over the last few days penny, annie and tanya from team honk have been helping comic relief raise awareness and vital funds by visiting projects in tanzania, highlighting where #lastingchange is improving not just one person’s life but impacting on whole communities. these projects have helped women get jobs, start businesses and most importantly secure a future for their families and communities.
the gatsby trust trains and mentors women, helping them to get their business off the ground. it can be anything from soap making to textiles. over the last three years comic relief has awarded the gatsby trust a grant of £264,959 so that the trust can continue helping women in very challenging environments to change their lives.
this is eliafura
eliafura makes the most beautiful batiks and tie dyed material. with the support of the gatsby trust eliafura has registered her business and learned important health and safety rules around the chemicals she uses. eliafura now also trains other women in the village who bring material to her and she shows them how to create these beautiful patterns. they sell easily to not only local schools where teachers like to buy them but also overseas. the textiles are so beautiful that penny, annie & tanya bought her entire stock because they loved them all so much and they are now working out how to sell them on so that they can complete the circle of donation, funding, training, selling, donating.
the statistics speak for themselves:
– 70% of the world’s poorest people are women and they own only 1% of the world’s property.
– nearly 50% of all sexual assaults worldwide are against girls aged 15 years or younger
domestic violence is the largest cause of women’s injury and death – leading to more deaths and disability among women aged 15-44 than malaria, war, traffic accidents and cancer.
– the world health organisation (WHO) estimates that female genital mutilation (FGM) has affected as many as 138 million women and girls in africa, and the numbers continue to rise every year.
– many women and girls have poor access to education and about two-thirds of all illiterate people are women.
the UK government match funded the £16 million which comic relief had already committed to spend helping change the lives of women and girls across Africa, using money raised through public donations for red nose day 2013.
this combined total of £32 million from DIFD and comic relief will:
– help girls get a better education
– address violence against women
– make childbirth safer for both mothers and babies
– make it easier for female farmers to make a better, more sustainable living
– and empower women to become leaders in making decisions that affect their lives.
how can you help?
5 MINS please RT, share and support any updates you see with the #lastingchange hashtag.
DONATE you can help create #lastingchange by sponsoring #teamhonkrelay for sport relief
GET INVOLVED Join up for your local sport relief event here.
thank you for helping to create #lastingchange
Those stats are shocking Vanessa. Put like that we have an imperative to make sure this changes.
outrageously so, and to think just a small donation can help make such big #lastingchange it seems insane why you would not to support and change these womens lives
Thank you my lovely for sharing this – the statistics are shocking and that’s why it’s so good to see positive changes that effect not only the family but generations to come and communities x
thank you three for being such inspirational bloggers, using your creativity to highlight, support and raise not just funds but awareness of those you need our help x