Gender Equality Rwanda Project #21389

Empower 50 Survivors of Sex Trafficking in Rwanda

by Esther's Aid For Needy and Abandoned Children, Inc

Project Report | May 2, 2019
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

By Colleen Lehane | National Executive Director/Treasurer

May 1, 2019

Dear, Dear Friends of Esther's Aid,

It is with Enormous Gratitude that we report that we are “closing” our Global Giving Project to “Rescue the Victims of sex trafficking”. Because of your very generous donations, we have exceeded our first phase goal! Our Program is still very vital to Esther's Aid and continues to need funding, but we have started a new project to Build our Village of Peace on GG (# 39893)!

Rescuing the Victims of sex trafficking was started in 2015! See one of our Gorgeous Survivors attached! It is because of all of you! Now we can move on to fulfilling another Dream/Vision! On behalf of our Founder, Clare Effiong and The Esther's Aid Team, Thank You So Very Much!

God bless you and yours!

Warm regards,

Colleen

Colleen Lehane

Esther's Aid, National Executive Director/Treasurer

P.S. Don't forget to visit our Social Media Accounts!

Web: www.esthersaid.org Facebook / Instagram / @esthers_aid

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Feb 5, 2019
Happy 2019 from Esther's Aid!

By Clare Effiong | Founder, Esther's Aid and Country Director, Rwanda

Happiest of New Years! One of the great blessings at this time of year is the chance to connect with you, my friends, supporters and family. Thank you so much to our donors from GlobalGiving for your contributions toward empowering our young Survivors of sex trafficking! We want you to know that we’ve had a happy, busy year at Esther’s Aid in Rwanda.

What is a day like for me? In the morning the alarm goes off at 6:00AM and I jump out of bed, pray and try to eat breakfast while reviewing files and putting together the tasks of the day. I grab my bag, cell phone and rush off to different meetings all morning, afternoon, and maybe a dinner meeting or prayer meeting. Finally, I am home at 9:00 or 10:00PM and fall into bed exhausted.

So, what happens the next day? The alarm goes off and I’m at it again. To avoid being consumed by the pressures of our lives, we all need to develop strategies and spiritual habits that will help us fulfill our purposes. We are all in it together. We must help ourselves and each other.

WHAT MAKES OUR STUDENTS GREAT?

God uses individuals and organizations such as GlobalGiving to partner with us to support our students and other works of Esther’s Aid. Famous chefs and experts in related fields across the globe visit our Culinary Arts Program to volunteer their time and resources to train and add value to the culinary skills we offer. Our students are humble, hardworking and very engaged. This is especially true of our young Survivors of sex trafficking. It is a combination that makes a huge difference and that’s what makes them great!

Here are some highlights about what our Survivors have been doing!
Students completed Internships with hotels and related industries on November 30, 2018. 40% of 120 students secured jobs during their Internships. Alumni won a variety of awards honoring their work. Why? They showcased and brought forth the spirit of excellence we infused in them during their training period at Esther’s Aid. In partnership with African Evangelistic Enterprise, we brought 150 at-risk young women into our 3 months Skills Training Program. This year, a total of 762 youths have been trained at different levels of education, empowerment, employability and livelihood. The Village of Peace Campus Construction is on-going. When completed it will provide a foundation for short term housing, medical care, counseling and training for this Program.

So in this new year when we can focus on our personal gifts by sharing them lovingly with others, please remember our young Survivors of sex trafficking and donate to Esther's Aid through GlobalGiving. May God continue to bestow many blessings on you and your family in 2019!

Warmly,

Clare Effiong

Links:

Official Esther's Aid website

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Nov 5, 2018
With Shouts of Joy!

By Clare Effiong | Founder, Esther's Aid and Country Director, Rwanda

November 2018

Dear Friends of Esther's Aid,

Rescuing the Victims of Sex Trafficking has been a journey that brought the Survivors from grass to grace. It was with tears, pain and struggle that we embarked on this challenge, but today the Team at Esther’s Aid and the Survivors can lift our hands up in triumph with shouts of joy. Yes, shouts of joy because these former victims have survived, totally transformed and reintegrated into the community. They are now a force to be reckoned with. Their determination and tenacity to succeed and to be recognized is unparalleled. This would not have been possible without your support through your generous donations on GlobalGiving! We are enormously grateful to all of you.

Forty-four (44) women out of fifty (50) created a Business Cooperative as a foundation for their operations in Rwanda. Esther’s Aid opened an incubation center and gave the collective start up kits to produce designs of assorted patterns on fabric (e.g. tie dye) for dress making, blouses, shirts, pants, bags, and more. They are aggressively targeting the duty-free shops at the Kigali Airport to showcase their work and secure market contracts. Their profit margin per month is 80,000 RWF (approx. $91 USD).

Rwanda has already begun a campaign to promote “Made in Rwanda” clothing in the fashion industry. We hope these women will benefit from this campaign to help grow their businesses. Esther’s Aid has expanded our programs to provide other income generating opportunities and to further empower some of the survivors, including young men. We have trained them in Mushroom Growing and given them the mushroom tubes to begin planting. We also have provided goats for Animal Husbandry. These new start-ups have helped in a far reaching way.

Uwingeneye Jean Baptiste is a young survivor with a passion for the restaurant business after training at Esther's Aid Culinary Arts Program. With some seed capital, he is opening a small restaurant in the village.

Esther’s Aid appreciates you, our donors who support the success of this project through their contributions on GlobalGiving (globalgiving.org/esthersaid). It is evident that the Project is sustaining itself through the success of the first 44/50 survivors! They are now reaching out to other hidden victims - encouraging them to come out and have life-changing experiences through the skills training from Esther’s Aid. The sky is their limit.

Thank you so much! God bless you all.

Warm regards,

Clare Effiong

Links:

Esther's Aid website

Attachments:

Pictures_Shouts_of_Joy_110518.doc (DOC)

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