Let me take you back to 2010, and my time in Uganda. It was here that I witnessed first-hand the direct impact on family and community of empowering women and giving them a chance to work for themselves.
KATANGA SLUMS, KAMPALA
Part of my time in Uganda, in 2010, was spent with a community based organisation called CLD (Come Let’s Dance). It was, and still is, a grass roots organisation, run by local Ugandans with support from their founders in Colorado, USA. Their work started with helping street orphans and children in Katanga slum to have a better life, making sure they had food and an education. They also worked with the kids’ mums and other women in Katanga slum, training them in bead making and sewing, which allowed them to support themselves and start them on the path to lift themselves out of poverty, and continue to support their kids education. This project was called Thread of Life and was dedicated to empowering women.
Watching these women become empowered to take control of their lives was an inspiration. Yes, they still lived in the slum, and yes, some were still supporting their husbands, but they had the independence and means to carry on feeding their children and sending them to school, breaking the cycle of poverty. These women could sew and make jewellery to sell at the local market, having had their start through Thread of Life. Once trained, they would invite other women to take their place, and continue to pop back to the project for mentoring or counselling.
AND TODAY WE SUPPORT FEMALE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
Thread of Life is still going strong, and has grown into a community hub for women, so they can learn about financial management, have counselling support, and continue to be trained in fashion design and tailoring.
Here is proof that helping and empowering women has an impact on more than herself; it has an impact on her children, her family, her neighbours, her community. It is what has inspired me to focus my efforts on women small business owners in low-income countries. There are some wonderful stats too which I have covered in a post on our mission with our charity partner.
And now a contribution is made from every purchase made from us, and this contribution goes directly to the women being empowered through Lendwithcare and you can watch the progress of each of the women we support.
I believe that businesses can have a purpose beyond profit, and can help create change. Please do leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
Sofia
