Food for the Hungry Celebrates International Women's Day

Sunday, March 8 is International Women's Day and this year's theme is "Make it Happen." Food for the Hungry (FH) is "making it happen" by providing the skills and training needed to lift women out of poverty, provide a steady source of income and pursue their dreams in communities around the globe.

Before FH became involved in the community of El Limonal, Nicaragua, desperate situations called for desperate measures. Many families made their living scavenging from a huge dump. Children were often employed to do the scavenging, walking through the horrific trash heap to find things that could be sold or recycled.

FH came to El Limonal to establish safe ways for women to make a consistent living, so that the kids would stay in school and not be exposed to such unhealthy, dangerous conditions. Specifically, FH implemented a handiwork program that taught women the craft and jewelry-making business.

Twenty-five year-old mother Alba Nubia Ulloa is just one of the women who has transformed her life through the FH craft and jewelry training program.

"I have met a group of generous people, full of love and faith, interested in supporting the women and children from my community," said Alba. "They are the people from FH. I've known FH for two years and it has changed my life... I have learned to work with needlepoint, canvas and raffia materials to make wallets, baskets and portraits. I have my husband�s support and we sell the products to many friends. My family is very grateful for this support."

With the earnings from her craft business, Alba was also able to improve the safety of her home by replacing the roof and reinforcing the walls.

Today, more than 50 percent of the parents who used to work at the local dump have their own businesses like small grocery stores, food selling, crafts elaboration and tricycles to transport people from the community to downtown. These achievements have been possible thanks to the workshops led by the FH facilitator, in which they have learned basic finance principles, budget preparation and goal planning.

Other ways FH is making a positive impact on the lives of women include the following programs:

Violence and abuse prevention programs in Peru and Philippines.

Gender sensitivity training (how men and women can treat each other better) in DR, Congo and Ethiopia.

Preventing mother to child HIV/AIDS transmission in Uganda and Burundi.

Nutrition training for mothers of children under age five in Bolivia and Guatemala.

Founded in 1971, Food for the Hungry provides emergency relief and long-term development programs with operations in more than 20 countries to help the world's most vulnerable people.