Esther’s story

Helped by her sponsor she can now earn a living and support her family in post-genocide Rwanda.

Guest post from Women for Women International.

Imagine you lost everyone you loved in a senseless and terrifying month of violence.

During the massacre, you had a choice: kill or be killed.

You saw your friends and neighbours turned into murderers, rapists, looters or torturers.

You cannot forget.

But you must continue to live—with yourself and with the people around you.

Years later, you still have bad dreams. And your country is still struggling to recover.

You live in poverty, raising a family on your own.

You adopted children who were orphaned by genocide and AIDS and raised them as yours, sharing what little you have.

This is today’s Rwanda.

Women for Women International (WfWI) has set up programmes in Rwanda which include direct financial aid, rights awareness classes, job-skills training and emotional support.

Our one-year programme was developed specifically for Rwanda’s special challenges and demands.

It includes vocational training which helps women earn an income and support themselves through teaching women to make an income off the land with organic farming techniques geared toward commercial production or giving women the training they need to operate sewing machines and perform tailoring and clothing production.

Women for Women International has operated in Rwanda since 1997, and the programmes have helped more than 36,000 women in 18 communities.

Esther, for example, is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when over 800,000 people were killed.

She dropped out of school and struggled to survive.

But with the help of her sponsor, she had access to Women for Women International’s year-long programme of job-skills training, rights education and small business assistance, as well direct financial assistance to help meet her basic needs.

Today she is earning an income, and can support her family.

And as she says in this video, ‘I have studied hard and I am already earning an income, thanks to your sponsorship.

‘Even though we have never met, you have been a very good sponsor to me.’

Watch Esther’s story and find out more about Women for Women International’s work in Rwanda.

Better still, become a sponsor.