We are all in this together, we all deserve to make a difference.

(photo used with permission)

This is Valentina…

She is a gifted paper bead roller, a mother, and a daughter of Christ. Until recently, she felt that she had no hope and no option other than prostitution to earn money to feed her children. Today, she told me she has hope because of the trainings she has received in bead rolling. During prayer requests today, hers was that her children would have the chance to live a normal life, to be well fed, and to be able to go to school.

Sadly, her story is not unique. There is no way to know the number of prostitutes in Rwanda but it is estimated at over 6,500 with around 70% in Kigali. Many women know of no other option to feed their children and most wouldn’t even call themselves prostitutes, only “mothers searching for food”. The Rwandan genocide left a certain demographic of women uneducated, emotionally scarred, and untrained. I have even been told that there is an alarming number of Rwandan university women who have turned to prostitution.

Although sad (and difficult for many of us to fully understand) there is hope. I have partnered with a brand new cooperative with the hope of providing a Christ-centered, holistic business training program designed with their healing and development in mind. These vulnerable women are being trained in vocational and technical skills, taught about health care options for themselves and for their children, and educated in regards to their rights as women, mothers, and citizens. They will learn productive and sustainable skills and will increase their capacity to change their own lives and the lives of the people in their communities. The overall hope is to eradicate prostitution by removing it as the women’s only means of income and by educating women in their rights and social responsibilities, organizing them into cooperatives and encouraging them to become active members of their communities.

Of the current 60+ women:

• the average age is 28 years old
• Only 36% of them have completed primary education
• 30% are totally illiterate
• More than half have an STD and many are HIV+
• 80% lost family in the genocide and all still suffer the consequences
• 90% are single mothers
• Over half are unable to provide more than one meal per day for their families

We seek to catalyze these women as change-agents in their communities and to equip them with the skills necessary for a life of purpose. The goal is that every woman will be instilled with a sense of confidence and pride in themselves as business women and productive members of society. And to give them a sense of encouragement and community from the other women in the program.

I am so thankful that we serve a gracious God and a God of second-chances and I want to do all that I can to give these women the chance that they deserve and desire. I truly believe that He will provide for the needs of this program.

If you are interested in getting involved, please email me at

kat.watson7@gmail.com  subject line BINTI BUSINESS PROGRAM.

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