Outreach

The Power of One

Christine Karumba, Women for Women International Country Director in the DR Congo once said, "One woman can change anything, but many women can change everything.” During the month of March we witnessed many women changing many things, and it all started with each of them at some point saying, "It is Time to act; it is Time to speak out, and it is Time to join a global women's movement."

For Lisa Shannon, the adventure began four years ago. This young woman from Oregon happened to be watching an episode of the The Oprah Winfrey Show where I talked about the plight of women in the DR Congo — their rape, mutilation, displacement and the horror they faced and the resilience they had — and she decided to do something.

She started first by training for a 30-mile run. She then called out for family and friends to join her. What started as one woman's act has led to thousands of women in nine cities running and walking for their Congolese sisters.

Lisa started by sponsoring two women, then a hundred, and now she is a leader in a movement of women. In March, Lisa decided to take her run to the DR Congo and run with hundreds of women that her movement has helped support. These women came with no sneakers. Some had lost limbs during the everyday atrocities in the DR Congo. They had no experience in running for joy. The running they had done was mostly to escape the horror of Congo. With Lisa these women ran in the DR Congo.

But united, they sent a message to everyone that women are rising, women are speaking out, and women are standing up for each other. Lisa is one woman who was able to change the lives of many, but more than that, Lisa was one woman who mobilized so many other women to change many, many things, and who is determined to keep on running for Congo women until the rapes, the killing, the displacement in the DR Congo stops.

If you have not run, I highly encourage you to visit runforcongowomen.org and read Lisa’s book "A Thousand Sisters" to see the power of one and its impact on many others, and to learn how you, too, can be that one.

On March 8, 5000 women in Kosovo walked out of their homes to join a march at noon in the middle of a cold, snowy work day to echo the plights of their Congolese and Rwandese sisters and their call for peace. They added their own demands for peace and stability in their own country. They roared together with women in Bosnia and Herzegovina who also walked out of work and home to join on a bridge in Sarajevo. In London, the charge was led by Sarah Brown and singer Annie Lennox. On that same day, in Nigeria, all the women wore white shirts and marched. In the DR Congo, in Rwanda, in Sydney, and in New York with Mary Robinson and Naomi Campbell, women in 103 cities from 18 countries walked out of work that day, joining each other on bridges and roaring in one voice to demand that violence against women stop immediately.

It is Time. It is Time for women to take control over our own resources and voices and reach out to our sisters who are less fortunate. We can offer economic support and emotional support so they too can stand on their feet and reclaim their dignity. It is Time for women to demand that we are fully included at the decision-making tables for peace, for stability, for democracy, for health and education and the prosperity and well-being of our own children. It is Time for women to stand together, united and supportive in the US, in the DR Congo, in Canada, in Iraq, in the world as a whole.

It has been almost 17 years since I started Women for Women International. I have not lost my passion or my belief in women's rights and women’s economic independence. But there hasn't been a time in which I was more inspired and more determined to continue the journey and to make it bigger to include all women and all men who also see that it is Time for the world to hear women fully in all parts of the world. Lisa, Christine, you and the women we serve are an inspiration and a testimony that one woman can change anything but many women can change everything. It is Time for us to change everything.

Read more about Zainab Salbi
Read more about the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day

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Run for Congo Women Founder Lisa Shannon Releases Her First Book, A Thousand Sisters

In 2006, Lisa Shannon's life changed while watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah's guest that day was Women for Women International founder and CEO Zainab Salbi, who explained the crisis facing women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"I learned about Congo, widely called the worst place on earth to be a woman," Lisa said. "Awakened to the atrocities — millions dead, women being raped and tortured, children starving and dying in shocking numbers — I had to do something."

Moved by DRC survivors' stories, Lisa took action, sponsoring two women in the DRC through Women for Women International and starting Run for Congo Women, a series of runs and walks that support women in the DRC.

