Women for Women International

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Women for Women International

• One woman can change many things.
• Many women can change everything.

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Honoratas Story

• Honoratas past is marked by incredible hardship,
  horrific violence, social isolation and near
  death destruction.
• And yet, it is also an account of survival,
  strength, and a testimony to human strength.
• In 2002 Honoratas world was turned upside down
  and all that she and her husband had built were
  lost.
• She was captured and tortured by armed militias.
  She was gang-raped, sexually abused and forced to
  endure unimaginable atrocities.
• With nowhere to go, no food and no possessions
  but the torn cloth she wore, Honorata walked.
  Through the blistering heat and through rain
  storms, she walked over 150 miles to Bukavu, a
  village that had become a haven for people
  fleeing the war.

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Honoratas Story

• Honorata joined Women for Women International
  in August, 2004 with a group of
  women who had also suffered in war.
• All had their own stories of horror, of lives
  lost and of struggling to regain their dignity.
• Together they shared their lives, their hopes and
  dreams.
• Today, Honorata runs a small tie-dye business
  that she started with money pooled by herself and
  several other current employees. With her life
  turned around, she has decided to break the
  silence.
• Honorata advocates an end to sexual violence and
  calls on members of her community to restore the
  rights of women who are survivors of rape.

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Violettes Story

• In 1994, armed militias started fomenting a civil
  war in Rwanda. As the chaos drew closer, Violette
  was alone with her children.
• Carrying her two children in her arms, she fled
  to a nearby church where she thought she and her
  family would be safe.
• Violette and her family walked into a nightmare.
  "There was shooting going on, and people were
  falling on others and dying everywhere," Violette
  said. A machete-wielding militia was attacking
  the church.
• To survive, Violette was forced to lie down in
  the aisle and smear blood on herself and her
  children. Pretending to be dead, they hid among
  the corpses.
• Afraid to move, cry or even breathe, they lay
  there for an entire week until the Rwandan army
  came to liberate the area.
• In the chaos and violence, Violettes husband was
  brutally murdered. She was left to raise her
  children alone.

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Violettes Story

• In 2004, Violette enrolled in the Women for Women
  International program.
• She learned marketable job skills and honed her
  innate leadership abilities.
• Despite having only a high school education,
  Violette has become a local businesswoman and a
  leader in her community.
• With her sponsors support, Violette created a
  full-fledged business of making sorghum-based
  drinks.
• Violette also has a considerable bean harvest,
  half of which feeds her family and half of which
  she sells to make a profit.
• Today, she is the president of a local womens
  crafts cooperative that is made up of graduates
  of her rights awareness training group.

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Sadijes Story

• In 1997, Sadije had a good life in Kosovo. Her
  husband was a successful farmer and they had a
  happy family with four children.
• In one year, everything changed. Kosovo was at
  war. Sadije was separated from her husband and
  children and forced to endure the touches and
  taunts of men from foreign armies.
• In 1999, Sadije was forced to leave her home. She
  fled to other villages and finally found refuge
  hiding in a cave deep within the mountains.
• When her family was finally reunited, she and her
  children were forced to watch their father being
  beaten. The attack was so brutal and harsh that
  he was left deaf in one ear.
• Ten years later, Sadije and her children still
  suffer from the psychological consequences of the
  war.

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Sadijes Story

• Sadije Bablaku joined Women for Women
  International.
• Now, she no longer attends Women for Women
  International programs but instead runs themshe
  is a community leader.
• Not too long ago, Sadije did the unthinkable for
  the Kosovar women. She took 90 women from her
  village who were graduating from their Women for
  Women International training programs on a trip
  around Kosovo.
• In a country where women are not allowed outside
  their homes or villages alone, this was unheard
  of, an unthinkable journey.
• In a groundbreaking adventure, Sadije and 90
  remarkable women took a 12-hour trip around the
  country it was the first time many had seen the
  world outside their own homes and villages.

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What We Do

• Our goal is to help women move from victims to
  survivors to active citizens.
• We give women survivors of war the tools to stand
  on their feet and rebuild their lives, families
  and communities. 
• Women enroll in a year long education program,
  receiving direct financial aid and emotional
  support. Through this program they gain
• rights awareness education,
• market-based vocational skills training and
• income-generation assistance.
• Individuals sponsor a woman by sending 27 a
  month. Many sponsors and their sisters exchange
  letters. This provides basic financial and
  emotional support for the sponsored woman.
• The rights awareness and vocational skills
  training equips them with needed economic, social
  and political tools.
• We focus on employment and leadership upon their
  graduation, which helps provide tangible economic
  opportunities that contribute to long-term
  stability for themselves, their families and
  communities.

