Friday, January 18, 2013

We are smart women...

This week’s update is more personal than usual, and come from Lori Acton, our International Director, who lives full-time in Jinja, Uganda.

  “Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought though about what it is that I am so thankful for this year. This past month and a half I have had one specific lesson revisit me several times. This lesson [involves] the treatment of women in Uganda. I am so grateful to have grown up in a country and a family… that does not see my being female as a hindrance or a weakness. I have taken it for granted that I know I have value, and I am loved. These past weeks I have had countless opportunities to communicate this message, and that no one has the ability to take that away from you. The most rewarding part of this has not only seeing women receive this idea, but then pass it along the women around them who are in need of hearing it.

This last Tuesday Fount of Mercy staff attended a celebration for the end of a village bank cycle. Twenty-nine women worked very hard for six months and were [finally] collecting their savings and earnings. One representative of the group said over and over –
 
‘We are not beggars anymore. We are smart women.’”

This is why we do our work: to hear statements like the one above. Smart women can take care of their families, creating communities with less vulnerability and fewer orphans. That is our goal.

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