Women for Women International

I recently joined an organization called Women for Women International. I'm taking some copy from their website because they explain it better than I ever could.

From Victim to Survivor...to Active Citizen

Women for Women International mobilizes women to change their lives by bringing a holistic approach to addressing the unique needs of women in conflict and post-conflict environments.

We begin by working with women who may have lost everything in conflict and often have nowhere else to turn. Participation in our one-year program launches women on a journey from victim to survivor to active citizen. We identify services to support graduates of the program as they continue to strive for greater social, economic and political participation in their communities.

As each woman engages in a multi-phase process of recovery and rehabilitation, she opens a window of opportunity presented by the end of conflict to help improve the rights, freedoms and status of women in her country. As women who go through our program assume leadership positions in their villages, actively participate in the reconstruction of their communities, build civil society, start businesses, train other women and serve as role models, they become active citizens who can help to establish lasting peace and stability.

Women begin in our Sponsorship Program where direct financial aid from a sponsor helps them deal with the immediate effects of war and conflict such as lack of food, water, medicine and other necessities. Exchanging letters with sponsors provides women with an emotional lifeline and a chance to tell their stories —maybe for the first time. As their situations begin to stabilize, women in our program begin building a foundation for their lives as survivors.

I was matched with my sponsor sister a few weeks back. Her name is Felillia and she is from Nigeria. She is approximately 40-years-old (she doesn't know her date of birth), with six children of her own and has a niece and nephew that live with her as well. I sent her my first letter last week. It can take up to 3-months for the letters to arrive. She cannot read or write, so the letter will be read to her and she'll have the chance to dictate a letter back to me.

I love the whole concept of connecting one on one with a women from a completely different culture. I had to think long and hard about what to write in my letter to her. It's hard to strip things down and find something to say when you don't have a cultural/material point of reference. So what did I come up with? Kids, ancestors, history, human nature. It also makes me sick to think that the $30 a month that I send her makes such a huge difference in her life. How can we live with ourselves in a world where whole societies are left to their own to starve and kill their own? Where a lousy $30 means the difference between living with dignity and uncertain survival.

So, that's what I'm thinking about at the moment. I pray for Felillia each night before I go to sleep. It's strange to think that someone half a world away, living in a hut with no electricity or running water is doing the same for me.

L' chaim.

Comments

[Margarita Mama]

When I did it, the woman didn't have children, and it was hard for me to try and think of common things to talk about. Because her life experience was so different from mine. She was in Bosnia living with her husband and in-laws in somebody's else's house after the war.
I found it difficult to form a connection because the letters were translated. they send the original along with the translated and it looks longer than the translation. In the end, I just hoped the money made some kind of difference in her life.