Building A Future Through Cooking

We're loving the work that Infinity Culinary Training  is doing in giving young women and men in Cape Town, South Africa an opportunity to improve their lives through cooking, and doing what we can to support it.

Under the guidance of good friend, Barry Berman, ICT is closing in on its 2nd anniversary and has gone through all the growing pains, frustrations and jubilations of an organisation that depends on the largesse of others to provide scholarships for students who are trying to find their way out of blinding poverty, violence and lack of education.  It's hard work but it's worth it.  Not only does ICT train its students in basic cooking skills but also places them in jobs.  An enormous boost to those who often have to support their entire household.

We're happy that we were able to sponsor Linda on her journey to employment and have now committed to support another student for the latest course starting in September.

When so much energy is charged with negativity, it's great to see Barry and the committed staff at ICT  pouring their hearts and souls into providing positive assistance and opportunities to men and women whose voices have been unheard until now.

If you'd like to help, please click on this link:
http://thewaveproject.org/donate.asp

We'll have news about the September session once it's under way.

Be happy.

Michele

Spring Oscillations

Even though this is my first blog of 2011, this trimester has been anything but dull - both in the micro and the macro! I was in Cambodia in late Jan/early Feb and spent some great time with the women from our partner organisations.  We discussed the expansion of our safehouse project into a new province, a new batch of students who will receive WAVE scholarships for college, some micro-enterprise programs and a shocking case of gang-rape.  My next blog will detail some of the outcomes of our meeting, together with new photos.

In the meantime and as I wrote in an earlier blog, we've also started working with Infinity Culinary Training, a great young organisation in Cape Town, South Africa that is providing training to at-risk women and men so they may break the low education/poverty/violence cycle.

It's exciting to know that Linda, our WAVE-sponsored student  is nearing the completion of her course and looking forward to placement in one of the local restaurants that supports ICT's work.

Linda wrote us a letter recently - here are some excerpts ....(by the way, IsiXhosa is her first language)

I am 33 years old.  I have a mother and father, but not working.  I am single and have three kids, two boys one girl.  All these years I was financial(ly) supported by my life partner who passed away last December (2009) at work.  He was having (sic) epilepsy, so now I am on my own without anything.  But I am a strong woman and I believe in me.  I'll go forward and look for future (sic) for my kids.  I am going to achieve my class because you give me life.  I'll go then and do and dare.

I'll learn all I can to support myself and my family.  I want to thank you and the WAVE project from the bottom of my heart. Your organisation has made it possible for me to see a brighter future.

Thank you again for caring about someone you have never met who lives halfway round the world.

With lots of love,
Linda

She sounds so upbeat and courageous, but at one of her private mentoring sessions she was crying.  She said she felt so guilty, being able to come to class and eat the food that she and her fellow students learn to cook each day when her kids don't have enough to eat.  ICT gave her a small stipend to help her through.

Linda - Week 1

Chef coats are distributed in Week 3

Week 4 - big smile

Week 6 - Pan wrangling

WAVE plans to sponsor more women trying to elevate themselves out of the mire of township life.  If you'd like to help, you can click on this link  http://thewaveproject.com/donate.asp 

Thanks for reading and until next time, feel the love!

Michele

Next blog: Cambodia update

"...and whether or not it is clear to you

No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."

Max Ehrman/Desiderata

As 2010 Closes

wave is happy to announce the forging of a new relationship to help end violence against women. 


Infinity Culinary Training (ICT), a forward-thinking and exciting grassroots organisation sprang up in Cape Town, South Africa in 2009; its purpose, to train South African women and men from some of Cape Town’s most impoverished communities and enable them to obtain jobs in restaurants. 


Most of ICT's students come from a background of grinding poverty, lack of education, drug abuse and violent crime.  The training course offers these students an opportunity to learn employable skills, teamwork, responsibility and dignity.  Once trained, they are placed into internships with the opportunity to grow into full-time employment.  This gives them the chance to support themselves, their children and often their extended families.  Such a chance can be a game-changer.  Read more about ICT here.


wave is proud to support ICT via a scholarship program.  Beginning with the first training session of 2011, a young woman will benefit from having us fund her tuition.  We're looking forward to tracking her progress and letting you know how she and her classmates are doing.


The opportunity to work with ICT underscores one of wave's guiding principles:  Education is key in the fight to end violence against women, whether it be in South Africa or in Cambodia where we're also working with local grassroots organisations, or wherever women's lives are diminished by the threats and realities of violence.


You can help us provide opportunities for more young women in their struggle for self-determination.  Donations are tax-deductible and can be made via PayPal on our website.  (You don't need to have a PayPal account to donate.)

Thanks for supporting us and making a difference in women's lives.

Please feel free to share our blog and website info with like-minded friends.  We'll soon be updating our site, but wanted to share this good news with you asap!


Share the love in 2011,


Michele

Heading Into The Holidays.......

As crazy, stressful, fun and sometimes downright annoying as the build-up to the Holiday Season can be, among other things I'm  grateful that I'm not faced with the harsh threats and realities of sexual violence in my day-to-day life and that there are plenty of people in the world who work tirelessly to put an end to violence against women and children.  Thanks for supporting our Sanctuary From Violence safehouses - and the women and families who've benefited from their existence thank you too.

Michele

Talking to victims inside a safehouse

This is a recent report from a women's crisis agency in Cambodia.....

Sadly, (it is) believed that the incidence of rape is increasing in Cambodia

Compounding an already tragic situation is the ongoing trauma faced by victims of rape and sexual abuse as they are further victimised by society norms that blame the victim for failing to protect herself, her reputation and that of her family's against such shame. Victims of rape also find it difficult to marry due to the high value society places on a bride's virginity, thus adding marginalisation and discrimination to her abuse.