At first she ran alone, raising nearly $28,000 on her first run. The movement has since expanded to runs and walks throughout the United States. Run for Congo Women participants have raised more than $600,000 — enough money to sponsor 1,444 women in the DRC.

During January and February 2007, Lisa traveled to Eastern DRC's South Kivu province, and returned again in May 2008 and February 2010. Experiences from her trips inspired her newly released book, A Thousand Sisters (Seal Press, 2010). A Thousand Sisters is a portrait of the world's deadliest civil war through the intimate lens of friendship.

Today, Run for Congo Women is a grassroots movement benefiting Women for Women International's Congo program. There are currently seven organized Run For Congo Women events around the country. The DR Congo presents one of the world's deadliest emergencies to date. More than 5.4 million people have died since 1998. Gang rape and brutal torture are a daily reality for the women and children of Congo.

You can get involved by participating in a Run for Congo Women event, planning your own run, sponsoring a woman or making a donation! Visit runforcongowomen.org for more information.

Find out how you can join a Run for Congo Women
Find out more on Lisa Shannon and her book A Thousand Sisters

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Find Your Sister’s Information in Our New Login Area!

If you haven't already done so, now is the perfect time to set up your account in our brand-new Supporter Login Area. In addition to giving you easy access to your tax receipt, this area is an exciting new way to locate your sister's information.

Logging into the supporter area of the website gives you access to the basic information on your current sister. You can log in whenever you'd like to see everything you need to write a letter to her – and even send your letter by email directly from the login area. If your sister began the program in the time since we started collecting digital photos (Mid November 2009) you will even be able to see her photograph!

To set up your account, simply go to https://supporters.womenforwomen.org

Then input your information and in three easy steps you will be logged in.

Having access to the login area will also allow you to quickly make changes to your address, email, and phone number.

The online supporter area is a very exciting new tool for supporters and sponsors. We plan to increase and expand the features available over the coming months and years in order to help increase the availability of program updates.

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Against the Odds, She Fought Back and Won

The mothers in our programs have known more than their fair share of heartbreaks and despairs, yet their spirits are unbroken, and they hold on to the dreams they have for their children. One of these women is Vestine, a Rwandan woman who survived the genocide, and then Fought Back to keep herself and her children safe, sheltered, and in school.

Vestine's soft-spoken demeanor disguises a courageous spirit. When she was just fifteen, her family tried to force her to marry, but Vestine resisted fiercely, arguing that she was too young and wasn’t ready. Eventually, she managed to bring her parents and even her extended family around to her point of view.

In her early twenties, Vestine became ill. She worried that her illness would become a burden to her family, and agreed to marry a doctor who already had another wife.

The war broke out while they were raising their children. Between 1990 and 1994, Vestine lost her entire family, and her husband came down with tuberculosis and never recovered. While her husband was sick, she worked to care for her family and build a home for her children. Her husband died soon after the war ended, and Vestine began to rent out rooms in the family house to bring an income and send her children to school, an opportunity Vestine strongly believed they should have.

Not long after her husband's death, his family began to isolate Vestine, and they told her that she must leave the house, because as a second wife, neither she nor her children had any rights to the property. The first wife even managed to turn some community members against Vestine. She recalls, "They were always on my back, shouting, "You must leave this house!" Feeling all alone, and fearing that she would not be able to keep her children in school, Vestine left the home with her children. Alone and penniless she heard of a place where she could get help. She reached out to Women for Women International.

While taking a class on Rwandan family law in her Women for Women International core training, Vestine realized that her children did indeed have rights to her late husband's house. To stop her husband's family from destroying everything she had worked so hard to build, Vestine took her case to the local authorities. She gathered witnesses from the community, testified in court, and won! Today, Vestine has launched a small business with the skills and confidence she has gained through the Women for Women International program. She has been able to keep the house and earn enough to provide for her children, and is thrilled that she has been given the opportunity keep them in school. Reflecting on her journey she says, "I'll never go back. I am going ahead. I will never go back to the state I was in, and thank you for your kindness."

