From Our Country Directors


Country Director Ngozi Eze’s Journal March 2005

It is heart warming to write to you once again. I hope all is well with your families and friends and life is treating you beautifully. I hope you all enjoyed International Women’s Day on March 8th. Women for Women International – Nigeria celebrated from March 7th-14th with guest speakers who discussed health Issues, gender equality and the benefits of forming cooperatives and banking. We also hosted International Women’s Day celebrations in four of the communities that we work in throughout the week that included various speeches and a drama put on by past participants.

Over the last several months, we have taken part in a major expansion and have enrolled more than 1,000 women in four new communities in Enugu State, in the southern part of the country. Thanks to a fantastic increase in sponsors over the last several months, we are able to provide our services to so many more women who truly need it.

While enrolling participants in the Edem community in Enugu State, we discovered the community suffered an outbreak of tuberculosis. When some of the participants were asked how a family member passed away, they would usually attribute it to “being poisoned,” even though their family members had died from the disease. In order to address this misconception, we have now added more information to our rights awareness training about the prevention and care of tuberculosis, using a curriculum developed by the Ministry of Health. The information includes eating a balanced diet, keeping a healthy immune system and sleeping in well-ventilated rooms.

In Jos, where our satellite office is located in the northern part of the country, we have been able to combine both the Muslim and Christian women into one classroom for workshops. Because of the religious conflict that has plagued the northern region of Nigeria, we previously had to have the women meet at two different locations. Initially, there was fear and suspicion on the minds of the participants, due to the violence that broke out in 2001. To their surprise, they were greeted by the people of the community. For some, it was like a reunion with their long lost friends whom they had not seen since the conflict. We are of the belief that with this new arrangement, we will be part of the peace-building process and we will continue to advocate for the peaceful coexistence of the two groups through our non-discriminatory stance, as well as through our rights awareness, leadership and skills training programs.

In addition, Women for Women International -- Nigeria attended the 6th International Conference on Christian-Muslim Mutual Relations from March 1st-5th in Gusau, Zamafra State. The theme of the conference was “Shariah and Christian Muslim Mutual Relations in Nigeria: Way Forward”. The conference was organized by the Association of Christian-Muslim Mutual Relations in Nigeria (ACMMRN) in conjunction with the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and hosted by the Government of Zamfara State. We were able to obtain valuable information that will be implemented into our rights awareness training program in Jos.

Currently, 360 participants are participating in skills training, including soap-making, batik or “tie-dye” production, business skills training and knitting. We are also encouraging our participants to form groups and register as business cooperatives to use their new skills, as well as open bank accounts. Once a group registers as a cooperative, they are an “official organization” and therefore are entitled to benefits by the government in regards to taxation and interest rates. Although the registration and banking is a cumbersome process, as many villages do not have local banks, we believe that this will promote sound income-generation activities once they graduate from the program.

Reports from the field indicate that more and more women are beginning to exercise their rights in their families and communities. One of our program participants, Sarah Abi Ibrahim, a group member of Gwong 65, began leadership training in November 2004. Sarah is a widow with four children and has been to court eight times since December 2004 regarding the recovery of her late husband’s property which was taken by her in-laws. The court ruled that the in-laws should return the property to Sarah. To date, 350,000 Naira or approximately $2,687US, has been returned to Sarah who had been left penniless. Sarah decided to go to court after participating in Women for Women International’s rights awareness classes. When asked why she did not go to the court before, she informed us that she did not know that women had the right to fight for things that belonged to them.

Another participant, Antonia, was a peasant farmer and sometimes sold tobacco on a small scale before joining our program. Her husband left her in the village and went to live in Enugu and married another woman. She was very sad and upset at having to care for her children alone. She lives in one room in her father-in-law’s house with a zinc roof and pit toilet. Apart from benefiting from the rights awareness training classes which enabled her to interact with other women, during the program she learned how to make shoes and repair them and she now specializes in slippers – a business she now runs from her home. She also sells basic provisions, such as drinks and condiments, from her home. Emotionally, she says she is much happier as she can now meet her children’s needs. She and her children still live in her father-in-law’s house. Her future goal is to improve on her shoemaking skills and become renowned in her village. She told us, “This organization has not only given me more money by teaching me to become a shoemaker, it has also helped to make me happy and reduce my constant thinking and worries.”

