SIGN UP LOG IN Signup For Newsletter
Members Groups Blogs Forums
GO WEB
Take Action Upload
Issues: Discrimination Environment Politics Substance Abuse Faith Health Education Human Rights Relationships & Sex War & Peace Crime Poverty
Profile: Women for Women International
Year Founded
1993
Type
Non-profit
Last on Think
Updated on: 05/08/2009 16:43
Support this Organization
Mission Statement

Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies.

We envision a world where no one is abused, poor, illiterate or marginalized; where members of communities have full and equal participation in the processes that ensure their health, well-being and economic independence; and where everyone has the freedom to define the scope of their lives, their futures and to strive to achieve their full potential.


Location
4455 Connecticut Ave Suite 200
Washington, DC 20008
United States
Phone
Fax
Website
www.womenforwomen.org
Email
general@womenforwomen.org
Issues
What's New
  
 

Voice of America: Women for Women International Helps Women Overcome War, Poverty, Illiteracy.Women often bear the brunt of war, poverty and disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Women for Women International is working to rebuild lives to help women regain their strength and stature in society.

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-02-09-voa19.cfm

 

 

New York Times Blog: Nick Kristoff Highlights Women for Women International

With the Obama administration coming in, hopes are high that U.S. foreign policy will focus more on women’s issues around the globe. "Issues like trafficking and maternal mortality and sexual violence finally seem to be getting some traction,” New York Times writer Nick Kristof writes on his blog ‘On the Ground’. He highlights the work of Women for Women International for doing an outstanding job in emphasizing the role that women can play in economic development.

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/the-senate-discovers-women/

 

 

Women for Women International Policy Briefing: “We Learned How to Dig Up Money from the Ground”

Women for Women country directors from six countries shared their experiences of overcoming conflict, destruction, and poverty in some of the most challenging environments around the world. At a policy briefing hosted by Dominick Chilcott, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy and moderated by Tony Gambino, a prominent Africa scholar, the country directors spoke about how to put women at the center of development and encourage active participation in local and national decision-making.

http://www.womenforwomen.org/news-women-for-women/policy-briefing-women-in-conflict.php

 

 

 

The Huffington Post: Open Letter to President-Elect Obama January 13, 2009.

Zainab Salbi and leaders of global and domestic women's organizations ask President-Elect Barrack Obama to help advance global women’s rights.  On December 5, 2008, a few days before the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a group of global and domestic women's organizations gathered in New York to frame a shared agenda for advancing global women's rights. Determined to use their collective strength and expertise to work together to advance a global agenda for women's freedom, safety and agency, they crafted the following open letter to President-elect Obama and committed to working together to see their vision come true in this century.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler-kavita-ramdas-and-zainab-salbi/open-letter-to-president_b_157705.html

 

 

 

Women for Women International's Honorata Kizende on NPR

Congolese Rape Survivor Shares Nation's Struggles.  In the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rape is used as a weapon between warring factions. Honorata Kizende is a Congolese survivor of rape. She tells Farai Chideya about how violence against women is tearing at the very fabric of Congolese society.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99351358

 

 

 

Women for Women in LA Times: Every little bit makes a difference

Give what you can, where you can, especially when times are hard. Someone's survival may depend on it. With the financial crisis continuing to dominate national and international headlines, it is clear that the coming months and years will bring tough choices to all of us. Everyone, rich and poor, must reconsider priorities and budgets. Yet as most of us worry about our own futures, there are people in the United States and around the world whose futures are even more at risk -- those who depend on our generosity for their very survival.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-gillespie24-2008dec24,0,3802320.story

 

 

 

Congolese Women Want Violence to End and Human Rights Abusers to be Punished

Rania Atalla, US Executive Director, on JURIST.com about the women of Congo. "Women in eastern Congo know exactly what it takes to end the conflict: They want the fighting to stop. They want to make a living for their families. And they want the men who are killing, maiming, and raping to be brought to justice."

