Bienvenie: From Sewing Student to Successful Entrepreneur

Behind us the Mumosho Sewing Workshop hummed with activity, voices muffled, feet shuffling. Inside, sandal-clad feet rhythmically pressed pedals to power the Singer sewing machines, scissors snipped threads, irons heated with burning coals pressed out the creases in brightly patterned fabric. Outside, Bienvenie sat with perfect posture on the low stool, her gaze direct and unflinching as she told us about her life, describing how her mother did not have enough, enough food, enough money, to support her children after Bienvenie’s father died in a mining accident when she was only two. She shared her story, surrounded by the wide green leaves of banana trees, the red earth of Congo’s valley, a family’s chicken wandering by a thatched home.It was 2012, and Bienvenie was one of the students at the Mumosho Sewing Workshop, where she was in training to make her hopes a reality. Growing up with a love of fashion and fabrics, Bienvenie always dreamed of learning to sew. Her dream appeared impossible, as she watched her mother struggle to make ends meet and feed the family from her harvest of long hours on the farm. Paying for a traditional education or sewing training was unimaginable. “But the people who started this program, I don’t know what I could give them. People who are supporting this program, I don’t know what to tell them, because for me, it has been a dream to have a place where I can learn sewing, and here I am. I am very happy.”Fast-forward four years, and Bienvenie’s dream came true. Because of the people in the U.S. and around the world who support Action Kivu’s work with ABFEC in Mumosho, Bienvenie graduated with a sewing machine in the summer of 2012 and started working, making garments for clients in her community, and sewing alongside other graduates to make the school uniforms for the children Action Kivu sends to school with education assistance.An entrepreneur, Bienvenie now operates her own business, and mentors another young seamstress. “Now people in the community bring me fabrics with value and they are confident, they trust me as now I know my job of seamstress well,” she tells Amani, our founder who started the Sewing Workshop.“Ideas at first considered outrageous or ridiculous or extreme gradually become what people think they’ve always believed. How the transformation happened is rarely remembered, in part because it’s compromising: … it recalls that power comes from the shadows and the margins, that our hope is in the dark and around the edges, not the limelight of center stage. Our hope and often our power.” ~Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the DarkYour partnership is making these ideas — dreams of equality, visions of women stitching together a better future for Congo —  a reality. Consider partnering with the women and communities of Congo today!  Learn more here.Read more:

• Life Transformed: Ernata's Unfolding Story
• All Together: HIV/AIDS Education in Congo
• My Goat is Your Goat: Meet Nshokano & His Goat (Animal Husbandry Program)

Mother's Day with Mama Ernata, seamstress in Congo: If you were me, wouldn't you be happy?

“[My mother] had handed down respect for the possibilities—and the will to grasp them.” – Alice Walker

