This year, CFUW Perth & District helped some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in Nepal stand up for their rights and have a voice in community decisions.

The $5,000 profit from "The Best Dance Ever" event, was presented to Kevin McCort, CEO of CARE Canada by CFUW Executive Director Susan Russell and President Anne Neil. The amount was matched by CIDA 3 to 1 so the donation totaled $20,000.

Click here for more information on this project.

CFUW Perth Raises $6,000 for CARE Canada's Afghanistan Project - 2009

International Women's Day was celebrated March 8, 2009 at the Studio Theatre in Perth.

In December 2008, CFUW Perth and District decided to direct its fundraising efforts for the year toward CARE Canada's "Vocational Training for Afghan Women " project. Although the Taliban regime fell in 2001, its legacy is a social climate that makes it difficult for women to earn a living. As hard as this situation is for the average Afghan woman, the prospects are much worse for widows.

CFUW Perth and District planned to donate the proceeds of their annual Swing Into Spring fundraising dance, and contacted Emily Bocking from Care Canada who sent brochures and pamphlets about the project. Soon the plans for the dance and silent auction were underway and the team of volunteers co-chaired by Diana Bracegirdle and Anne Neil just kept on going.

Emily Bocking, Constituent Outreach & Development Officer and Andrea Seymour of Care Canada  came to support the project and answer any questions the guests may have had. The event was a huge success bringing a profit of $6000. Emily said, "It costs about $1000.00 to train a woman through the VTAWP program—thanks to CFUW Perth's support, you enabled us to train 6 Afghan widows and through the matching function, allowed us to train 6 more. An average Afghan woman's household has 5 members—effectively you've changed the lives of 60 people. Thank you."

There are 30,000 to 50,000 widows in Kabul alone, most of whom lost their husbands to decades of fighting in the country. Plagued by low literacy levels and limited access to good jobs or credit, some are forced to send their children out to beg in the streets.

Vocational Training for Afghan Women Project attempts to stabilize the income of Afghan widows through vocational training while at the same time involving the community to endorse this project and accept women as trade's people. Currently CARE's project aims to train 1,750 widows, but it's not only them that will benefit. The average number of members of an Afghan family totals 5, ultimately resulting in 8,750 direct and indirect beneficiaries.

Follow Up

Donna Morrow, past President and Anne Neil, Vice President, were invited to the launch of the "Afghanistan Challenge: Canadians Matching Hope With Action" on May 14th in Ottawa. The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation and co-chair of the Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan, spoke about the campaign to match funds donated by Canadians for development projects in Afghanistan.

I am sure you have all heard the expression, "it is better to give, than receive". I can't tell you how proud we were to accept words of praise from Kevin McCort, President and CEO of CARE, as he told the audience about how the CFUW ladies of Perth and District raised $6000 as one of the first to take this challenge.

CLICK HERE to read more on this topic or visit Care Canada website.