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2008/12/congolese-women-want-violence-to-end.php

 

Women-only Agribusiness fights hunger and poverty in Sudan - Women for Women International Launches large-scale farming project.

About 3,000 people gathered in Rumbek, South Sudan, to celebrate the official launch of an ambitious commercially integrated farming initiative (CIFI). The program will train and enable 3,000 women over a period of three years to grow and market a variety of crops on community land that was formerly unused.

 

http://www.womenforwomen.org/news-women-for-women/sudan-cifi-launch-press-release.php

 

 

Women for Women International's 2008 Iraq Report mentioned in Washington Post article about women in Iraq and their continued struggle for equal rights and those who continue the fight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120602289.html

 

 

Check out a new study by Women for Women International – Shows Progress and Problems for Women in Afghanistan.

The role of women is essential, not just as civil society observers, but as full and equal participants in the process. The well-being of all Afghans depends on a comprehensive and broad effort that must go far beyond the current approach.

http://womenforwomen.org/events-supporting-women/international-policy-forum-2008-uk.php

                                                                                                  

 

 

Fighting Hunger and Poverty: Women for Women International Launches Large-Scale Farming Project in Sudan

 

The program will increase food security in Southern Sudan that suffers from food insecurity and erratic rainfalls, enabling enable 3,000 women over a period of three years to grow and market a variety of crops. Read more about how Women for Women International’s project will not only increase local food production and bring down food prices, but also decrease the demand for outside assistance by empowering women.

http://womenforwomen.org/news-women-for-women/sudan-cifi-launch-press-release.php

 

Read About Women for Women International in Washington Post - Study Cited About Status of Women in Iraq

Iraqi Women, Fighting for a Voice. Activists Confront Dual Powers of Religion, Tribalism. A majority of Iraqi women in Women for Women study say violence against them is increasing.

http://womenforwomen.org/news-women-for-women/women-for-women-breaking-news.php#1

 

 
This holiday season, give a gift that gives back, give the gift of sponsorship through Women for Women International. Your unique gift creates a special, one-to-one bond between your friend and a woman in a war-torn nation who desperately needs help and friendship.

 

 

“War Survivor Champion” – Zainab Salbi Featured in Working Mother Magazine

“War Survivor Champion” – Working Mother profiles Zainab Salbi as an example for women “who remind us that one person can change the lives of so many”

Christine Karumba, Country Director of the Congo, Speaks to Voice of America about ongoing Rape Crisis in Congo

As efforts continue to try to end the conflict in the eastern DRC, the toll the fighting has taken on civilians grows higher. And both women and men have been victims of rape and sexual violence. Christine Karumba, Country Director for Women for Women International, once again spoke to VOA English to Africa about the situation in eastern Congo.

Watch The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo on HBO Thursday, November 20th at 10:30 p.m. EST.

In light of the renewed violence in Congo's eastern provinces, HBO is airing an encore presentation of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo this Thursday at 10:30pm EST. Please share this with friend and sponsor a woman in Congo through Women for Women International. Help us break the silence.

http://www.womenforwomen.org/events-supporting-women/greatest-silence-congo-movie.php

In 2006, Emmy Award winning producer/director Lisa F. Jackson spent the year in the war zones of eastern DR Congo. She documented the tragic situation women and girls are forced to deal with as they stand in the middle of a country's conflict they did not create, and cannot control.

 

Fear of Rape and Violence Rising - Women for Women International Reaches Out To Vulnerable Women in Congo

November 12, 2008 - Amidst widespread violence and large scale human suffering Women for Women International is preparing to respond to the needs of thousands of women who are threatened by the fighting and are in urgent need of assistance.

http://www.womenforwomen.org/news-women-for-women/crisis-in-congo-press-release.php

  
 
Supporters
See all
 
 
 
   
 
aaubu­cho26­61
 
   
 
ammar­iekev
 
   
 
heath­ercb
 
   
 
lovep­eacea­ngel
 
   
 
minty­000
 
 
Our Blog Posts
See all
 
 
Interview with Zainab Salbi, founder...

http://bigvisionpodcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=473250

 

Enjoy!
Tags:  
0 Comments  Permalink
Help Women and Children Survivors of...