To hear Vestine tell her story in her own words, please visit womenforwomen.org/mothers-day-2010. Once there, you can learn about the other courageous women in our programs, or honor a special women in your own life with a Mother's Day Card or by posting a message of hope and peace for mothers everywhere.

Prosperity Candle — A Light for Hope

Before Amber Chand turned 21, she became a refugee from Idi Amin's military coup in her home country of Uganda. Immediately afterwards, she began attending college in Michigan while "rebuilding her life in an unfamiliar world, finding her way without a country or a father." As a young woman, she quickly realized that she had two choices: she could live a life of despair, or she could devote her energy to healing herself by helping other women who were rebuilding their lives in the shadows of political unrest and conflict.

It was the actions of women around the world that most inspired Amber to create her business. In 2003, while traveling in Rwanda, she heard a story about women from the Hutu and Tutsi tribes gathering

under a eucalyptus tree a few months after the genocide. One of the women stepped forward and implored her sisters to find a way to heal themselves, and each other. Soon these traumatized women began to meet in weaving circles, where a Tutsi woman would begin to weave a basket before passing it onto the Hutu women beside her. In this way the basket would travel from hand to hand until it was complete, nourishing relationships between

women and symbolizing the possibility, and promise, of reconciliation through women joining hands and working together.

Today, Amber is a successful entrepreneur and founder of the Women's Peace Collection, a social enterprise that grew out of her desire to create a thoughtful enterprise that showcased the creative talents of women rebuilding their lives in the shadows of war, genocide, civil strife and deep, enduring poverty. Over the past five years, her company has invested over $250k in these women's craft enterprises and supported hundreds of women and their families — many of whom live in refugee camps in volatile areas of the world such as Afghanistan, Darfur/Sudan, and Palestine — in creating a dignified livelihood.

Taking her mission one step further, Amber is now focusing her attention on helping women entrepreneurs in Iraq create thrivingm candle-making businesses. Her new venture, Prosperity Candle, a social enterprise that she recently co-founded with her business partner in close partnership with WfWI, seeks to help women move beyond survival and step into the world as determined and resourceful entrepreneurs. Through this unique initiative, women can produce distinctive candles in the safety of their homes, create a dignified and sustainable livelihood for themselves and their families, have access to a growing global market and provide employment for others in their community — if they so choose.

The very first Prosperity Candles will be launched this Mother's Day — a special gift illuminating the courage and resilience of Iraqi mothers and celebrating their spirit of enterprise. Amber's vision of a world being lit up by prosperity candles made by women in war-torn countries is echoed by the voice of Nazahat, one of the women entrepreneurs who says simply: "For me, Prosperity Candles give me a sense of peace whenever I pour one."

Amber Chand recognizes that her calling is to leverage business as a transformative "healer in the world", mobilizing and uniting women in refugee camps, remote villages and distant townships to create enterprises that economically empower them, bringing stability to volatile regions. She explains that "when women are given the opportunity to earn a livelihood, their children are fed, families are supported, and communities thrive." In fact, there is growing evidence that women reinvest 90% of their earnings back into their community, making their ability to earn a dignified livelihood an issue of vital importance. For this reason, Amber describes women in vulnerable regions as the "guardians of prosperity", and has devoted her life to what she sees as the privilege of working with these talented and resilient women — as mothers, peace builders, and citizens of the world.

Read more tales of Courage, Hope and Inspiration
Find out more on how Prosperity Candle is empowering the women of Iraq

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Engaging Men to End Gender-Inequality in Nigeria

Women for Women International-Nigeria's Men’s Leadership Program has become a successful method for engaging men in the efforts to end the country's widespread gender discrimination. The Men's Leadership Program has been used by Women for Women International to engage with thousands of men in the DRC, 400 mullahs in Afghanistan and hundreds more in Iraq.