Till I write again, the participants and staff of the Nigeria office send you many thanks for all that you do.

We wish you peace, love and lots of blessings.

Sincerely,

Ngozi Eze
Country Director
Women for Women International -- Nigeria.

Country Director Ngozi Eze’s Journal October 2004

Greetings! The staff and participants of Women for Women International – Nigeria hope you and your families are doing well, and we send our regards and best wishes. It gives me great joy to correspond with you concerning some aspects of the Women for Women International -- Nigeria program. Presently, we have nearly 1,700 participants in our programs in Enugu and Jos. Before the year ends, 650 women will graduate from the program, and 650 new women will be enrolled. We are indeed grateful to you, our sponsors, for making it possible for us to reach out to so many new program participants.

Last month, as part of the participants’ monthly rights awareness classes, one of our field staff members, Francisca Odo, spoke to 75 women on the dangers, implications and human rights abuses that occur when women or young girls are lured into marrying “dead” men, a practice which takes place in some of the communities where we work. A woman marries a deceased man in order to continue a family lineage, primarily when the woman is carrying an illegitimate child. This is seen as a favor to the woman’s family, as it provides a surrogate “father” to the woman’s child and gives the child a “proper” surname. After this, the woman is seen as a servant to the man’s family, and is responsible for many of the household duties, including cleaning, cooking, working in the fields, etc. In some cases, she is even abused verbally or physically. By educating the women on its harmful effects, we hope to reduce this practice.

Our program participants are also benefiting from their other rights awareness and leadership education trainings through the Renewing Women’s Life Skills (ReneWLS) program. They repeatedly tell us how the program has positively impacted their lives and stated that they are now more independent, possess more knowledge on reproductive health issues, and do not depend on men in their lives as they did before. They have also said that they want to ensure that their children, regardless of gender, are enrolled in schools.

In addition to providing rights awareness training to the women in our program, Women for Women International – Nigeria also conducted our second “Men’s Gender Sensitivity Training” class for 25 men late this summer. The training was based on a “Men’s Manual” developed by Women for Women International that includes topics such as democracy and voting, HIV/AIDS, violence against women, and family planning. This is a fantastic way for men to understand the importance of women in their society. Our work with male leaders in Jos in the past has led to the reduction of the dangerous “widowhood practice,” a traditional practice where women undergo physical and psychological harm to prove their innocence in their husband’s death, regardless of how he passed away. We hope our work with this second class of men will have similar results, especially in prevention of domestic violence.

Women for Women International -- Nigeria has also been increasingly working to develop and improve our vocational skills training programs. Late this summer we were honored to have in our midst an official from the US Department of State Bureau and Cultural Affairs, Carol Herrera. Over the past year, Women for Women International – Nigeria conducted an exchange program, funded by the State Department, for five of our participants. In addition, trainers from the US traveled to Nigeria to provide additional “train the trainers” sessions to the exchange members and other participants in literacy, soap making, and solar fruit drying. The women who participated in the exchange are now responsible for training 500 additional women each. Carol met with women who recently started our literacy program and who can now write their names and read the alphabet. The women said that literacy training “has opened up a new world for them.”

In addition to providing the vocational skills trainings taught to our women by the exchange participants, we have also been researching other vocational trainings that would provide viable income-generating opportunities in the communities where we work. Since July 2004, 780 program participants have benefited from skill trainings in producing shampoo, tablet soaps, liquid insecticides and confectioneries. This is fantastic for some women in rural groups, who can use natural ingredients that are readily available to make these goods. Currently, women in more urban areas are also participating in sewing, shoe repair and photography lessons; these are skills that women can market to others in their local community.

Program participants also continue to use their sponsorship funds to invest in an income-generating project that will help them support themselves and their families in the future. Some women have chosen to purchase a grinding machine for grains, or 50 liter iron pots for cooking palm oil, which they then sell at local markets. Others have started selling local snacks such as chin-chin and puff-puff, a kind of donut.

Finally, I wanted to share with you one of our “success stories.” Last month we learned that a former program participant and one of the women who participated in the exchange, Grace Eneonyia, has been employed in a hotel where she cooks African dishes. She has also learned to make some continental dishes, such as pies and scrambled eggs. She has enrolled in an evening secondary school and it will take her six years to complete the program. She is happy to be able to work and go to school at the same time and she is so proud of her achievement. Women for Women International is happy to see her succeed for herself and her family.

