Dear Members and Friends of FrauenPower e.V.,
We hope you are all keeping well and coping with the current Covid-19 crisis, that has created havoc in our “normal” daily lives and disrupted everything we took for granted. One has to only hope that we will all have had enough time to reflect on our (pre-Covid) lives, and that this will enable us to make positive changes to our post-Covid future.
As is currently the case with many other funding organisations, FrauenPower e.V. has had to change its funding focus in the past few weeks to help people in Kenya, India and Nepal (where our current projects are located) survive the Covid-19 crisis. Funds we had allocated to empowering women (in various different ways) are now being used to support women and their families to survive on daily basis. With the help of organisations that we work with in these countries, we are currently buying and distributing water and soap (to enable people in slums to wash their hands regularly, to fight the spread of Covid), and basics like maize and rice for people to eat.
As you may be aware, many of the (economically) poor communities we support survive on what they earn on a daily basis. These “daily wagers” can only feed their families in the evening if they have worked during the day. With the current lock-down in these countries, these people have no income to live off or any savings. There is also very little financial support from their governments (as is the case in the developed world or social security); if there are any funds allocated, they never filter down to the needy as some corrupt politician would have diverted them to his/her pocket.
If you wish to donate to the women’s empowerment work we do, or help people survive the Covid- 19 crisis, please donate to the following account (even a small amount is highly appreciated):
FrauenPower e.V. IBAN: DE87 4306 0967 7048 2893 00 (GLS Bank)
The current lock-down has also meant more people in the “rich world” shopping online on platforms such as Amazon. If you are still shopping with the latter, you can help support our work via their Amazon Smile Program where we are registered. Just select “FrauenPower e.V.” as the organisation you would like to support before you check out. A brief update on our ongoing work:
The Zuri Initiative, Kenya, has recruited 50 more women to empower, via the trainings and social capital credit programs that we are supporting. The current lock-down has however meant that they have had to suspend their work.
The funds we had allocated this year to Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation, to conduct health camps for women in Nepal, are now being used to support the very poor families survive Covid-19 crisis (also due to the current lock-down in the country).
The ongoing literacy program for 700 women in Assam, India, that we are conducting in partnership with the Institution for Culture and Rural Development, had been halted earlier this year, due to communal problems and riots related to the citizenship law in India, and is now being paused due to the current crisis.
The work on the sanitary napkin project, in partnership with Divya Jyoti Mahila Vikash in Orrisa, India, has begun after some delays. However, the women are now occupied with stitching face masks instead.
KADAM in Ahmedabad, India, with our support, has started providing teenage girls from severe home environments with therapy, education and training.
You can see pictures of our work on the FrauenPower Website: https://www.frauen- power.eu/bilder-gallery
Wishing you all good health,
The FrauenPower e.V. Team
