Alternate gift giving within the Vincentian Family

Sr. Carol Jean Wille, SC writes, “I am convinced that we can help to change the lives of hundreds of women and children with our alternative gift giving this Christmas by making a contribution to AIC of Nigeria, specifically to help sponsor their micro-financing projects (on behalf of widows).”

She continues,

Nkiru Aronu, National President of the Ladies of Charity (AIC) Nigeria, was one of the presenters at the DPI-NGO Conference in Paris in September. She spoke of the work of the AIC women of Nigeria who are ministering to the widows of her country. According to Nkiru “widows in Nigeria are frequently confronted with discriminatory cultural and traditional practices that are both degrading and harmful to the already traumatized widow.”

I met with Nkiru for several  hours as she shared her work with me and I am convinced that we can  help to change the lives of hundreds of women and children with our alternative gift giving this Christmas by making a contribution to AIC  of Nigeria, specifically to help sponsor their micro-financing projects.

The work of AIC is threefold:

To provide skills training to the widows so that they will have some means of providing for themselves and their families since cultural practices often leave them with no right to inheritance and no help with their children;
To provide micro-financing to the women to start their own businesses whether it be setting up a small stall in the local market to sell produce or starting a farming or sewing cooperative; and
To demonstrate that culture can be transformed so that “women can live out of these deadly cultural practices and at the same time enjoy their fundamental human rights”.
To this end the AIC of Nigeria have launched a national campaign with other NGOs to eradicate these dehumanizing practices through educatio and economic empowerment.

No gift is too small. A card will be sent to the person in whose name you send the donation. Make checks out to the Sisters of Charity Federation and indicate it is for AIC-Nigeria. Send all donations to:

The Sisters of Charity Federation NGO Office
211 East 43^rd Street, Suite 504
New York, New York 10017

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Tags: AIC, Anti-poverty strategies, Nigeria, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Charity Federation