In the Fall 2008 semester I enrolled in a course titled Gender and War. The course is offered through the Human Relations department and taught by Dr. Zeamari Deacon. I credit this course for teaching me more about the atrocities and mistreatment of human beings in modern day war crimes. One organization I came across in this course is Women for Women International. This NGO provides women from around the world with opportunities to heal emotionally, physically, and spiritually from war. In addition, Women for Women offers women with the tools they need to become independent citizens within their own communities.
Funding is provided by sponsorship programs where sponsors are able to learn about the progress a recipient receives due to the generous donations of people who believe in the cause. A microcredit system provides women with simplicities such as food, water, clothing and medicine. These women who are victims war are also given an opportunity to receive counseling, creating a lifelong process of emotional healing. Eventually, woman are able to develop job skills and through the microcredit system are able to establish a business of their own. The microcredit system has a successful repayment rate that sustains in the high 90 percentile.
What I like most about their approach is that they don’t simply ask for funds from their sponsors. Women for Women International establishes a line of communication between sponser and recipient. This way, sponsors are able to read and stay updated about the progress their recipient makes over time. Sponsoring allows people from all around the world to help another woman and her family have a chance in life that may not have been available in any other fashion.
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