Because of supporters like you, I have exciting news to report. We were voted as one of the Top 25 in the American Express Members Project out of 1,190 projects.


...
Tags: vote   AMERICAN EXPRESS   Women for Women International   Member Project
0 Comments  Permalink
 
 
Comments
 You are not logged in. Log In or Sign Up
Post a Comment
View: Threaded | Most Recent on Top
next »
Time is running out! Only 6 days left to make sure that our project, Help Women and Children Survivors of War Rebuild, makes it to the top 5 in the American Express Members Project. To nominate this project for potential funding, please go to Help Women and Children Survivors of War Rebuild. Please click the link on our project and click Nominate — and ultimately vote so we may share in the $2.5 million in funding from American Express. If you do not have an American Express website login, just click “Guest Member” provide a little information and you can then Nominate and vote. Please show your support with a Click and Share this with as many friends as possible.
85m
Members Project
membersproject.com/project/view/AM0MV5
Check out these great sites! One is an article by a proud sponsor. The other is about justice in the Sudan!

http://patternoflife.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/time-well-spent/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4075422.ece


Women for Women International was recently nominated for a Progressive Source Award in the category of Best Fundraising Video for "Sponsor a Woman."
Click here to vote for us!
Zainab Salbi Helps Women Recover
Thursday, May. 01, 2008 By CAROLINE KENNEDY
As Mother's Day approaches, it's worth remembering that of the more than 35 million people displaced by conflict, according to the International Rescue Committee, the vast majority are women and children. In today's wars, fighting is no longer confined to the battlefield; 90% of those killed or wounded are civilians. Often driven from their homes, women are targeted for ethnic cleansing, raped, widowed and left as the sole providers for their families in societies that, in many cases, show little respect for their rights. The most urgent tasks of rebuilding daily life in a devastated nation--feeding a family, doing the laundry, taking children to school, shopping for basic necessities--fall to women. These challenges are critical to stabilizing a society, yet the world pays more attention to military and security issues.
One woman is trying to change that. "We hear much discussion about the front lines of war," says Zainab Salbi, 38, founder of the Washington-based group Women for Women International. "We need to focus more attention on the back-line delivery of peace." Salbi's organization works to help women recover from the ravages of war and become active citizens by offering direct aid, job training, micro-credit loans, rights awareness and leadership education. Most of all, it gives women a voice. Salbi's group organizes "women's circles," which connect 20 local women in support networks, and recruits sponsors--"sisters"--around the world who correspond with the war-affected women regularly by letter.
Salbi's drive is rooted deeply in her own journey, which began as the privileged Iraqi daughter of Saddam Hussein's personal pilot. Salbi's mother believed strongly in her daughter's education and encouraged her not to assume the traditional female role in Iraqi society. "Do not become a prisoner," Salbi remembers her mother telling her over and over again. "Marry for love. Don't learn to clean and cook, because then that is all you will ever do." But when Salbi turned 20, her mother insisted that she accept a marriage proposal from an Iraqi man living in the U.S. Salbi was bewildered and furious but did as she was told. She arrived in the U.S. in 1990 and was quickly married. Just over a month later, in August, Saddam invaded Kuwait, severing Salbi's communication with her parents. But when her husband became abusive, her mother's words echoed in her heart, giving Salbi the courage to leave him and start a new life alone in a new country. Looking back, Salbi says she now understands her mother's determination to send her away. "My misfortune led to my fortune," she says.
In 1993, Salbi read about women in Bosnia's so-called rape camps--brutal military brothels--and was appalled by the slow response of the international community. "In wars, trust is lost," she says. "Betrayal leads to silence. Rape victims do not talk. Women disappear just when their families and their societies need them most--because you can't rebuild a strong economy without strong women." Raising funds through a church in the Washington area, Salbi founded Women for Women International later that year. The group has now served 153,000 women in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and Sudan. It has distributed more than $42 million in direct aid and loans. More than 246,000 women in 58 countries have signed up as donors, supporters and sponsors, who exchange more than 100,000 letters a year.
Salbi's own mother-daughter story came full circle when her mother came to the U.S. in 1997 for medical treatment at the end of her life. She had lost her voice and was able to communicate only in writing--just like the women her daughter was helping. "The irony is that I had been around the world telling women to break their silence," says Salbi, "when it was really my search as well."
