Businesses for 60 Changemaker Women in DR Congo

[SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: (1) If you give $100 or more ONLY on WEDNESDAY, July 15, at or after 9:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, your donation will qualify for GlobalGiving's special match for Bonus Day. Please donate early, as funds are expected to run out in the course of the day. Lesser contributions are also welcome. (2) We are closing all our programming soon, as Annette is "retiring" from service after 13 long years. Needs will always remain, but we feel the women are a lot better off now than they were before. We ask you for a generous donation as we near the finish line.]

For this report, we present our YouTube video of the women of Rwenena speaking to you directly (translated from Swahili to English). Their references to Annette extend to each of you, their donors. They explain how our programming has benefited their small-business enterprises, although struggles remain. Each one is a member of the Pama kaci ("let's cultivate love/community") women's network of Rwenena.

[First try opening the link in Chrome. For Firefox and other browsers, after right-clicking on the link, the video should open in a new tab or window. If these steps fail, reload and try again. It's worth your time (and it could open immediately)!

Here is the text from the video subtitles:

Speaker 1 ("Gen")
“Today, what is important for me is to sell, which allows me to get food. If I don’t sell and I see my funds decreasing, I will look for a way to get more.

"Right now, I am selling these little fishes (ndagala), yellow eggplant, and just one beer crate because I don’t have enough money to offer more. If I have sustainable capital, I can sell a lot in order to grow the business.

"Please I ask you to help me with investment money."

Speaker 2 ("Mwa")
"Every day I sell (cassava) flour. I just sell it in front of my house and people buy it.

"Please can you help me with more funds so I will be able to respond to my children's needs.

"I use my profits to pay school fees for my children, to get food, and to buy clothes.

"Sometime my customers take loans from my flour, but before they pay me back, I am stuck and can’t sell anymore."

Speaker 3 ("Est")
"I cultivate and sell (cassava) flour, little fishes, oil and donuts. This business helps me. It has been five years since I began my small business, which has helped me a lot. The benefit I am getting from this business is helping my children, and they are progressing very well.

"Pig-rearing is [also] my benefit. Mama Annette, thank you. I really appreciate what you did."

Speaker 4 ("Bahat")
"I am so happy with Mama Annette because she brought the literacy school for (Rwenena) women. I joined the class, although I thought it was too late for me [to learn] because I never in my life knew how to write a letter.

"They [through Annette’s earlier programming] gave us chickens, goats and pigs, so I started livestock farming. This initiative helped to empower women. We really appreciate this, and we would love her to continue this beautiful initiative.

"I had never learned anything about livestock farming. What Mum (Annette) has done for women in Rwenena, we are very happy and we ask her to keep it up.

"Wherever she is, may God bless her and may she keep her heart of pleasing us women. Wherever she goes, may she be reminded of us women. What she has done is very great. I didn’t even have a single chicken in my house, but I am so thankful for the skills that mum Annette taught us."

This video and photos were all captured by Josephine, a professional, Congolese journalist advocating for women's rights in DR Congo. She serves as our contract project photographer and videographer. (Aksante sana, Josephine!)

Links:

• Video of the Pama Kaci Women of Rwenena, DR Congo