This Mother’s Day, we’d like to take you to a corner of Congo, to meet Mama Ernata. You’ll find her at her home sewing workshop, a small wood-beam-walled room that revolves around her Singer sewing machine. This is where she works, mentoring young seamstresses who sew alongside her, taking measurements from clients, sewing garments, managing time and finances in a happy, busy balance with caring for her nine children and husband.We first introduced you to Ernata in 2012, when Cate and Rebecca (co-founders of Action Kivu, the American arm of Amani Matabaro’s local Congolese organization ABFEC) visited the Sewing Workshop in Mumosho in 2012. Since graduating the Sewing Workshop with our sewing kit, the Singer sewing machine, an iron, fabric, and all the tools needed to start her business, Ernata launched her new life. Amani and Horthense, our Program Director in Congo, caught up with Ernata last week to send us an update on her inspiring journey.“I have seen and heard many things and many people in my life but only two of these have made me feel the pride of being a human being,” Ernata says. “These two things are finally being a mother after I had waited so long, and also being a seamstress. I am the mother of three kids in addition to the seven children my husband got from his first wife who passed away.”Ernata had shared her difficult story with us when we first met her, a story that echoes that of a society where women have very little rights or value, and can be divorced without recourse for not bearing a male heir. “My first marriage, I spent two years in my household,” Ernata told us. “I didn’t have any children, and I suffered a lot from my husband. He kicked me out because I didn’t have any children. After being kicked out by my first husband, I returned home, and spent six months at home. Another man married me. After about 6 to 7 months with my second husband, I could not conceive. He also kicked me out, divorced me.”Then came another man, from a different village, whose wife had died and left him with seven kids. Ernata married for the third time, and after only three months, she conceived. “I was blessed to have one child, a boy, but it was after surgery (a cesarean delivery). After two years and three months, my only child died. I was there, living with my husband, but I was afraid. Six months had passed after my child died, and I hadn’t conceived again. I was afraid, and things had changed again, become negative, with my husband.”Though he already has seven children, he wanted another from Ernata. “And me, too,” she said. “Because if I have a child, I’m stable there.”Though her first-born died, she counts him amongst her children. And shortly after losing him, Ernata became pregnant and gave birth to a second baby boy, who is now one year and seven months old. And soon after, she gave birth to another baby, the little two-month old girl pictured here. “Her name is Ampire, which means ‘God has gifted me.’” Ernata was able to pay for her own cesarean sections and maternity fees for both new babies because of her work as a seamstress.“The second thing which makes me a proud person of myself is simply to be a seamstress and able to take care of myself, my own children and my husband’s. Without my sewing business, I had no idea how I could be able to pay for the maternity fees. I was able to pay 60 dollars because my third pregnancy was a cesarean delivery like the first and the second ones. My husband has no job and all the income I make from my sewing activity has to be used wisely for our basic needs in the family. The month of April I was able to make only 50 dollars because of the new baby and needed to recover from surgery which is coming along quite well and I am hoping for the best!” Ernata says. (On average, when not recovering from surgery and caring for a newborn, Ernata has been able to earn $120 / month, whereas many unskilled women work for 1 dollar a day on other’s farms.)When asked what the phrase “to mother” means for her, Ernata pauses to reflect on the concept that has become so very real for her in the past four years. “It means happiness, value and respect inside myself, in front of my husband and community. I hope my daughter Ampire will become a professional seamstress.”“I am praying for my sewing business to grow and ensure I continue mentoring others, and that means become able to get a few more sewing machines, that’s the only way I feel I can give back what I have received from ABFEC / Action Kivu. The one year training I went through at ABFEC is rewarding, and means I can pay food for my family, not only clothes for my children but also to repair their clothes whenever needed, it makes me able to pay the maternity costs unlike many other women who give birth and can’t go back home with their babies until someone pays for them. I also pay school fees for my husband’s children.“The biggest challenge is that we have such a large family that depends on what I earn. Without the sewing training I went through at ABFEK, I wouldn’t have become the person I am today. Many of my sewing training classmates are far away and not living in Mumosho, but look, I was able to work, make money, save some and buy a cell phone and I am happy to be in touch with them and they are also happy!”“I have no reason to not be happy and proud,” says Ernata. “I am blessed to have become a mother and a seamstress. May God bless ABFEC / Action Kivu and everyone who contributes in a way or another to transform people’s lives. Mine has been transformed. And if you were me, wouldn’t you be happy?”We add our gratitude to Ernata's for all our partners in this work. Your generous donations are truly changing Congo and the world, one mama, baby, and family at a time.  Learn more about our work here!

Marching and Dancing for Justice: International Women's Day in Mumosho, Congo [Photos]

The women you support through Action Kivu celebrated International Women's Day on Saturday. They smiled as they marched through Mumosho; fists raised, they sang out for justice for all women, holding signs calling for men and women to stand up for equality for a just world. They proudly walked the main road, their feet kicking up red dust, their children underfoot, husbands, brothers, and sons supporting them from all sides.It was a powerful uprising, Amani tells us, where he promised the women and girls that we will not give up. We will continue to lift our voice in unison for equality and human rights!  It was the first time the king of the Kabare kingdom, which is made up of  several groupings including Mumosho, joined in the celebration, with the queen performing traditional dances with the woman and Amani (see below).  The king added his words of encouragement for the women and for ABFEC / Action Kivu's work, stating that he supports the work we do and is behind any program uplifting women and girls. 

Many of the girls and women at the Sewing Workshop made their own clothes for the event.  "This pair of scissors, this tape measure, this sewing machine simply helps me entirely change my life once and for all," one student told our partner, Amani.

 

 "We are on the journey towards changing our lives!"

Outside the Mumosho Women's Center

A woman steps in to give specific directions to Amani while the queen of Kabare awaits the next dance.

