The other day, after posting about an effort by Rwandan women to help women in the DRC, I got a letter from Amina Gisele, who leads the Women Trauma Healing and Care Centre in Bukavu, a city in the eastern part of the DRC. The Centre’s purpose is to help women in Bukavu who have been victimized by violence by providing trauma healing services, literacy courses and economic training. On her website, she explains how the project will be organized:
The project will be organized on three different levels which aim at the personal emancipation of the woman:
1.Cooperative of the daughters: At this ‘daughter’ level the women will be trained in dressmaking. After acquiring the diploma of dressmaking, the daughter will be committed to teaching another woman.
2.Cooperative of Mothers: After having trained a daughter, the ‘daughter’ who has done the traingin will be able to belong to the family of the ‘Mothers’ and will be entitled to a loan to begin an income-generating activity on behalf of the community: soap making, scent making, bread making etc.
3.Cooperative of Grandmothers: At this ‘grandmother’ level the woman can start to work for itself now and will be able to have the permission to begin another trauma healing and care centre elsewhere and to become independent.
The importance of projects like this cannot be overstated. In a report about the various challenges that they are facing as they begin operation, Amina writes,
“The committee emphasized that the cases of violated women is increasing daily. More than 100 women have presented themselves at the centre to ask for assistance. Some of these women also want to do the fashion training and others simply want to material and medical assistance. The committee does not know what to do. The counselor also presented the same problem of women who come to the centre every day for counseling. The adviser said he does not know to what medical clinic to send them because of lack of resources.”
While the Centre’s costs are minimal by Western standards ($330/month plus some startup costs), donations at this point would be helpful. Once the Centre is fully operational, they expect to be able to generate income so as to minimize the need for otuside help. If you would like to help, Please contact Amina via the Centre’s website.
The photo above is reprinted from the Centre’s website with Amina Gisele’s kind permission.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.