April 11, 2008
Recent Success Point Out New Opportunities for Global Philanthropy
By Caroline Preston
Redwood City, Calif.
Philanthropy can play a critical role in preventing violence and promoting human rights around the globe, speakers said at a conference here this week.
While donors may be hesitant to support efforts that seek to end conflict and abuse because of the vastness of such problems, solutions do exist to halting human-rights abuses, said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, in New York.
“This isn’t rocket science,” he said. A strong network of local and international human-rights advocacy organizations “can be extremely powerful in forcing governments to respect the rights of people.”
Mr. Roth spoke at the Global Philanthropy Forum, an annual meeting designed to help donors identify effective ways to support international causes. This year’s conference, the seventh, focused on security, human rights, and the responsibility of governments to protect citizens from mass atrocities.
Mr. Roth said his organization and other human-rights advocacy groups have been successful in persuading dictators and warlords to respect rights. He cited the role that Human Rights Watch played in helping to force the Nigerian government to extradite former Liberian president Charles Taylor, and in cracking down on the financing and recruitment of child soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a rebel group in Sri Lanka.
His organization achieved such results, he said, by helping to make financial aid and international goodwill conditional on changes in dictators’ behavior, and by shining a spotlight on governments that commit abuses.
“We give them a big PR problem that they recognize over time will not be solved unless they change their practices,” he said.
Rebuilding Societies
In addition to halting human-rights abuses, the charitable world can help countries heal after conflicts, said Paul van Zyl, executive vice president of the International Center for Transitional Justice, in New York.
Mr. van Zyl’s organization has worked in 30 post-conflict countries to promote reconciliation and justice. Its employees help governments and nonprofit leaders learn from places such as East Timor, Sierra Leone, Peru, and other countries that have recovered from violence to devise policies that bring perpetrators to justice and provide information and reparations to victims.
His organization also helps to develop local human-rights leaders, with the aim of staving off future atrocities.
“If you don’t deal with past atrocities, it comes back to haunt you and it does so in terms of its own choosing and in ways that are far more destructive than you could possibly imagine,” he said. “We have to change the structure of societies in which we work to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Several speakers at the conference said the example of Kenya, where violence that broke out after a disputed election in December has calmed, showed the increasing sophistication of governments, international groups, and nonprofit organizations to respond to crises.
“A decade or two ago, a contested election resulting in an eruption of violence would have taken an awfully long time to permeate into the wider world’s consciousness,” said Gareth Evans, president of the International Crisis Group, in Brussels. “But there was an extraordinary reaction within 24 and 48 hours.”
Helene D. Gayle, president of CARE, in Atlanta, stressed that calming the fighting in Kenya isn’t tantamount to resolving long-standing tensions that fueled the violence. She said philanthropy has a responsibility to deal with the ethnic strife that contributed to the post-election fighting.
“We have to take care of disease, access to water, and basic services, but beyond that look at what will it take to heal some of the tensions that were there to begin with,” she said.
Role of Women
Other speakers said that philanthropy can build peace by elevating the voices of women. Zainab Salbi, founder of the charity Women for Women International, in Washington, said that women in war-torn countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are sidelined from conversations about conflict within their nations.
“You can’t build strong nations without having strong women in it,” she said.
Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, said that causes benefiting women specifically are “the most under funded of all the activities in the world.” Just $100-million goes to women’s organizations and causes worldwide each year, she said.
Creating economic opportunity is also a key to promoting security, speakers said. But philanthropy isn’t taking advantage of all of the means at its disposal to fight poverty and unemployment, said Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org.
Mr. Brilliant said that foundations and universities should consider investing their endowments in small- and medium-sized businesses overseas. Corporate and charitable leaders need to find ways to reduce transaction costs and other barriers that dissuade people from making such investments.
