A Powerful Way To Help
by Olivia Fischer | September 27, 2010 at 2:36 PM
I recently read an AMAZING book called "A Thousand Sisters" by Lisa Shannon, an American woman from Oregon. The book tells her amazing story of helping women from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and her organization called "Run for Congo Women" that raises money to sponsor women there.
Lisa learned about the ongoing conflict in the Congo on televsion - a segment on Oprah - and felt so passionate about it that she decided to sponsor a woman for $27 a month through an organization called Women for Women International (womenforwomen.org). She tried to convince her friends to sponsor a woman too, but no one seemed to care about the plight of women in the Congo. Frustrated, she decided to run 30 miles (!!) to raise money so that she could sponsor more women herself. She, again, tries to recruit friends to join her on the run and raise money, but no one agrees to do so. She does her first run all by herself in 2006. She raises money to sponsor more women, and she continues to try to network and organize runs in other cities. Eventually, she travels to Congo to visit her Congolese "sisters," and the book takes you along with her on her powerful journey through the Congo. Through her efforts, Run for Congo Women has grown enormously, and many women around the country are stepping up to raise money and awareness for this important cause. If you are looking for a good book to read, please visit her website http://athousandsisters.com/ and purchase the book. I bought mine from my local Barnes & Noble, so you can also look there!
Not only do I highly recommend reading the book, I would also suggest you visit Women for Women International's website - womenforwomen.org. If you can spare $27 a month, you can make a difference to a woman living in a war-torn region. Women for Women does not only sponsor women in the Congo, but also in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan. I have signed up to sponsor a woman in the Congo, but any of these war-torn regions would benefit from your help if you can provide it. One of my favorite parts about the organization is that you don't just send money - you also exchange letters! You can write to your new "sister" and the Women for Women volunteers in her country will translate your letter as well as the letter she writes back to you. You can truly make a connection with the woman you are sponsoring, and that is a powerful thing.
I wanted to share this with the PulseWire community, because I feel that the organization's vision is directly in line with World Pulse's vision of connecting women through communication.
