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
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