“Tens of trillions of dollars is sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “If that money was invested in Africa and India to fund small job-creating companies, then unemployment would plummet and the hopelessness would give rise to hope.”
April 9, 2008
Lisa F. Jackson talks about Women for Women International and making of documentary, "The Greatest Silence"
Documentary filmmaker Lisa Jackson traveled to the Congo in 2006 to investigate the systematic rape of tens of thousands of women. She discusses her film and the participants at Women for Women International. The documentary, The Greatest Silence, debuts Tuesday April 8th on HBO.
Sacrificed to the Surge
April 7, 2008
Tribal fighters have cut down Iraq's violence. But they're subjecting women to often-medieval mores.
The insurgents have been driven out of her southwest Baghdad neighborhood, but the 30-year-old shop assistant is still frightened. A year ago Al Qaeda in Iraq ruled the streets outside her home, and Mahdi Army militia units kept the area under relentless attack. Now the Iraqis who helped get rid of the killers are the ones who scare her. The Americans imposed order a few months ago by recruiting and paying local men to turn in the names of suspected jihadists. Similar armed groups have popped up all around the city. Each has its own bizarre rules; some threaten to kill women who don't wear veils in public. The shop assistant is in mourning for her brother, who was killed last May, but she's asking for trouble if she wears black more than three days running. According to the new enforcers in her neighborhood, anyone who dresses in mourning is committing blasphemy by questioning the will of God.
In the past year, militias like this one have transformed the war in Iraq. Americans call them Concerned Local Citizens (CLCs), or Sons of Iraq; Iraqis know them as Sahwa—Awakening—after the tribal council in Anbar province that launched a Sunni revolt against the tyranny of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The militias' vital role (and the uncomfortable fact that many members used to be insurgents themselves) will be a big part of the debate this week, as American lawmakers hear testimony on the war's progress from U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus and the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker. What's less likely to be discussed—and yet just as important in the long run—is the impact that tribal groups like the CLCs are having on Iraq's social fabric, and in particular on its women.
America's efforts to disengage from Iraq have led to some messy compromises. After years of trying without success to wrest Sunni areas from Qaeda control, U.S. ground commanders appear to have done it at last—but only by granting sweeping powers to sheiks and local leaders who can keep the peace. Now Iraq's Sunni areas have been chopped into fragments, each one run by a different tribal ruler with different views on law and society. In some parts of Baghdad the situation changes visibly from block to block. No one can say how many of these leaders abuse their powers, or if their little sectors can ever be put back under the purview of a centrally controlled government. "We are becoming like Afghanistan was in the '80s," says Zainab Salbi, the Iraq-born founder and CEO of the activist group Women for Women International.
Saddam's Iraq at least offered women the protection of enforced secularism; they were encouraged to study at universities and to pursue professional careers. That changed in the 1990s as the dictator began to rely on tribal sheiks to prop up his rule, while U.N. sanctions drove families into poverty and reduced opportunities for women. Americans arriving in 2003 hoped to make the new Iraq a showcase for gender equality. But women's advocates say that dream fell by the wayside as violence engulfed the country.
Some tribal leaders are more egalitarian than others. In Baghdad's Adhamiya district, the local women's college is bustling with students, even with the Sahwa in charge. Times are tougher in Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, where tribal troops allow women to work but not to go without headscarves, and polygamy is reportedly on the rise. Women rarely venture out of their homes now in rural Sahwa areas like Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad.
In Anbar, the Sahwa movement's birthplace, tribal leaders have taken full control. "They have their own personal fiefdoms, and they answer to no one," says Isobel Coleman, a women's rights specialist for the Council on Foreign Relations. "The tribal groups may not be directly affiliated with Al Qaeda, but they're no less conservative." That may be an exaggeration: the jihadists forced girls into marriages, closed schools and killed indiscriminately. But tribal values are more medieval than those enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution—and this time the gunmen have the backing of the U.S. military. Some fear that worse is coming. "I can see in the eyes of some of them that they have something to say to us unveiled women," says Samara Ali, 27, a library worker at Baghdad University. "I think that they are waiting for a proper time to speak out."
The Greatest Silence
April 1, 2008

