January 2009
This month, Andy and I traveled to Kigali to meet with the Rwandan NGO whose members would be participating in the Beacon Program. Members of our team had met with the organization last summer in a preliminary meeting to discuss the program and find out if we could work together to make it happen.
When we met with the NGO last week, the program’s leaders had selected members to participate in the program, and these women had organized themselves into cooperatives of 7 to 11 women each. The women had received their basic business training and seemed to be ready for K-Light training and to get their businesses started. Overall, we left with the excited feeling that the program was on its way to actually beginning, and we were eager to hear more in the near future.
As we began to prepare for the trip, we became involved in a project with which we were pleased to participate, though “pleased” is a difficult word to use in this context. You may know of V-DAY, the organization formed by Eve Ensler to end violence against women and girls worldwide. VDAY has declared its 2009 Spotlight Campaign as “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource: Power to the Women and Girls of Democratic Republic of Congo” to draw attention to the sexual violence being committed upon women and girls in DRC.
We were contacted by VDAY’s New York office to help the organization with what they are calling their “V-Lantern Project.” Working with Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, DRC, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, winner of the 2008 UN Human Rights Prize, VDAY wanted to distribute K-Lights to the community surrounding the hospital.
The Koinonia Foundation donated 500 lights to VDAY to be distributed upon Dr. Mukwege’s return from traveling. When we get pictures of the distribution ceremonies, we will be sure to post them.
