And yes, these prosthetics do change people’s lives – legs help amputees run marathons, arms are made both functional and to look “natural” and facial features are made (like ears and noses) to complete a face that either was born with a deformity or had parts of it lost for some reason. That is truly amazing! No doubt about it. However, in reading about Aesha Mohammadzai, I was reminded of the other part of the story – the “before the prosthetic” part, the “wait, that was never supposed to happen” part, the WHY she needs nose and ear prosthetics.

Aesha Mohammadzai’s worth wasn’t taken from her the day her Taliban husband and in-laws hacked off her nose and ears four years ago. Her worth was taken from her since the day she was born. In a culture where women are commonly seen as property and girls are often oppressed and cast off at birth, her worth was determined by how much she was bought for in marriage at age 14. Furthermore, her years of abuse, being beaten like a dog, she was told how much she was worth when she dared to escape – resulting in her sentence of face disfiguration by the Taliban. Her face shocked the nation as a profile of Taliban control on Time Magazine.

It has been four years of emotional and physical turmoil ever since, and fortunately, some slow healing. Aesha’s prosthetic nose is almost complete. Seven surgeries are required to rebuild her nose, as new skin is growing along with a new life. Ear operations will begin after that. A day will come when people who don’t know her, won’t know anything ever happened to her. That is truly AMAZING. How wonderful that is… but let us never forget…

We can’t just let the beauty of women be cut off, piece by piece! It starts by what we allow to happen in their souls and everyday lives: what worth is demonstrated in how they are treated, what opportunities they have, what violence or oppression they are expected to put up with. I am in awe of this woman’s courage and beauty. Her voice has risen up out of this tragedy from a culture where she could die for it.

Most of us have a voice, without fear of death of mutilation. But, have we used it? Let us echo the hopes of Strong Women, Strong World as we support “sustainable change in some of the most difficult places in the world to be a girl or a woman.”

Let us hope we can help change it for the next girl, for her face and heart is worth it.

by Anna Goodworth, WOV Hartford, CT

Jacqueline with her children.
Photo: ©2009 Jon Warren/World Vision

This month our country of focus is Rwanda, where World Vision’s Strong Women, Strong World initiative is assisting women, particularly those impacted by conflict, AIDs and HIV, with vocational and business training. The following story was contributed by Kari Costanza.

World Vision sponsorship changes lives as children are provided with educational opportunities, better health and nutrition, and access to clean water. But sometimes parents need an extra boost to provide for their children. In Rwanda and many countries around the world, microfinance is the answer.

Like millions in Rwanda, Jacqueline Makamusoni’s life fell apart in April 1994. Jacqueline was living in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, where her husband worked as a nurse. The couple had 3 children, a girl and two boys, all under 5. They were happy.

The events of April changed all that. On April 6, 1994, the plane carrying the Rwandan president was shot down over Kigali. That night, the killings began—an incomprehensible slaughter of men, women and children. In 100 days, nearly a million people, primarily Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were hacked to death—machetes the weapon of choice.

Jacqueline’s husband was one of those people. She tells the story of his death with no details.

“My husband had gone to work in the hospital. When chaos started up,” she says, “he died.”

Jacqueline gathered her three children and went back to her home—Nyaruguru in southern Rwanda.

“When I came back, many houses were down. They were destroyed. Some people had died,” she says.

“I went to live at my father’s house. It was very small. We decided to come and look for somewhere to stay. We actually went to sleep at people’s houses.”

Schools were destroyed. Water systems wrecked. Health care was practically non-existent. And worst of all, the fabric of neighborhood had been ripped to shreds.

“When I came back here, people could not trust each other,” says Jacqueline. “Those who had lost people wondered if you had any hand in this. One would go this way and the other went that way. Those who fled feared to come back here. It wasn’t really harmonious.”

Jacqueline’s family began to disintegrate.

“My older children dropped out of school,” she says. “They became street children. We had nothing. That’s when I met World Vision [in 1999] and my oldest girl was sponsored.”