Nigeria is still suffering from gender-based violence and institutionalized discrimination against women. Though basic human rights and freedom from gender discrimination are protected under the constitution, Nigeria's laws are enforced separately in each of its thirty-six states, allowing family traditions and religious laws to overshadow women's legal rights. As a result, millions of women continue to endure violence at the hands of their husbands, at least 60% (and up to 100% in some southern regions) experience female genital cutting, and many are forced into marriage—some polygamous—when they are only children.

In Nigeria, like many places where Women for Women International works, men overwhelmingly outnumber women in positions of power. These men are the landowners, the business owners, and elected officials. This year, all of the invited respondents attended the Men's Leadership Program, and each of the ten communities where Women for Women International works were represented at the training, an indication that men are ready to engage in expanding their understanding of gender roles in Nigeria.

Discussions included women's ownership of land, women as community leaders, and HIV/AIDS education. Though the men at the training were enthusiastic about bringing the information they had gained about HIV/AIDS back to their communities, they were resistant to the discussion of women’s ownership of land, shedding light on the gender inequalities still present in Nigeria.

The MLP participants spent two days learning and discussing issues directly related to ending gender discrimination in their communities, developing solutions, and leaving with plans to use their position of influence to advocate on behalf of Nigerian women. Leaders in Umode, a community in Nigeria, agreed to encourage men to leave inheritances to their wives and daughters; leaders in Ezza Nkwubor, a community in Southern Nigeria, said that they would work to sensitize the community about the dangers of underage marriage; and from Mgbidi, in southeastern Nigeria, leaders agreed to work for the eradication of female genital cutting.

Over the next year, Women for Women International will monitor the progress of the participants in the MLP who pledged to support the women of their communities. With a broad range of community leaders actively engaged in the advancement of women, we hope to see changes in the traditional policies that have denied Nigerian women from realizing their full potential as active citizens.

Read firsthand accounts from reporters in the field

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An Amazing Display of Unity on International Women’s Day

Nearly 9,000 women gathered to celebrate International Women's Day in Rwanda, DR Congo, New York, London, Denver, and Canada — just to name a few of the places where we had events. Altogether we celebrated at over 100 different events around the world.

The movement of women committed to peace and women's development is growing and as supporters, we want to share with you some highlights from the day:

In New York City

Hundreds of women and men celebrated in City Hall Park after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge for a celebration featuring Women for Women International Founder and CEO Zainab Salbi, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, super model Naomi Campbell, Tim Gunn from Project Runway and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Brooklyn Bridge was practically covered with supporters from one end to the other.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda

Women gathered to build the bridges of peace. The celebration included several government officials.

In Kosovo

5,000 women attended the celebration on the Bridge in the Dragodan in Prishtina. They were welcomed by the country's president.

In London

Hundreds of supporters met on the Millennium Bridge. Supporters included award-winning singer-songwriter Annie Lennox and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom’s wife Sarah Brown.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina

Over 1,000 women attended a celebration on Ars Aevi Bridge in Sarajevo. The country’s president welcomed the women to the celebration.

In Nigeria

Hundreds of women from seven communities gathered at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium and walked to Okpara Square in Enugu. They made banners and even had a uniform to show their solidarity.

In Sudan

Hundreds of people from all districts came to Barnam Bridge in Rumbek.

Now it’s up to all of us to continue the movement of women committed to peace and women’s development!

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Join us for Women for Women International's Annual Luncheon and Panel Discussion: Conflict, Development and the Politics of Change

Wednesday, May 12, 12-2 pm
583 Park Avenue, New York

Featuring Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International

Moderated by Lesley Stahl, Correspondent CBS News and 60 Minutes

Panelists include Ophelia Dahl, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Partners in Health, and Robin Wright, Author and Foreign Policy Analyst

To reserve tickets or learn more, please email luncheon@womenforwomen.org or call (212) 581-2646

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