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Where We Work
Bosnia/Herzegovina
Kosovo
Rwanda
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Women We Serve

• We serve the most socially excluded women in
  conflict and post-conflict, war-torn countries
  who have lost everything family, home, and
  health.
• These are extremely vulnerable women who may be
  widows, refugees or victims of rape and torture.
• At the same time, these women are the sole source
  of support for their families.
• A large number of these women are girls between
  the ages of 15 24, many with their own children
  and nearly all responsible for caring for family
  members.
• These women are left to create a new existence
  for themselves and their children from nothing.

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Founder Zainab Salbi

• Ms. Salbi grew up with her mothers stories about
  the silenced voices of women.
• She survived the rule of Saddam Hussein as a
  child, the bombs and lies of his tyranny.
• At the age of 21, Ms. Salbi fled from Iraq to the
  U.S. to rebuild her life.
• As a survivor of war herself, Ms. Salbi sought to
  empower women in countries where they had lost
  their voices.
• After learning about the rape camps in Bosnia and
  Herzegovina, Salbi and her husband at the time
  used their honeymoon money to travel to Bosnia to
  distribute much needed supplies and money.
• In 1993, Women for Women International opened its
  first field office in Bosnia.
• In 1995, President Clinton honored Ms. Salbi at a
  White House ceremony for her humanitarian work.
  She is also a member of the Clinton Global
  Initiative.
• In 2007, Salbi was selected as a Young Global
  Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos,
  Switzerland.
• Every once in a while, a new voice emerges with
  the power to change the world. Zainab Salbi,
  activist and social entrepreneur, is such a
  voice.

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What We Have Accomplished

• Since its creation,
• Women for Women International has
• Empowered over 146,000 women survivors
• Distributed 78 million in direct aid,
  microcredit loans, and other program services
• Mobilized more than 125,000 women and men in 105
  countries worldwide to reach out and support
  women survivors of war one woman at a time.
• Received the 2006 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian
  Prize
• Received the Four-Star Charity Title from
  Charity Navigator, the highest ranking given to a
  nonprofit

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The Sponsorship Program

• Since its founding, Women for Women International
  has had a grassroots link between supporters and
  women survivors of war through our Sponsorship
  Program.
• A Sponsor contributes 27 each month for a
  womans 12 month program.
• This is a one-to-one match of sponsor to
  sister.
• The woman does not start the program until she
  is matched with a Sponsor, and women often have
  to wait to begin the program.
• The sponsorship program enables a woman survivor
  of war to regain control over her life, earn a
  living and begin to heal from the emotional and
  physical wounds inflicted on her and her family.

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The Sponsorship Experience
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The Power of the Sponsorship Experience
I have wanted to do something to help empower
women worldwide for a long time however, it
seemed such a huge task and I didnt know where
to start. This program is wonderful because it
enables us women who are blessed in small ways to
share our blessing with those who still need
blessings, woman to woman, one woman at a time.
A sponsor to her Nigerian sister
I never thought I would have the opportunity to
support myself without a man. Now I can do it. I
am doing it! Program participant in
Afghanistan You have made me see light where
there is darkness, you have created hope in me
where everything was hopeless. A sister in
Nigeria to her sponsor
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Women for Women International Recognition

• Time Magazine calls Women for Women International
  a lifeline for women in war-torn countries and
  named Ms. Salbi innovator of the month for her
  pioneering work as philanthropist.
• aid groups like CARE, Women for Women
  International and Vital Voices have been doing an
  outstanding job emphasizing the role that women
  can play in economic development Nicholas
  Kristof of The New York Times
• 3. Women for Women International, the intrepid
  organization that's been helping to put these
  Congolese victims back on their feet. O - The
  Oprah Magazine
• 4. The organization focuses on helping women
  gain access to economic resources and political
  and social power to produce lasting change -- not
  only for themselves, but also for their daughters
  and granddaughters and refuses to perpetuate
  womens victimhood. Kristin Ivie of The Case
  Foundation
• 5. Women often bear the brunt of war, poverty
  and disease in sub-Saharan Africa. But the NGO
  Women for Women says it's working to rebuild
  lives to help women regain their strength and
  stature in society.
• By Joe DeCapua of Voice of America News

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What you can do TODAY!

• Sponsor a woman!
• Donate.
• Come to an event or host your own event.
• Tell a friend.
• Participate in our Run for Congo Women race
• visit www.runforcongowomen.org
• Visit www.womenforwomen.org

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Thank You
One woman can change many things. Many
women can change everything. www.womenforwomen.
org