Jos, Nigeria, Uganda, and Big Ocean Ukrainian Efforts
Here are moving updates about efforts of Big Ocean Women cottages and members:
With our phenomenal leader Fatima at the helm, Big Ocean Women’s Jos, Nigeria cottage has planned and executed a powerful and sustainable project focusing on several BOW tenets – life culture, maternal feminism, global sisterhood, the power of choice and accountability, knowledge, wisdom, and skills development.
With the current challenge of unplanned teen pregnancies rising in Nigeria, many girls experience terrible internal shame and external shunning from their families and communities, making a future life for them and their children next to impossible.
Because our new Uganda cottage experienced similar issues, the Nigeria cottage invited them to gather young mothers in their community to attend. Thanks to generous donations from our members, the Nigeria cottage had funds to select and award scholarships to ten young mothers from their community. These teen moms have been participating in a week-long workshop course empowering them with tools to heal from trauma and hardship. This coming week they will complete an aptitude test that will help them narrow down their talents and gifts as they select a skills-based training course, paid in full by generous donors like you. This project was created and planned by local women, just like you, who are making an incredible difference!
With young babies nursing and sitting on laps, these incredible young moms listened and actively participated in a workshop reminding them of their individual self worth, their power to choose a better life, forgive, and move forward.
We are grateful to join in and support these homegrown projects; it is humbling and truly inspiring!!
We also received a sobering update from a representative of our partner organization, Backroads Foundation, regarding armor donations to our brave friends in Ukraine. Here is their message:
Hi, Big Ocean Women. You recently donated armor to us. I wanted you to know that it saved lives today. Out of the five who received it, two survived their attacks this week and told us the armor saved their life. Thank you for your help to Backroads Foundation. We thank you for your service and are grateful to help supply Ukraine.
We also offer our deepest gratitude to each of our BOW members for your generous love and support of this critical aid.