  Thank you for partnering with the amazing people of Congo!  To set up a monthly donation to support our programs, including the Sewing Workshop, the shared farms, the literacy program, the HIV/AIDS education, and animal husbandry, click here.Learn more about our work:Today I am mending my own life: Sewing Workshop Class of 2016To achieve their dreams: All Together Against HIV/AIDSMeet Grandma Mwayuma and see some of the children at playMeet Amani through the Enough Project’s “I Am Congo” video seriesMeet the goats in our animal husbandry program, Your Goat is My GoatNew People, New Actions, New Congo: Christmas Celebration & New Year Resolutions

To Achieve Their Dreams: All Together Against HIV/AIDS (Congo)

Chiruza couldn't keep from asking questions. A young student representing his school in the HIV/AIDS training that day in Mumosho, Congo, he stood up often, clarifying facts, challenging the status quo, making sure he had all the info to return to his classmates fully armed with an education on how to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS.He was one of the many kids in the training session that day, children and teens who dream of graduating school to become lawyers, politicians, or, like Chiruza, an engineer in industrial electricity. After learning the statistics, that in sub-Saharan Africa, 1.1 million [1.0 million – 1.3 million] people died of AIDS-related causes in 2013, and that Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for almost 70% of the global total of new HIV infections, Chiruza and his new friends in the meeting were angry. Armed with information, they were ready to engage in a battle against the disease, so they and their classmates, their sisters and brothers, could achieve their dreams."The proliferation of armed groups, successive wars, and poverty at community levels in connection with the movement of military groups and young people, especially to and from mining sites, along with the lack of mass education on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are some of the root causes of why HIV /AIDS is a serious threat that kills people every day, with the potential to spread rampantly through communities without this education," Amani tells us.How can we serve our mission, Amani asks, to invest in the women, children, and communities of Congo, if they are dying from a disease we can prevent through education?  All Together Against HIV/AIDS is a community-based anti-HIV/AIDS campaign by ABFEC (formerly ABFEK), Action Kivu's partner in Congo. The program consists of diversified activities centered in the community, with a focus on settings with large populations such as schools, churches, and community-based organizations in eastern DRC. Sub Saharan Africa represents almost 70% of the total new HIV infections in the world, according to UN AIDS.Action Kivu sends a small stipend to help pay Nurse Jeanine for her work, who headed up the training along with with nurses Safi and Toto, women who volunteered their time and experience of over 10 years of work in local hospitals, with specific education in HIV/AIDS.  They came concerned for a community that was unaware of a disease that continues to decimate their country and continent.

"Out of 37 million people estimated to be living with HIV, 19 million do not know their status. In other words, one out of every two people living with HIV does not know that they are HIV-positive – and therefore does not access treatment and care." (The Global Fund)

Brigitte and Chanceline - ready to educate their peers.Both Brigitte and Chanceline live at the Mumosho Women's Center, part of the Teen Mother's Program that is supported by a grant from Jewish World Watch. Strong young women, they both survived rape, and, left alone to raise the babies resulting from that assault, found a new home and new hope through the community of women at the Center, as well as the opportunity to finish school. Brigitte became a mother before she was 14. Joining our family four years ago, and now back in school, she has one more year of Secondary school, and wants to become a lawyer, to defend and protect the rights of the oppressed, especially women and children.  After attending this training, she is also now a strong voice in her school in this campaign against HIV/AIDS.The participants for the first training were selected by the school principals based on their leadership qualities and ability to pass along what they learned to their classmates. Five secondary schools in the area were represented by two students for each class, as well as two local churches. The school principals unanimously agreed to integrate this program in their weekly school activities, in which the students from the training course will be given space and time to share what they have learned with their peers at school, sessions that will be overseen by Nurse Jeanine.All Together Against HIV/AIDS is based on BCC methods - Behavior Change & Communication. Jeanine started the day with a questionnaire to learn what the community already knows about HIV/AIDS, including the definition of key terms like HIV/AIDS, PVV (a person living with HIV) and their rights, PTME (mother-to-child HIV transmission protection), ARV (treatment with the use of antiretrovirals), how HIV is transmitted, what the protection methods are.  After the training session, Jeanine proctored a follow-up test, to determine that her students were set to return to their schools and churches, to educate others and spread the facts.  The most popular community radio station arrived to air the event in support of the initiative: All Together Against HIV/AIDS.

"People who don’t know their status, or who are not able to access treatment and care, are at risk of developing AIDS or of passing the virus on to others – at a huge cost to themselves and to society."... Today, with access to lifesaving treatment, an HIV-positive person can expect to have the same lifespan as someone who is HIV-negative."One of the cornerstones of this lifesaving treatment is the use of antiretrovirals (ARVs). ARVs are given as a combination of drugs that can reduce the amount of HIV in the body or prevent HIV in people at substantial risk of acquiring the virus. However, ARVs are not a cure for HIV; a person living with HIV who is on treatment will need to take ARVs the rest of their life. ARVs also have another benefit: treatment reduces the chance that an HIV-positive person will pass the virus on to someone else by 97 percent.” (The Global Fund)

