By Gillian Wilson | Communications Director
On Tuesday, March 16, all donations up to $1,000 per donor, per project will be matched. Donate on Tuesday, March 16, 2010, and maximize your gift. International Women's Day was this week, and to celebrate the amazing and strong girls of Zimbabwe, we wanted to tell you about all the great work going on at GCN. This is the work that you have continued to support through the many difficulties that face girls in Zimbabwe. An IDEX Board Member, Diane Dodge, recently traveled to Zimbabwe to visit GCN and learn more about the current situation in Zimbabwe. Diane met with Ruth, GCN’s Program Officer. Ruth explained that in the last few years many people have left Zimbabwe because of the economic and political crises. This has created lots of vacancies in social organizations that work with GCN. Because there are fewer resources to connect with there is less support available. But GCN continues to provide counseling and support resources to the girls as well as tuition and school supplies. As Diane traveled to meet IDEX grantees in South Africa she spent some time in Cape Town. By chance, she found herself at a flea market where she started talking with a couple selling Zimbabwean artwork. She was delighted to discover that the woman, named Maurible, was not only from Zimbabwe, but that she had been a girl at Girl Child Network. She greeted Diane warmly and shared her story. Maurible, now 21, credits GCN with saving her life and still regards herself as a GCN girl today. Maurible learned of GCN when she rescued from an abusive situation as a girl. GCN provided her school fees and supplies, and later she became an intern with them, in turn, helping other girls. When the situation got really tough in Zimbabwe, GCN helped her raise some money to leave the country. Now she is in Cape Town and she says her life is good. She is married and has a little girl. The business is going well, too. Maurible says she will always appreciate GCN and hopes her daughter can experience such a powerful support program to help her find a place in the world.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
