Valerie Boffy
Sharing A Dream
Fundraising for Women for Women International UK
Story
Dear Friends and Family,
Last year’s October trek to Everest Base Camp in aid of the charity Women for Women International changed my life.
Sue Harper Todd, a woman who summited Everest in 2004 and led the trek to Base Camp, made me believe that I too could live that impossible dream of climbing to the Top of the World. She knew something I had not, then, completely grasped: that we have immense strength and resources inside of us which we don’t even know exist until we face an extreme situation or environment. When we are faced with the stark need to survive, these strengths reveal themselves and help us to overcome seemingly impossible challenges. We absolutely have no idea of what we can really achieve until we try. What a lesson I’ve learned!
This year, I have decided to lead a team of 10 ladies from Asia back to Everest Base Camp - again in aid of Women for Women. It will be an extraordinary journey about friendship, passion, freedom and the commitment to others. In the spirit of humility and gratitude, we will be pushing our physical and mental limits on behalf of those women who are deprived of most basic freedom: the right to live in peace and happiness with their loved ones, the right to education and self accomplishment, the right to live with respect and decency.
We live daily with these vital basic rights, yet others can only dream of them. We owe it to these women, survivors of the horrors of war, to use the freedom which we enjoy to find strength within ourselves, and to share that strength with them.
It is my commitment to them, through this trek and through the money which we will raise, to give them the means and the will to dream again.
I appeal to you to please support me in raising vital funds for Women for Women International. I appeal to you to help women around the world whose life has been devastated by war, violence and rape. Let us together reach out to them with the tools and resources necessary to move beyond crisis and poverty. Let us help them find the path of confidence and self-sufficiency.
With deep gratitude and thanks for your generosity,
About Women for Women International
Since its creation, Women for Women International has given hope to more than 290,000 women survivors of war and conflict 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.
WfWI has distributed $95 million in direct aid, microcredit loans and other program services.
About the Trek
We will be taking prayer flags to Everest with messages from women around the world with words of peace. This trek is not just about raising funds for women in countries at war, it is also a personal journey about supporting others with our own passions, convictions, privileged life and connections.
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
Women for Women International Shopping List
This list provides a few of our current needs and provides an idea of how your money could help Women survivors of war.
£10,000 Could provide for 20 local trainers to complete the ‘Training of Trainers’ programme, ensuring staff development and capacity building across our 8 field offices which is a major component in making sure that we deliver quality programs. Each trainer will then go onto provide our Rights Awareness and Vocational Skills curriculum to 200-300 women monthly.
£5,000 Could provide training for 50 women in Nigeria to become cooperative leaders in poultry farming, enabling them to run their own businesses and train other women in their communities.
£2,500 Could support a class of 25 women in the Democratic Republic of Congo through a literacy training course where they can learn the basic literacy to support their business training, including reading, writing and signing their names.
£1,000 Could enable an agricultural coordinator in Rwanda to participate in a 20- day project management course.
£500 Could support one women for the whole of her one year training programme.
£160 Could pay for a Gem-Cutting Kit. Countries where we work, like Afghanistan, are home to vast resources of jewels and metals. Using the natural resources of their country the women we serve learn the intricate skill of cutting semi-precious stones for jewellery sales. With skills and tools in hand, women are able to feed their families and educate their children.
£125 Could pay for a Loom. In countries like Kosovo, young women learn how to weave. We have taken weaving from the traditional practices and help women create a business that will support heir families. The women we serve use looms to produce beautiful woven items for sale.
£125 Could pay for a Tie-Dye Kit: Dyes, Fabric, Rubber Gloves, Bucket.
Women in our DR Congo programme learn to make beautiful batiks that can be sold or used to create a variety of clothing and accessories. Dyes, fabrics, buckets and rubber gloves are the tools the women need to bring their artistic visions to life. Sold in local markets or overseas, the tie-dyes are a foundation for a better future.
£100 Could support one woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo trough a literacy training course where they can learn the basic literacy to support their business training, including reading, writing and signing their names.
£100 Could provide one woman in Nigeria to become a cooperative leader in poultry farming, enabling her to run her own business and train other women in her community.
£65 Could purchase a bicycle. In countries like Rwanda and Sudan, the women we serve often use bicycles as their means of transportation from the farm to the market and back. The bicycle helps a woman quickly transport more goods to market.
£30 Could provide literacy training to one woman allowing her to hold the key to knowledge and power.
£15 Could pay for a Sewing Kit (needles, thread, yarn, tape measure). Women in our programs in Afghanistan, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of Congo are using simple sewing tools to provide an income for themselves and their families. Our tailoring and seamstress students require thread, yarn, pins and a tape measure to get the job done.
£10 Could pay for pepper seeds. Because of their ability to command a good price and to help women add variety to their diets, peppers were introduced to our Sudanese farm. Peppers are widely cultivated as part of our organic farming programme.