One of the features of Project Independence: Women Survivors of War that has "ignited" members around the world is the opportunity to "meet" some of the people enrolled in our project through the Sponsorship Program.

Project Independence will support 1200 women over the next four years in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. Project Independence will support 100 women in each country every year. These women will benefit from the direct aid, rights awareness education and vocational skills training that Project Independence funds will provide them with. However, a critical part of their experience is the opportunity to correspond through letters with the women that support them. Letters provide an emotional lifeline to a woman who may have otherwise lost everything. Letters are not only an excellent source of support for the women; they are also a way for us to gain a deeper understanding of the culture they live in.

To provide this emotional support through letters, Project Independence needs at least 15 clubs each year who are willing to be group correspondents with the women we work with in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Rwanda. These groups will be assigned a sister group of women in one of the countries that they are responsible for writing to – it will be your responsibility to provide the much-needed emotional support that these women need to rebuild their lives. And, you will have the opportunity to receive letters in return from the women in your sister group abroad.

Communication will be in English and letters will go through the Women for Women International office in Washington DC, USA to be translated and passed on to the appropriate women in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. Letters that you send and responses you receive may be excerpted and put on the website to inform other Soroptimist Clubs about the progress of our project.

Contact projectindependence@womenforwomen.org if your club is interested in becoming correspondents.

Click here to download a brochure about group correspondence

Women for Women International's Sponsorship Community
Use this link to explore Women for Women International's Sponsorship Community. You can learn more about the Sponsorship experience, find helpful phrases for letter writing and read stories from other sponsors and participants.