Things began to change for the better. “They had destroyed the schools and World Vision was constructing them,” says Jacqueline. Her children were given educational materials and went back into the classroom.

“From World Vision we got food,” she says, “and had our basic needs met. They built us a house. We also got cows and a goat.”

Jacqueline began to put her life back together, remarrying and having twins, Yve and Yvette, now 10.

And then the bottom dropped out. Again.

Jacqueline’s husband, a soldier, was sent to fight in Congo. “He went in a group of soldiers,” she says, “and he never came back.” When asked how she coped—a widow again because of war, she smiles ruefully.

“It’s really God, it’s not me who raised the children,” she says.

Her second husband killed in conflict, Jacqueline now had responsibility for 5 children—three from her first marriage—the twins from her second. She needed a way to become the breadwinner for her children. She had hopes and dreams for them that could not be realized without income.

Sponsorship had helped bring the family back to life. The children were in school. They had a house. They had clean water. But they needed income.

Through World Vision’s microfinance program called Vision Fund, Jacqueline was able to provide her children with all they needed.

“Vision Fund lent us money to start a small restaurant,” she says. Us was Jacqueline and two other widows. In 2006, they started with a small loan of $250 split three ways.

The ladies put their heads together, rolled up their sleeves, and went to work. It didn’t take long for their restaurant to become the best restaurant in town—serving 50 customers a day. The ladies branched out—beginning to cater events in Nyaraguru—growing their business and taking on even more loans. Their children were able to go back to school. Jacqueline’s oldest children—to college.

Life began to return to normal as Jacqueline was able to dream again for her children’s futures. It is only fitting that she would name the restaurant Ituze, A Place of Peace.

“Because of the loan my children have food to eat,” she says. “They have clothes. They go to school. Our community is really happy. They love the restaurant. We serve good meat and chips. We can make our own mayonnaise. If there are any guests, any big person who comes to this area, they have somewhere to take the person.

“And how have things changed for me? I have a good life.”

Through sponsorship and micro-credit, facing seemingly insurmountable odds, Jacqueline and her neighbors have been able to recreate the life they once had.

Mothers in Bangladesh.
© 2013 Gloria Das/World Vision

This week we celebrated Mother’s Day in our home. We celebrated my grandmother, my mom, and also me. It feels strange to be a mother. This is only my second Mother’s Day ever, having given birth to my son Ryan last February. The first Mother’s Day was a blur of diapers and sleeplessness. My mom and my mother-in-law made an adorable gift for me by painting Ryan’s feet purple and imprinting them on a card. I have no idea (and don’t really want to know) how they managed that with a three month old. It did explain why I found purple crust in between his toes one night at bath time. I was relieved when they presented me with the card because I had been concerned he had contracted some strange skin disease.

It has been one of the best and most challenging years of my life. People don’t really tell you all the ups and downs of the first year of being a mom. It’s miraculous. It’s exhausting. It changes every single part of you. There have been plenty of days when I have wondered if I’m doing a good job, if I’m feeding him the right foods, if I’m being too strict or too lenient. There have been days when I’ve wondered if he even likes me. And he can’t even talk yet!

But the days are filled with moments that have forever shaped who I am. Like tonight when I was spinning him around in the kitchen and he was laughing so hard it sounded like he was gargling mouthwash. Or the moments when he looks at me, points his finger, smiles and says, Dada! Ok, so he’s still a little confused on that one. I love how whenever the song, Old MacDonald gets played anywhere, from a toy or the TV or even if I am absent-mindedly singing it, he stops in his tracks, drops whatever he is doing and starts bobbing at the knees to the beat. Coldplay, Bublé, even his daddy who is also a musician, have no such effect on him. He appreciates them, yes, but they are no Old MacDonald.

We’ve changed our entire house around, from top to bottom, in an attempt to toddler-proof it, and this is only part of the bigger lifestyle changes that have come along with having our first child. Bedtime is a little earlier nowadays, and not just for the baby. We’ve made changes in our fridge, changes in the way we travel, job changes, and financial changes.