For over ten years now, a war has been raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). To date, over 5.4 million people have been killed, and many more have been tortured, beat, and raped – most of them women. Through kidnapping, mutilation, rape and torture, the soldiers of both foreign militias and the Congolese army are holding women hostage in their own country.

In 2006, Emmy Award winning producer/director Lisa F. Jackson spent the year in the war zones of eastern DRC. She documented the tragic situation women and girls are forced to deal with as they stand in the middle of a countries conflict they did not create, and cannot control.

Jackson was given privileged access to not only the horrific realities of life in the DRC, but was also shown the resilience, strength, courage and grace of the people of the DRC. With the help of Women for Women International’s Country Director, Christine Karumba, she interviewed participants in our program. As a rape survivor herself, she felt that the women of the Congo opened up to her to share their stories. In the Greatest Silence, Jackson shares them with the world.
One Congolese Woman’s Silent Scream is Heard
April 2008
(CNN) -- Honorata Kizende was hiding in a house when the soldiers came. They kicked the front door down and found her huddling with her five children and another woman.
Honorata Kizende can smile again after surviving a four-year ordeal that almost destroyed her life.
The men asked the women if they were hiding their husbands. We have none, both replied. Then one of the soldiers said something that chilled Kizende, because she knew what was about to happen.
"Today you will have husbands ..."
The men slapped, stripped and raped Kizende. Then they treated her pregnant daughter and friend the same way. The horrific episode could have easily been dismissed as just another brutal act of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But her story is now being heard thanks to two women -- an Iraqi-American activist and a small-town California accountant who now calls Kizende her sister.
Thousands of women will gather around the globe Saturday to celebrate the collective power of women during International Women's Day. The event also marks the third anniversary of the day Kizende walked before an audience of dignitaries in Congo and demanded justice for women like herself.
Kizende, 55, is a spokeswoman for Women for Women International, a 16-year-old group that helps rebuild the lives of women victimized by violent conflict in countries such as Kosovo, Iraq and Colombia.
The group was founded by Zainab Salbi, a 38-year-old Iraqi-American who knows something about brutality. She grew up under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, where people who spoke out were often murdered.
Those who speak out in Congo are treated another way -- they're ignored, Salbi said. An estimated 5.4 million people have died in Congo since 1998. George Rupp, president of the International Rescue Committee, once said the loss of life is equal to the entire population of Colorado dying within a decade.
Yet Salbi said no one is paying attention to another group of victims in the Congo war. Her organization said there are hundreds of thousands of women who have been subjected to gang rape and sexual slavery.
"My image of the Congolese women is that of a scream," Salbi said. "But there is no sound coming from the scream because the world is not hearing it."
That's because the victims are women, she said.
"We are numb," she said. "If I said hundreds and thousands of men were being raped in the Congo, the world would be outraged."
Kizende, whose story was translated for a Women for Women publication, said she was first attacked in 2001. She was the director of a technical institute for girls when she was abducted by soldiers. The soldiers not only raped her but also forced her to carry water and ammunition.
"I did not belong to one person; I was for the use of everyone and anyone who needed me," she was quoted as saying.
Salbi said rape is often used by men to send a message to the men they are fighting: "I am stronger than you. I am taking away your woman, your honor and your manhood."
"I interviewed a man who said that whenever he entered another man's house and that man did not have a gun and he had a gun, he never questioned whether he had the right to rape the man's wife or not," Salbi said.
That kind of callousness wasn't just confined to soldiers. It spread to the community. Kizende could not return to her normal life once she escaped the soldiers who attacked her because she became an outcast. Congolese rape victims are often rejected by their husbands and their community. Kizende said her husband left her for another wife after the 2001 attack.
Kizende even tried staying in a friend's house, but he kicked her out.
"He said that I brought bad luck everywhere I go," she said. "When you look at my life and what I have been through, how could you think otherwise?"
In 2004, two months after soldiers assaulted her and her daughter, Kizende joined Women for Women. The group gave her job training, connected her with other women with similar stories and introduced her to an American sponsor.
The sponsor, Virginia Gately, said she received a letter of introduction from Kizende that said: "Excuse me if this topic does not please you, but I need to share this with somebody."
Gately, an accountant who lives in Buellton, California, a small town of horse ranches and wineries near Santa Barbara, said she didn't know what to say to Kizende. She had heard about the plight of Congolese women on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
"I live this idyllic life," Gately said. "I felt like anything I wrote would be insensitive."
What Kizende needed, though, wasn't words. She wanted someone to hear her story. As Kizende continued to share her story with Gately, the California woman noticed something. Kizende seemed liberated. So did six other women Gately began to write to in countries as diverse as Nigeria and Afghanistan who were also victimized by war.
"What I get back from these women is that they have a voice," Gately said. "They are not as afraid anymore."
Gately said that she's heard that some of the women even sleep with their sponsor's letters under their pillows. She calls Kizende her sister and said she can't envision breaking contact with her.
"How can I possibly stop?" she said. "I expect to do this forever."
Kizende has since traveled around Congo sharing her story with the governor of her province and U.N. staff.
Men often equate valor with soldiers in battle, Salbi said, but she sees another form of courage in Kizende.
"We do not talk about the courage it takes to say to the world that I have been raped and to stand in front of the men in her community and tell them that her pain has a mouth and today it is speaking to you," Salbi said.
Kizende, however, said finding others who listened was more liberating than telling her story.
"It is one thing to have been through what I have been through, but to have no one acknowledge it enhances the pain threefold," she said.
"To suffer in silence is the greatest suffering."
March 2, 2008
Women for Women International’s Iraq Report, released on March 2nd, was featured in the BBC Article “National crisis' for Iraqi women”. The article discusses the current status of Iraqi Women based on a study done by Women for Women Internationa
next »
Our Media
 