Till I write again, on behalf of the program participants and the Nigerian staff, have joy-filled and memorable days.

Yours sincerely,

Ngozi Eze
Country Director
Women for Women International -- Nigeria

Country Director Ngozi Eze’s Journal March 2004

With your financial support, more than 6,000 women in 16 communities in Enugu and Plateau States have been sponsored, indirectly benefiting more than 36,000 family members. During this last three months alone, 1,576 program participants graduated from the Sponsorship and Renewing Women’s Life Skills (ReneWLS) training program, that includes classes on rights awareness, business skills, health, politics, family, law, etc. The women usually wear their best clothes on Graduation Day and are proud to have benefited from such a life-enriching program. During the graduation, they sing songs, act out plays, and give speeches depicting what they have learned from the program. The graduates usually insist they take pictures with the field officers, who facilitated the trainings during the women’s participation, and pose with their certificates. During the women’s graduation ceremonies, they sing songs thanking the organization for coming to their aid; their sponsors for supporting them financially and emotionally; and pray that their sponsors live long and prosper.

Women for Women International -- Nigeria is a force to be reckoned with in the areas of poverty alleviation and skills acquisition. Some of our program participants in the northern part of the country who graduated from batik-making classes now make batik that they sell at an outpost owned by their trainer. One program participant exhibited the jewelry she made at a bazaar. Some women graduated from the carpentry and shoemaking courses while others have used their sponsorship funds for rearing goats, starting small poultry farms or buying sewing machines. In one community, Aku, a few women came together and started evening literacy classes on their own by paying a retired teacher who coaches them twice a week. In one of the communities, Umulumgbe, one of the former program participants is now earning money by taking pictures of program participants engaged in their new skills – pictures the women usually want to send to their sponsors.

2003 Exchange Visit

In late 2003, four program participants and one of Women for Women International – Nigeria’s staff members were selected to participate in an exchange visit to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia from September 14th-October 3rd. The women returned to Nigeria with a greater awareness of the culture of the United States. During their trip, they learned about composting, fruit drying, advocacy, and literacy training. We are currently in the process of planning ways in which they can use their new knowledge to educate their peers. Each woman is responsible for for training at least 500 women in her own community. In April of this year, five of the women that provided training from the United States will visit Nigeria to provide additional training for the participants.


Permit me to reproduce an except of a commencement address read by Victoria Okara, one of the program participants who traveled to America for the exchange visit, during the graduation ceremony in her community on 24th November, 2003 in Aku:

“We are promising you that this light you have handed over to us will not extinguish in our hands. We hope to please you in our group projects. We have planned and are still planning to fight the issue of Oijiloshi our community. (In this tradition, a woman, who is carrying a child out of wedlock, is forced by her family to marry a man who has passed away in order for the child to bear his name. It is thought this will save the woman, family and child from shame.) This is because, from your teachings, we understand that:

1. It is infringing on women’s human rights;
2. The girl in question is nothing but a glorified servant; and,
3. The practice promotes the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The mistake has been made in the past and we hope to fight future occurrences.”


Men’s Training

Last year, 100 men selected from Enugu and Plateau States, including Christians and Muslims, participated in “Men Gender Sensitivity Training” classes developed by Women for Women International -- Nigeria. The training was based on a “Men’s Manual” developed by Women for Women International that included topics such as Democracy and Voting, HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women, and Family Planning. The men selected were village heads, chiefs and leaders. Already in Plateau State, we are beginning to see the effects of the training. Owing to the training they acquired, the men divided their community into three zones and held outreach programs in Gwafan, Gwash, Nukpis, Furaka, and Jos Jarawa villages. Some of them used cultural ceremonies, including weddings, naming ceremonies, and burials, to educate their villages on a variety of topics. Often, they focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and education, since the disease is decimating families everyday.


In addition, the trained men in the north have already translated the first chapter of the “Men’s Manual” into the local Hausa language, and plan to translate the entire manual to make it accessible to local leaders and villages. In the southern part of the country, some of the participants are gradually making changes in their communities by ensuring that women are part of the decision-making processes. In one local village, five women were made members of the Parent/Teachers Association for the first time. In another, men supported a woman as Treasurer for the Town Union Association.

Thank you again for the support you have provided to women in Nigeria. Together, we are making a difference.

Best Regards,

Ngozi Eze
Director