women to the point that they can’t take care of themselves. Along with a team, Rachel and Krystal traveled to Nepal to share and teach practical hygiene practices, business skills, and sustainable farming. As a result, the HER project now employs local seamstresses (‘the seven sisters’) to produce sustainable feminine hygiene kits in the Himalayan area.
As of the recording of this podcast (spring 2021), the focus of HER provides feminine health education, hygiene kit supplies (reusable pads and sanitary napkins), entrepreneurship skills (education on economic alternatives to prostitution such as goat, mushroom, and chicken farming), and financial literacy (budgeting, savings accounts, etc.). Women’s education raises the economic standard of their villages and families, creates normalcy around menstruation (versus exile), which ultimately changes the mindsets of the culture.
Krystal encourages us, “Do not hesitate to use your gifts and your talents, no matter what your qualifications are. If you think you have too little skill or talent, it’s not true. . .God can use it all.”
Connect with Krystal, Rachel, and other exciting projects at the HER website (part of Venture.org), Instagram, and The Venture Facebook Community.
We encourage you to watch this video testimony from Hannah (mentioned in this podcast episode) and share it with your friends.
Period care subscription purchases through Garnuu directly benefit the HER project.
LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE