I work with Fedina and we go and meet women in the villages. At first they told us we couldn’t do anything about it, that we were not from their village and that their problems did not concern us. Then we explained to them that even though they could not resolve their own situations, they could help other families in their village. Together we created women’s groups so that they would no longer have to face their problems alone. They started talking about their condition of extreme poverty, malnutrition, child labour, domestic violence and polygamy.
Thanks to dialogue and consciousness raising, the situations of violence and injustice have decreased over the past 10 years.
The economical situations of the families are also very difficult. In order to remedy their debt, we have set up a savings system with a monthly interest rate of 2%, of which 1% is used to run social activities. By giving them access to economic resources, women acquire independence and recognition from the men and inhabitants of the village.
In 2008, we worked with 700 women and their families. We have made great progress and want to keep helping other inhabitants and reduce poverty. We have to give all the women the same opportunity as the one given to the women in Nanjungod.
