Video: Women Releasing Change

10/06/2013 02:09:00 AM sendtheroths 2 Comments

Grace, GOF-C's Women's Outreach Coordinator is trying to launch a grassroots organic project where young girls (ages 10-17) can be reached with education, support and resources so that they will not be as vulnerable and powerless in the future.

Grace, GOF-C's Women's Outreach Coordinator is riding a chukudu, which is a local tool for transporting heavy items.

Congo is considered the rape capital of the world and just under Afghanistan, the worst place in the world to be a woman. 

With little means and a big heart, the women from GOF-C training center revisited Kibati again only two weeks after the war ended. That was the week that the UN disarmed more than 75 mines. The ladies saw houses blown up by bombs, farms burnt to the ground and tombs of half buried soldiers.

"The smell remained in our nostrils for the entire journey home." Said Elijah, one of the men who accompanied the women to the war torn village.

When I went with the ladies back to Kibati nearly a month later, we found a school that was bombed. In the courtyard, was mass burial ground for M23 soldiers, the rebel group that is allegedly funded by Rwanda's government.

The ladies arranged with the headmaster of the school (who they randomly met on the road) to visit the school every Friday to teach about hygiene, sex education and women's health. The teaching would have a practical component, like what was stated earlier and a spiritual component, where it will be related to scripture and personal identity. The teaching would end with a game or art activity that can drive home the main point.

The ladies are planning and preparing for their first meeting with the children next Friday. I may or may not be present for this, which is relieving to me. I only need to find a way to get them to the village. 

The growth of GOF-C is leading to a number of semi-independent outreaches under the banner of the organization. This makes me very happy, because it means that the Congolese are catching the vision and going forward without waiting on us. 

It's a huge responsibility to remain intimate with the leaders of these projects and to pour into them as often as possible. 

Discipleship is not a program it's a relationship.