TH's Rural Women's Initiative gathers after completing, "A Life in Zwedru", the documentary PhotoVoice Film.

Liberia elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Africa’s first woman president.  And, in Zwedru, the fight for women's rights continues.  Here, there is a still a common saying: “women can’t cut stick and walk across it too.” It signifies a belief that women are only capable of a limited supportive role in society, not one with decision- making power.  In our last bi-annual update, we described how 18 women rallied this summer to challenge this unjust conventional wisdom by launching a Rural Women’s Initiative, called “Zwedru Women United for Change”.  This summer the group, led by Agatha, produced a moving Photovoice documentary film narrating the lives of rural women in Zwedru.  

Since then, Agatha and TH’s women’s committee have set out to establish a women’s resource and advocacy center.  They initially plan to train 100 women in social advocacy and economic skills.  Their first skills training project is on a roll.  In September, Agatha and the women just secured a contract from a local primary school to sew 100 uniforms for the poorest children, who otherwise would be unable to attend school.  Agatha and the women will use the income to buy their own sewing machines and train more women in sewing.   

They plan to find a home for their projects by constructing a women’s center, for which they have just secured a land donation.  Please write to info@tiyatienhealth.org or visit http://www.tiyatienhealth.org/donate to get involved or support the Women United for Change. 

-Raj Panjabi, Co-Founder at Tiyatien Health; Harvard Medical School