AWOL

You may have noticed that in the last few weeks we haven't been updating the blog as frequently as we like to! 

Unfortunately the reality of exams have hit and with less than a month to go we are getting our heads down and revising every other second we have.

However, the seconds which aren't being spent revising have been spent organising, tweeting, emailing, setting up, collaborating and creating a lot a lot of exciting plans which we are looking forward to sharing with you very soon!

Since we've been back we've been doing lots of assemblies, meetings, talks and feedback sessions about what we got up to and the learning and issues we want to share and take forward. 

In the mean time before we're able to share the events and programs in the pipeline, as well as get back to uploading our thoughts and blog rants (of which we have scribbled down as drafts excessive amounts) we thought we'd upload a few pictures of our time in New York!

YWCA Young Women and Girls' Forum
Selfie with Lopa Banerjee
(Head of Civil Society section of UN Women)

IWD2015 March to Times Square

Hillary Clinton at the UN Women Event, CSW59

The only whole-group picture! with Annette, Co-Chair of NAWO

Naserian - empowering Maasai widows and their communities

Gemma Welsh

The problem:
           In many places around the world, widows are one of the most vulnerable segments of society.
           In traditional Maasai culture, widows have very few rights. They become part of their late husband’s family and their property rights transfer to his family too. Originally this was for the protection of the women and their children. To some extent this is still the case.
           The lived experience of the women themselves however, attests to the pain of their loss both of their husband and their status as first wives. In polygamous cultures, the inherited wives become the lowest on the status ladder and lose their home and their belongings and often the choices for their children. Taboos against widows are often so strong that they are a hidden group.
            Naserian has found that once the widows start meeting and it seems acceptable to be a widow, more emerge and are ready to share their own experience.  Naserian empowers Maasai widows to uphold their rights and live fulfilling lives. 

See this link for the full original statement from Naserian

The solution: 
           Naserian is a grass-roots charity with a connection straight from fundraising done here, directly to funding its work in Tanzania.
           Projects are then set up by Alias, a Maasai tribesman who has begun to change things for widows in his tribe.
           By extension, the widows are enabled to support themselves and their families, lifting them out of poverty, and the message of equality is disseminated throughout their communities.

           His work, started in his own village, has been enabled to spread through the help of funding to the seven surrounding villages. It has even inspired a national conference due to the prestige which international recognition has afforded him and Naserian, which will spread the message of their work even further. 

What Naserian does:

• educates widows about their rights
• empowers them to earn a living through teaching them skills which provides the means to  support themselves and their families
• supports them to rebuild their lives following this trauma
• trains widows and members of villages to carry on this work and educate their communities

Click here to see specific examples of present goals and those which have already been achieved

 Two projects which we would like to specifically fund:

1. Alias, the coordinator, is injured and has difficulty making the long journey to nearest villages (5 hours away), to which there are no roads. We have sourced him a motorbike as a mode of transport to continue this work, which will cost £400
2. A three day training course in human rights for 5 widows in each of the seven villages has been planned. This would enable widows to train their entire communities, and thereby disseminate this essential work for a cost of just £540

The Plan:
          With our school FemSoc, we are currently planning a large fundraising event which we hope will enable us to fund these important causes, and more.
          We will keep this blog updated as we are able to, however in the mean time (as the sooner we can enable these efforts the better!) we would like to take the opportunity to share the opportunity to donate anything you may be willing to this cause!
          Just £10 would fund two days of training for a widow (and by extension, if you like, 1/5 of a village), or make headway to meaning that Alias can carry on his work.
          If you feel you are able to, please follow this link to donate £10, or visit this page to donate any other amount, or support the charity in any other way!