Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Women Helping Women

by Jen Paulousky of Blue Alvarez Designs



I was finally able to complete a goal I made for my business at Thanksgiving - to donate 100% of my profits from all holiday 2008 sales to Vday.org. Thanks to the generous patrons of my fine wares, and friends who just plain pitched in, I was able to send Eve Enlser $200 USD! A drop in the bucket for them, but a nice sizable chunk considering I hardly produced anything this season. (If you do the math you'll reaize that means I only sold about $300 worth of goods over the holidays, but that's a blog post for another month).

Why did I choose Vday.org? I heard about the plight of women in The Democratic Republic of Congo and the work Ms. Ensler is doing there, along with Dr. Mukwege on NPR. Since then I have been following the struggle there, telling everyone I know about it. It is impossible to ignore.

Some people won't want to hear about the devastation being wrought on women and their communities via mass rape. But it is our duty to listen, and to help. This is not a women's problem, it is everyone's problem. Rape is used as a strategy of war to destroy communities, claim villages, and eventually claim the precious natural resources that will enable the regimes doing the raping to support their regime and continue their reign of terror over the country.

But we can help. As women supporting ourselves through our craft we have a unique opportunity to spread the word about this devastation so that our sisters in Africa can get the help they so desperately need. If you aren't sure where you can start, see what you can do to help here.

2 comments :

  1. Jen, it's devastating what happens there and in many other places. I commend you on your effort to contribute to the well-being of the women affected.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Jen, this is so important. I'm happy to have the info here.

    ReplyDelete

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