 
All
See all
 
   
 
Bosnian Women
A Bosnian participant in our program uses microcredit to run her farm - here she is tending to her sheep.
Tags: Women   microcredit   Bosnia   women for women
Views 94
by  Women for Women International on january 17, 2008
 
   
 
Women in the DR Congo
A participant of our program reads a letter from her sponsor out loud to the group.
Tags: Women   congo   drc   letters
Views 40
by  Women for Women International on january 17, 2008
 
   
 
Afghanistan
Women sit outside thier homes in Afghanistan
Tags: Women   children   Afghanistan
Views 36
by  Women for Women International on january 17, 2008
 
   
 
Bosnian Women
A Bosnian women and her daughter write a letter to her sponsor
Tags: Women   Bosnia   letters
Views 45
by  Women for Women International on january 17, 2008
 
   
 
Graduation
Women from our program in Rwanda hold up thier graduation certificates.
Tags: Women   human rights   Rwanda   Graduation
Views 34
by  Women for Women International on january 17, 2008
 
   
 
Women in the DR Congo
Women sit and listen during a class in our program.
Tags: Women   congo   drc
Views 23
by  Women for Women International on january 17, 2008
 
   
 
Run for Congo Women
Run for Congo Women is a grassroots run or walk or bike or swim or bake or pray fundraiser for Women for Women International's Congo Program. In only one year,...
Tags: Women   change   congo   races   run
Views 102
by  Women for Women International on january 09, 2008
 
   
 
Women for Women In...
Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Zainab Salbi, Ali Hewson, Nick Kristof and other leaders on the world stage came together on November 29, 2007 in New York to celebrate...
Tags:  
Views 104
by  Women for Women International on january 09, 2008
 
 
MTV.com Privacy Terms of Use Site Index Safety SP Terms of Use Help/FAQs © 2007 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved
SP Privacy Policy Copyright For Parents and Educators For Organizations Founding Partners Contact Us About