Empowering needy women to start small businesses

A Heartfelt Request

My friends, you are some of the kindest and most generous people on the planet.

That’s why I am coming to you today to ask for your help with a cause that is near and dear to my heart. Living in Kenya gave me glimpses into the immense suffering created by poverty, and I want to do everything in my power to help bring relief and long-term solutions.

An Uphill Battle

Life is unimaginably difficult for single moms and widows living in poverty. Each woman endures unimaginable pain, discouragement, and gut-wrenching setbacks.

Let me introduce you to Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a widow who has an intimate understanding of grief and hardships.

Her adult children abandoned their families, leaving Elizabeth now single-handedly responsible for providing shelter, food, clothing, and school fees for her three grandchildren. Elizabeth has never known what it feels like to have enough, but she is familiar with the feeling of scarcity and despair. Her grandchildren often go to bed hungry and are regularly turned away from school because they have fallen behind on their school fees. In spite of these struggles, Elizabeth makes time to be an encouragement to her friends, and relies on God for her own strength and the ability to persevere. Elizabeth is a talented basket weaver, but because she lives from hand to mouth she is often unable to purchase the raw materials she needs for her weaving. She has no business, finance, or marketing training.

The only obstacle standing between Elizabeth and a brighter future is something that together we can provide!

I’m honored to be helping to shine a light on Elizabeth’s story, by partnering with an organization called “Pamoja Twaweza!” – which means “Together We Can Succeed!” - a non-profit based in Kenya. Pamoja Twaweza empowers women with all the necessary financial and business training, marketing help, and start-up capital needed to begin or expand their own small businesses.

We have 30 women currently registered in the program, ready to launch. Some are widows like Elizabeth. Others are single moms, leaving behind lives of prostitution and addiction. Many are battling chronic health issues, including HIV.

You can provide them a second chance in life - an opportunity to make their dreams for themselves and their children come true.

Proclaiming Hope, Transforming Lives.

How does it work? We start by dividing the women into smaller groups of 5 or 6. Each group then determines the type of business they want to start together, depending on their skills and interests.

Choices include:

Pamoja Twaweza will use your donation to provide:

We also provide free medication and medical check-ups through a partnership with a local medical NGO.

Pamoja Twaweza is a place of healing, a place of blessing, and a place of connection.

Victory from the jaws of defeat!

You unleash a powerful force for good when you empower a woman. Your donation’s impact doesn’t just lift one woman out of poverty. Your impact is magnified because each woman in the group is supporting an average of 5 children or grandchildren! When we relieve the financial pressure on mothers and grandmothers, children can stay with their families instead of being surrendered to children’s homes.

Helping a woman build a small business means more than simply increasing her income. It means that woman feels a sense of confidence, success, acceptance, value, and respect, possibly for the first time in her life. It means setting a plan in motion so she can pave the way out of poverty for herself and generations to come. It means restored hope and dignity as she courageously builds a new life. It means earnings invested into education, thus building a brighter future for the children in her care.

To make their dreams a reality, we need to raise $5,000.

Of course, the more we raise, the more women we can empower. We already have a waiting list with over 100 more desperately needy women in the community who are all eager for an opportunity to join the program! They are dreaming of the day when they can start providing a better life for their families through dignified work.

Rally the troops!

Those of us who have more than we need can come alongside women like Elizabeth who have never had enough. We can turn grief to triumph.

You’re a person who already makes the world a kinder and brighter place. You already know that life is better when others are happy because of you.

Please consider helping us close the gap. Together we’ll work toward a world without extreme poverty, a world where no child becomes orphaned, where every person knows their dignity and their worth, and has an opportunity to do meaningful work. Together we can succeed!

Will you help us? We cannot do this work without your help.

No amount is too small - for any amount you can partner with us to proclaim hope to these precious families, and transform lives.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. Proverbs 3:27

It’s an uphill battle we’re waging against poverty, but it is a battle that we can win. Together we can succeed! Pamoja Twaweza!