Victims of domestic violence face similar issues as poverty, lack of employable skills, the threat of homelessness and shame trap women in abusive situations. The lack of social welfare and social security systems mean that women have very few options when faced with domestic violence and abuse.

Limited education, debt, lack of income generating opportunities, dysfunctional families and social marginalisation are the most common reasons why Cambodian women and girls are vulnerable to sexual exploitation (Pact Cambodia). With little means of earning an income, women from poor families and previous trafficking and violence victims are vulnerable to being trafficked or re-trafficked. Traffickers exploit women's and girl's low self esteem, poverty and limited work opportunities to lure them with promises of respectable work in overseas countries where they inevitably find themselves virtual slaves to brothel or karaoke parlours.

Many victims come from poor rural areas in Cambodia where communities are largely ignorant of the true intent of traffickers. Women and girls are then traded across land boarders ending up in Thailand, Malaysia or Taiwan. Once a child's virginity is sold for $500, she is traded on to a brothel as a virtual sex slave. Boarder provinces, such as Banteay Meanchey between Thailand and Cambodia, face serious issues related to all types of human trafficking and drug related crime.

Though it is not known exactly how many people are trafficked each year from Cambodia, it is estimated to be in the tens of thousands (Preventing Trafficking of Women, PACT Cambodia). Many victims are subsequently detained by the Thai, Malaysian and Taiwanese authorities and sent back to Cambodia through the transit area in Poipet. Last year, approximately 30,000 Cambodians were deported from Thailand alone for illegal entry, the majority being victims of sex trafficking (Thai Department of Immigration).

(courtesy of Cambodian Womens' Crisis Center)

A Great Result!

Thanks to everyone who came out for our Trunk Show!  With these donations and purchases we can fund the building of a new safehouse and help send the newest intake of young women to college.  In return, many of our supporters are now wearing stylish WAVE-ware around town.  Special thanks to Barb Nevins at Southwest Cafe for making it all possible.  Stop in there if you're in the area - the food's terrific and the staff are all great.

I'm going back to Cambodia in January and will be re-stocking for future events.  And who knows?  Maybe an online store...... I'll be sure to bring back some of the beautiful 'golden' silk throws which were such a hit at our recent sale at Ridegfield Playhouse.

A couple of people have expressed interest in sponsoring one of our new students through her college years.  There'll be more news about this soon.  There'll be opportunities to sponsor a girl's tuition for a year, or to become a shareholder in one student's education.

Thanks for all the support and inspiration.  Your comments are welcome.

Happy Holidays!

Michele

www.thewaveproject.org

Waiting for a suitor in Ratanakiri province
a young woman waits in the higher hut for a nighttime visit from her suitor

Ready For Monday's Trunk Sale?

Tonight was spent preparing all of the crafts for tomorrow's trunk sale at Southwest Cafe - and there's a lot of really great stuff!

We have a new batch of beautiful silk scarves, lots of colorful kramas - the ubiquitous scarf worn by Cambodian women that also doubles as baby sling, carry-basket, head-wrap and has many other practical uses - block-printed purses, shoulder-bags, wallets, laquer-ware and woven wall hangings that come from Ratanakiri province in the far north east of the country.

We also have a lovely selection of silver and turban sea shell jewelry, featuring the wave logo - pendants, bracelets, stud and drop earrings, and some lovely rings.  Everything for sale has been hand-made in Cambodia and purchased from local makers or established, independent retailers.

The proceeds go to help fund our various projects in Cambodia aimed at supporting women and young girls. We are about to build our 10th Sanctuary From Violence safehouse - this time in Battambang.  We will also have a new influx of young women attending colleges in Phnom Penh as part of our W.e A.ll V.alue E.ducation project.

A little goes a long way in Cambodia.  We will spend approx. $2,500 in the initial building of the safehouse, while student fees for one year at college vary between $400-$800, depending on the course.  Additional funds are also available to students upon application for housing and extra-curricular studies (such as English and computer courses).

Hope to see you at Southwest Cafe between 5-7pm on Monday (12/13) evening.  Southwest is in Copps Hill Center, 109 Danbury Road, Ridgefield CT.  Here's how to get there (click on this link):

Southwest Cafe Ridgefield

Michele

PS If you can't make it tomorrow night and would still like to make a donation, please go to our website http://www.thewaveproject.org  and click on the 'Donate' button in the lower right corner.  Thanks.

Buy A Gift - Help Save A Life

wave trunk show

~ SOUTHWEST CAFE ~

Copps Hill Center, 109 Danbury Road, Ridgefield CT

Monday, December 13, 2010 5pm-7pm

Please join us this coming Monday and see our beautiful array of handmade Cambodian crafts - silk scarves, bags, wallets, tribal tapestries and more.  A great way to do some Holiday shopping, enjoy free appetizers and  know that your purchases aid Cambodian women and young girls who are victims of gender-based violence.

Our most recent news comes from Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital where two young women working as 'beer girls' at a local bar were gang-raped by 9 men.  They have both been taken to one of wave's safehouses in a neighboring province while most of the perpetrators remain free.

wave's Sanctuary From Violence safehouse project provides protection, medical assistance and shelter for these and other women and alerts them to their legal rights in redressing these crimes.

Thanks to Barbara Nevins at Southwest for hosting our get-together.  Bring a friend - look forward to seeing you there!

Michele

on behalf of the women at wave

village women at opening of wave safehouse

for more info about wave click here - wave is a 501(c)(3) organisation