Women

Apirl A-Z Challenge: W is for Women

photo is from unicef(dot)org

A couple posts ago I discussed the book, Half the Sky by Kristof and WuDunn. That book made a big impact on me, and I'm still thinking about how I can help. So many women around the globe are suffering. I can't think about how huge it is, because it feels too overwhelming.

What I can think of is ways I can help that will make a difference to one or two or a few women or girls. We simply can't continue to ignore half the world's population and allow them to be oppressed, beaten and killed without some sort of response! I really hope that more people will read the book and will feel moved to respond. The more we can help, the bigger impact we will make.

Here is what I am doing so far:
1) my UMW circle (kind of a sub-committee of United Methodist Women) is going to help subsidize the families of girls in Cambodia so that they can continue to attend school. Education of girls is absolutely key to helping reduce and combat these problems that women are facing. The group through which we will do this is:
www.cambodiaschools.com

2) provide more loans to people through Kiva dot org (look it up! It costs only $25 per loan and is lots of fun, as you get to pick out who you want to support).

3) as hubby and I work out our retirement finances a little more clearly, I hope to perhaps sponsor a girl or woman through one of the many program listed in the back of Half the Sky.

Check these out if you are curious:

www.creatinghope.org [schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan]

www.fistulafoundation.org [do you know about fistulas? If not, ask me and I will explain]

www.womenforwomen.org [connects women sponsors with needy women in war-torn or post-war countries]

Other well-known organizations such as UNICEF and Heifer International are beginning to focus more and more on women and girls because of the enormous needs. And helping a woman often has a larger ripple effect in a community than helping a man. Sad but true. Women tend to use their education, skills, and income to help families and children and to invest in the community. Men tend to use it for themselves.

Women hold up half the sky! So let's do our best to help our sisters around the world who are enduring pain of unimagine magnitude.

[This was a soap box entry! I hope you didn't mind and that you might even feel moved to help out in some way! If nothing else, please read Half the Sky. It is now available in paperback and should be in most libraries.]