Changing one’s lifestyle to accommodate a child, however, is a luxury. This Mother’s Day, I’m acutely aware that most women in the world don’t spend their time agonizing over which daycare their children will attend or which carseat they will ride in. Unfortunately, most women worry about their child’s next meal. Or that their child won’t live to see their first birthday.

When I was pregnant I worried about silly things like which vitamins to take, but I also worried about terrible things like stillbirth. In the back of my mind, though, I was comforted by knowing that I had a great medical system to use in case of an emergency. I had skilled doctors who saw me regularly throughout pregnancy, talented nurses who helped deliver my baby. For many women all over the world, stillbirth is not just a nightmare but a reality that some have experienced multiple times. When there is no access to maternal care, there is no comfort and there is no hope.

As an obstetrician, I have been in situations in other countries where I’ve faced the excruciating realization that a baby I could not save would have been saved in the appropriate medical setting. I have seen mothers with birth complications that would have been avoided with the proper care and attention.

This Mother’s Day has so much riding on it. I am a mother for the first time, but I am also now part of a sisterhood that encompasses women of all situations around the globe. The woman I saw today in the grocery store with her three young children, keeping them all in check while I was barely able to handle my one, is part of that sisterhood. When I saw what a great job she was doing, my first thought was admiration, and my second thought was, wow, I am a mother too. What a privilege to be part of this group. The women whom I’ve coached through long hours of labor and delivery, they too are part of this sisterhood I admire so much. The woman who is sacrificing it all to get food for her family, the one who is losing blood on the operating room table without the hope of a transfusion, the one who is fighting infection while her baby struggles to survive prematurity cradled beside her: they are all worthy of admiration. But this Mother’s Day and for all of those to come, let’s not just celebrate them. Let’s prioritize them and their fight. Let’s make it ours, together.

Kate Celauro is an obstetrician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her passion for maternal health, however, extends far beyond the hospital where she works. She has been an advocate for women’s health for many years, beginning in college when she saw first hand the differences between healthcare for women in the U.S. and in rural South America where she was working on a thesis. Since that time she has traveled all over the world with her husband, a World Vision Artist, and has become more involved in championing the causes of women.

Last month, Women of Vision Director Cindy Breilh traveled to Chicago to share about World Vision’s work focused on women and girls, specifically through the Strong Women, Strong World initiative. She shared the story of Melka, a young girl in Ethiopia who was forced into marriage at the age of 14. Today, at 20, Melka teaches young girls about their rights and has intervened in several cases of forced marriage.

What are the barriers or obstacles to fullness of life for girls in Melka’s community?

What are the visible or invisible privileges of being male in Melka’s community?

Take some time today and pray for Melka and the millions of other girls facing these obstacles around the world.

“We have old hospitals with little or no equipment, very low salaries for health workers as well as poor access to hospitals for expectant mothers. There’s no budget in the Ministry of Health,” Dr. Claude Sabwa in the DRC told Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The current conflict is also creating a lot of movement of people and with this comes the spread of infectious disease, in particular cholera, so we need to improve hygiene and sanitation,” Sabwa said.

World Vision’s Strong Women, Strong World initiative is working in four of the ten worst nations in which to be a mother: Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Most moms say they’d rather receive a gift that helps someone else for Mother’s Day. To honor a mother in your life, consider giving to Strong Women, Strong World or sponsoring a child.

Let’s celebrate Mother’s Day by praying for mothers everywhere!

Do you remember a time, perhaps as a child, when you loved to draw, write, build things, or in some other way indulge your imagination? We were designed to create, and yet all too often, the hassles of life get in the way. L.A. Chandlar believes that we need creativity to truly live and not just survive. In Fight to Keep Creativity Alive, she challenges us to reclaim our inborn creativity and provides concrete steps to incorporate creativity into our everyday lives.

L.A. Chandlar

Yet, Fight to Keep Creativity Alive is more than a book. It is also the power of creative partnership. Believing generosity and collaboration are key components of creativity, L.A. Chandlar is teaming up with a variety of organizations that promote human flourishing. Women of Vision is delighted to be the first.

