There is no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living
– Mandela
If you give a woman a hand up—teach her a skill, create a mentor program where she can talk with other successful women who have started just where she is, make her accountable—the rate of success and independence is greatly improved.
The purpose of empowering the women is to allow them to be self-sustaining providers for their families. Our women are empowered with a $100.00 value of goods that they can sell. 100% of your empowerment donation goes directly to the cause. The goods they are given to start their empowerment is raw coal. This is a commonly used material for heating and cooking in Africa, allowing them to quickly sell their inventory and decide what product they want to invest in and sell next.
Some of images you will see are of joyful women with burlap sacks, and many have wondered what is in these sacks that bring so much joy and excitement? They are full of coal, topped off with palm leaves to keep the coal from spilling and it’s the first inventory the women are given to sell. The excitement and joy on these women’s faces is a sight to behold. Bulleh has often said she wished you could all be here to see each of these empowerments in person. But, since that is not possible, she has captured many of these moments on video and shared them on our Facebook feed.
The women we sponsor range from young girls who are single mothers trying to raise young families to older women who have raised their children and are now raising orphaned grandchildren or other relatives. It is important to understand the dire straits these women are in, the abuse and horror they have endured is incomprehensible for most of us. The reality is it costs extraordinarily little to change someone’s entire life. You will witness that our organization is not corporate America; this is a grass-roots campaign in Liberia, West Africa and it is happening every day. The women walk for miles when they hear of Girl Power’s empowerment program and often Bulleh finds women waiting hours before dawn to meet her in hopes she can help. They are there to tell their story to a trusted soul in hopes they will be given a chance.
You can learn about our empowered women here. These stories can be hard to read, heart breaking and heartwarming at the same time. All women were little girls with big dreams at some point. We broadly call our program Girl Power because no matter your age, your dreams still live inside the same heart you have carried with you your whole life. Won’t you join us?
A donation of $100.00 is all it takes to get these women set up with goods to sell and a self-sustaining business. Thank you for giving these women a hand up, not a hand out.
