By Clare Effiong | Founder, Esther's Aid, Program Manager in Rwanda
In our first report, we featured some of the victims of sex-trafficking with their small businesses. The market stalls that sell merchandise & vegetables and the charcoal stall are both successful and expanding. The project is progressing. We are now moving into an exciting and innovative empowerment program. We are organizing the group leaders' training, who, in turn, will go back to train their group members in Fabric Design and Hat Design. The young women will use their local art forms – batik and brush, as well as, tie-dye style. Big doors for small businesses will open up for these young women to take back their lives.
This January, we took 10 young survivors into Esther’s Aid School for Careers in the Culinary Arts, Sewing and Fashion Design.
Clare goes on to say, “Whenever I think of submitting this report, I remember individual faces, expressed through different emotional outbursts. As I look from group to group, trying to figure out how best to handIe the needs associated with them – poverty, feelings of rejection and hopelessness, I came up with one solution: LOVE. This is the only tool powerful enough to lift up these young survivor victims.“ Esther's Aid reaches out and shows them we care.
We can embrace and empower these young women and give them hope for a future with dignity. We remain grateful to our donors who give to our campaign on Global Giving. It is because of you that Esther's Aid has the opportunity to create and fund this program to rescue the young victims of sex-trafficking. God bless you and Global Giving. We count on your support.
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