From April 18 through July 15, 2013, 50% of proceeds from the Fight to Keep Creativity Alive eBook, as well as portions from all apparel and print sales, will support Strong Women, Strong World. World Vision’s Strong Women, Strong World initiative supports sustainable projects in many of the most difficult countries to be a woman or girl today, bringing hope to women and girls and advancing gender equity. Let us continue the fight for creativity in our own lives. And together, we can help impoverished women and girls around the world achieve their full potential.

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Download the eBook: http://www.ftkca.com/?p=1396

Read about L.A. Chandlar’s first experience with Women of Vision.

Learn more on the Fight to Keep Creativity Alive website: www.ftkca.com or www.FightToKeepCreativityAlive.com

Click here to donate to Strong Women, Strong World. 

by Dadjie Saintus, WOV New York City chapter

Elina at her onion stand.
Photo: World Vision

This month our country of focus is Rwanda, where World Vision’s Strong Women, Strong World initiative is assisting women, particularly those impacted by conflict, AIDs and HIV, with vocational and business training. The following story was contributed by Charles Rwomushana.

Meet Elina. Elina is a 34 year old mother of 3 children who lives 30 minutes east of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. She is a micro-entrepreneur who initially started by selling fruit. She later stopped the fruit selling business due to increased competition. She then opened a vegetable business selling onions in the market, over 16 years ago. Her business struggled for many years, until in 2008 she approached World Vision to apply for a loan through VisionFund, the microfinance arm of World Vision.

Her initial loan was US $1,000 which she used to expand her business to become a wholesaler. Now, with her monthly profits estimated at US $400, Elina uses her business to contribute to her family’s welfare: providing food, paying school fees for the children and affording medical insurance. Beyond that, her dream was to own a house one day.

“Before I took the loan… I could not afford to buy land and build a house.” That changed through World Vision, and her dreams began to be realized. “After I joined VisionFund, and my business grew, I bought land and built a house with running water and electricity,” said Elina. This achievement only increased Elina’s hope and now she dreams of opening a restaurant.

Once again we are pleased to share a special post from Jill Hansen in the WOV Colorado chapter. A poet, Jill recently wrote “Water for Africa”, a poem which parallels bringing water to a thirsty community to bringing Christ to those who are spiritually thirsty. Jill describes how the poem came to her and how she will use it.

Over a year ago, I saw a picture that Ginny Cole, from Colorado’s Women of Vision chapter, had taken during a World Vision trip to see a water project in Niger. The village women in the picture looked so colorful, and all were smiling so beautifully. They were so happy that their village was receiving a well for water, which would be life-changing for them. I felt that I wanted to represent them in a poem, but I knew that it would not be easy. Smiles and poverty, how can you represent that in words? I’ve prayed on this for over a year, and recently became inspired to write “Water For Africa.” I feel that when we travel on Vision Trips, our mission of presence brings the love of Christ to the spiritually thirsty, and the well drilled brings new life to a community. Our Women of Vision Colorado chapter is anticipating our annual fundraiser in August. This poem will be at the booth representing money we’re raising for more wells in Niger through World Vision’s Strong Women, Strong World initiative.

Ginny Cole provided the pictures shown with the poem that help to tell the story.

WATER FOR AFRICA

Dressed in bright colors they greeted
those who came to help the poor

You’d think their lives were full of joy
by the smiles that they wore

These beautiful women so anxious
to tell the stories of their lives

To tell someone their sorrows and
how they struggled to survive

The dry hot days that had gone by
no crops survived to harvest

Water so many miles away and the
walk so hard and dangerous

The mothers losing children when
there was no food to feed them

Husbands killed by men that came
and raped and beat the women

Now those who came to help the poor
shared stories of their own

They shared the love of Jesus Christ
and told of His heavenly home

That Jesus is the only thing that can
quench the thirst of the soul

And how Jesus’ love had led them
there to help this village grow

They all began to work together to
drill a well for water

Lives restored and souls received
living water of our Father

Jill Hansen