Women to Women International

August 2008 tour member Catherine Sully sent me this. Thank you Catherine!

Hello fellow women travelers: I would like to tell you of a very special sponsorship program I have become involved with this year. It is called women for women. I am now part of a global community of women seeking to bring about sustainable change in the world. This Sponsorship Program has changed the lives of more than 120,000 women, giving them the tools to move from victims of war to survivors to active citizens engaged in the rebuilding of their country. I have been assigned my very own sister to support in the war torn area of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her name is Rose Nyasa and she was born in 1977. She does not read or write, has 4 children and is separated from her husband. She lives in a shack without running water or electricity and her main source of lighting is a kerosene lamp. For $27/month (80% of this goes to the support of this woman) this allows my sister to obtain basic necessities for her family, such as food, clean water and medicine; pay school-related expenses for her children; or use the funds as seed capital to start an income-generating project. This also provides my sister with a year-long participation in job skills training and rights education provided by Women for Women International. As a sponsor I am encouraged to write to Rose (and with some help I may receive a letter back). I was told the letters or pictures that sponsors provide can be the most important possessions in her life - women in the program carry their tattered letters or picture from their sponsors in their pockets everywhere. I feel like I am making such a difference in Rose's life and the life of her children. It really gets up close and personal and makes the plight of these women real. I encourage everyone to check out their website: www.womenforwomen.org. You too can make a difference in one of these women's lives!

27-07-2008