The word that best describes my experience as a founding member of ANAYI is “transformation.”
First, I had a personal transformation during my visit to the beautiful country of Benin. Here are a few examples:
We were welcomed with love and generosity. The hospitality of the people of Benin is incredible. We marveled at how the Beninese family was unified, the members showing a sense of belonging that I had never seen in my own country. As a foreign woman I wasn’t questioned or judged. They forgave my inability to communicate in their dialects. Actually, I think I received more than I gave.
While travelling from the north to the south of the beautiful country of Benin, I realized that our visit would be very useful.
I will never forget the parents who were sorry they were not able to send their children to school. They didn’t have any means to dress their children in “kakis,” the required school uniform in the Beninese education system. That is how our first project came to be, Project KAKI: to acquire kaki uniforms for these children.
Hundreds of children are now able to attend school thanks to this project. At the same time, hundreds of other children are still waiting for a kaki so they can start school. One image burned into my memory is that of two women who argued with us because we had not given kakis to their children.
Will you be available to come to the aid of these mothers who worry about the future of their children by providing a donation of $15, the price of one kaki uniform?
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Finally, as a woman, I saw that the following groups were extremely at-risk in Beninese society: a) women – widows, living alone and or extremely poor or illiterate; b) children living in poverty and orphans. It is important to work to put these causes forward.