 Learn the facts from the UN AIDS fact sheet below, and support our work to combat HIV/AIDS in Congo. Action Kivu pays a small stipend to Nurse Jeanine for her work in our community, from family planning to this HIV/AIDS awareness building.  If you'd like to support her life-saving work, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here, and mark in PayPal's note to seller: NURSE.- Between 2005 and 2013 the number of AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa fell by 39%.Treatment coverage is 37% of all people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.- 67% of men and 57% of women were not receiving ART in sub-Saharan Africa in 2013.- Three out of four people on ART live in sub Saharan Africa.- There were 210,000 [180,000 – 250,000] new HIV infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa in 2013.- Since 2009, there has been a 43% decline in new HIV infections among children in the 21 priority countries of the Global Plan in Africa.-67% of men and 57% of women had no access to Antiretroviral care in 2013.As nurses Jeanine and Safi and Toto began the training, one graded the pre-test. 96% of the participants had no knowledge on the topics covered that day: general knowledge of HIV/AIDS, global and DRC  HIV-related statistics, modes of transmission, prevention, care, living with and accepting people with HIV (PVV), the clinical symptoms, briefings on different techniques used for voluntary testing, and mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention.When the students took a similar test after the training session ended, 92% answered all the above, and new questions, correctly. They were very interested and kept the nurses as long as they could with more questions, before leaving with training materials  to ensure they will have resources to use for passing on the education to their peers at school.As a trusted source of education and training in the community, our partner organization ABFEC plays a key role in this education process. Almost all the women who attended the anti-HIV campaign stated that it is not always easy to convince their husbands to undertake a voluntary HIV test.  Through your partnership with Action Kivu, you provide the means for ABFEC to be a bridge between the community and local health facilities with capacities to provide antiretroviral medication, in addition to providing expanding education on HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmissible Diseases one day every week, as well as individual and group counseling before voluntary testing.For those who test positive, the program will provide an orientation, practical ways to avoid transmitting the disease, and be put in immediate contact with one of the two hospitals are able to provide antiretroviral medication in the area: The Nyantende and the Panzi Hospitals, both located at about 15 km from Mumosho.Nurse Jeanine is committed to tirelessly spread the word, to stop of the spread of this preventable disease.  Will you join us?  We currently send a stipend of $100 / month for Jeanine's critical work, and want to pay her $150 more, as well to hire an assistant for her, to help address the community needs, prepare the training sessions, and begin to provide female and male condoms.  Email us at actionkivu@gmail.com with any questions, or note NURSE in your PayPal donation.Thank you for partnering with the people of Congo in this way!Amani writes: The photo with everyone with two fingers up means we are all ready to go go go go!!!!  Save

Today I am mending my own life: Action Kivu Sewing Workshop - Class of 2016

A rare dry day in rainy season Congo, some of the girls and women of the Sewing Workshop set up outside the Mumosho Women's Center, creating more space for their day's lessons.  M'Bagalwa Francine started the sewing training last spring.  She pauses, pulling the bright green and fuschia fabric from her Singer machine, and holds up the dress she's working on today."When I make something like this, I make a profit of nine dollars. Being part of this program has dramatically changed my life. I was not lucky to be sent to school because my parents were very poor before they died and I was not a priority. My brother was, but unfortunately he did not also graduate from secondary school for luck of funds. Today I am mending my own life. I am expecting the graduation ceremony to [proceed] and I will start working on my own or join a sewing cooperative with two or three others from my program. Thank you for changing my life."Your partnership with Action Kivu's programs in Congo gives girls and women like M'Bagalwa Francine the tools to mend their lives and craft a better future for themselves and their children. We are raising $15,000 for the Sewing Workshop Class of 2016, to graduate these amazing entrepreneurs this spring with their own Singer sewing machine, fabric, scissors, and thread to launch their small businesses and sewing co-ops, earning income to break the cycle of poverty that threatened to cut short their dreams.$200 will buy one graduate a sewing kit, purchased there to invest in the local economy. With your investment in these women's future, they'll be able to feed, clothe, and send their kids to school, growing a new Congo from the fertile ground of their persistence and hard work. CLICK HERE to donate today, and mark "Class of 2016" in the note to seller on PayPal to support their graduation!Watch the Class of 2015 video here to hear, in their own words, how learning a trade and earning income has already changed their lives!Read more from our programs in Congo on our blog:Meet Cikwanine, Nadine, & Chanceline – three teen moms who are back in school!Meet Claudine, and read her story of coming “back to life”Meet Grandma Mwayuma and see some of the children at playMeet Amani through the Enough Project’s “I Am Congo” video seriesMeet the goats in our animal husbandry program, Your Goat is My GoatNew People, New Actions, New Congo: Christmas Celebration & New Year Resolutions