Dear Family & Friends,

For many years, both personally and professionally, I’ve been involved with organizations that strive to give to hope to children. I’ve learned that for children to thrive it’s critical for them to have strong, self-sufficient mothers or other women in their lives to guide and protect them.

In November 2013 I will be taking up an incredible challenge as part of an all-female team trekking across the Valley of the Moon in the Middle Eastern Kingdom of Jordan in aid of the charity Women for Women International UK, which helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives and achieve self-sufficiency. I'm excited to be selected as part of this dynamic group of passionate women.

About the Trek

The team's journey will begin in Amman, the capital of Jordan, and continue on to Wadi Rum, following the magical trail of the Bedouin people of the deserts of the Rakebat Canyon. The trek includes an average of 7 to 8 hours of hard hiking per day (carrying 15-20kg packs) under blistering heat, on a multitude of terrains, and culminates with the scaling of the steep rocky facade of Jebel Um Adaam, the highest mountain in Jordan, located near the border of Saudi Arabia.

What I Ask

Please support me in raising vital funds for Women for Women International. Join me in the helping women around the world whose lives have been devastated by war, violence and rape. Together we can change lives by giving them the tools and resources necessary to move beyond crisis and poverty towards rebuilding their confidence and self-sufficiency.

Any contribution, no matter what size, will make a difference.

Thank you for believing in me and supporting my efforts.

Paige

How Your Donation Makes a Difference

* All funds raised go directly to the charity as each team member is financing her own trek.

US $20 = 1 Sewing Kit: As tailors and seamstresses, women in Afghanistan, Kosovo and DR Congo are using simple tools to provide an income for their families.

US $50 = 1 Goat:In Afghanistan, goats can be raised for milk or cheese to be sold at market.

US $100 = 1 Bicycle: In countries like Rwanda and South Sudan, bicycle helps a woman transport goods to market.

US $200 = 1 Tie Dye Kit: Women in the DR Congo learn to make beautiful batiks that can be sold or used to create a variety of clothing and accessories. Sold in local markets or overseas, the tie-dyes are a foundation for a better future.

US $500 = Bread Oven: In South Sudan and DR Congo a simple brick oven makes a variety of baked goods allowing women to create cooperatives and sell their products in the market or out of their home.

US $1000 = 15,000 chicks. Providing 15 women in Nigeria with 1000 chicks each to raise as a business.

US $2000 = One Year Training Program for 10 women in Kosovo.Givingthem Life Skills to help learn how to rebuild their lives and find a job that will help them provide for themselves and their family.

US $5000 = Safe birth and health education. Providing 1000 women in Afghanistan with support from a traditional birth attendant and health education kits.

US $7000 = Trucks. Provides trucks so that women in Rwanda can sell their products to other villages.

About Women for Women International 

This non-profit humanitarian organization, which was founded in 1993 by Zainab Salbi, an Iraqi American who is herself a survivor of the Iran/Iraq War, also counts Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan as its Global Ambassador. 

Since its creation, Women for Women International has given hope to more than 310,000 women survivors of war and helped them move towards economic self-sufficiency with its year-long programs of direct aid, rights awareness, education, job skills training and small business development. Today, they operate offices in eight post-conflict countries: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Sudan and are set to establish a presence in Asia.

About the Trek

The team's journey will begin in Amman, the capital of Jordan, and continue on to Wadi Rum, following the magical trail of the Bedouin people of the deserts of the Rakebat Canyon. We will camp en route, and continue to travel in a majestic and otherworldly land of dunes and jagged red-rose rocks. The trek will include an average of 7 to 8 hours of hard hiking per day (carrying 15-20kg packs) under blistering heat, on a multitude of terrains, and will culminate with the scaling of the steep rocky facade of Jebel Um Adaam, the highest mountain in Jordan, located near the border of Saudi Arabia.