Women for Women International

This is what brought me to Rwanda the first time. I sponsor several women in Rwanda, Congo (DRC), and Nigeria. I have been sponsoring women for about 6 years and have sponsored 16 women. I wanted to meet the women I sponsor, so off to Rwanda, Dec. 2006 thru Jan. 2007. It was exciting and gave hope to us all. When I went to meet the women there were several groups of 20. They were learning about Family Law, Family Planning, Personal Hygiene, Prevention of AIDS, Domestic Violence, How to Deal with Stress, Reading and Writing. and many other topics. In addition to learning a trade, which may be basket weaving, tailoring, jewelery making, agriculture, and more. These women can be self reliant in one year.

I went to enrollment, where 400-500 women would be in a field or village centre, where they all desperately wanted help, but there was only 320 sponsors available for Rwanda. So many women continue to live in the extreme poverty and unsanitary conditions. Women for Women has enrolled over 4000 women in Rwanda.

A wonderful program founded by Zainab Salbi in the early 1990's. It has given women self esteem, and boundaries they weren't aware they had. They have started centers in their villages against domestic violence. For $27.00 a month you can change a woman's life forever.
Stronger women build stronger nations.

A Rwandan woman can have 6 children of her own and then 3, 4, 5, orphans from relatives of the genocide. So they could be supporting and caring for up to 10 children, completely alone. Their lives are very hard and difficult. Someone said to me "Well, it's all relevant." Relevant or not it is a horrific life that we can do something about, give hope, and change for a better life.
No women or child on this planet should have to die of hunger. No woman or child deserves to be abused, emotionally, physically, verbally, or sexually. We must help put and end to domestic violence. Every child and woman should have the opportunity to have an education or learn a skill. Education is the beginning to stop the cycle of violence, it's just simple ignorance. The woman below is beautiful, don't you agree? She's beaten several times a week, because her husband gets drunk and abuses her. She sleeps on a mat on the floor of a mud hut. You can help her and women like her, by reaching out to organizations that educate women on their human rights and let them know that they do not deserve to be beaten and abused.

Alcoholism seems to be a huge problem in Rwanda. People try to dumb the painful memories of the genocide, or forget the living situations they are in, they feel hopeless. Rwanda has no Alcoholic Anonymous Program. I helped get it started the last time I was hear. Using literature I downloaded from the internet. It went well while I was here but when I left it fell apart. This trip books from AA World Service have been sent with many phamplets on alcoholism. This treatable disease is killing the people of Rwanda. They are making alcohol in the villages that is poisonous. So with help and hope fewer will die of this disease. Someone is arriving in November to continue AA in Rwanda for at least 6 months. I will keep it going till Oct. 1st. So if you have any suggestions on keeping AA alive and growing in Rwanda please let me know. this will cut down on alot of domestic violence and the spreading of AIDS. When men get drunk they sleep with other women and bring AIDS home to their women. Then the women without knowledge pass it on in pregnancy.

George Bush made an executive decision in his first week in office as President. To not send birth control methods, that includes condoms to countries like this. George and his boys and the Catholic Church are against using condoms, because they are pro life. Yet AIDS is passed without the use of condoms and that kills. So what the hell are you thinking? Send condoms, save lives, don't let people die slow painful deaths in these countries and then have it passed on to the children. You should be ashamed of yourselves for not wanting and doing something to save lives, instead of destroying innocent victims of this deadly disease.
Why???
These countries NEED birth control. And our government can help but isn't.............
A condom can help with birth control and AIDS. It lets a woman decide if she is willing to be a mother, maybe she's not ready and would be a terrible mother. It's our decision to do what we want with our bodies not the governments decision. And a condom can save many lives by not spreading the AIDS virus.
Just think about it!!!!!

So we the people must come together to help educate our government the Catholic Church and the poor. What an order, we can go thru with it!!! Let's hope the next president elected will do the right thing to help these 3rd world countries, with birth control and condoms. They are having too many babies and can't take care of them. Men, women and children are dying everyday from the AIDS virus. This is causing more problems. Let's live in finding the solution, and end the problems of world poverty and hunger and AIDS NOW!!!!