Reaching out to Rwandan women
In today's Nashville Tennessean, Beverly Keel tells the story of the Rev. Becca Stevens, the Episcopal chaplain at Vanderbilt University, and rector of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, who has financed Magdalene, a ministry for women with a history of prostitution and addiction, by founding Thistle Farm, a successful line of bath and body products:
"Without drugs I couldn't sleep. The marijuana and whiskey helped me to not think about the rapes and the beatings because of prostitution. I am so happy that you've come to hear about my life of sorrow…."
The letter was one of many thank-yous the Rev. Becca Stevens read after traveling with six Nashvillians to meet with 42 women in Rwanda, a country in east-central Africa that suffered war and genocide in the mid-1990s.
Read it all, as well as a previous story about Stevens, who is being honored tonight at Nashville's 37th annual Human Relations Awards dinner at Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel. She's also got a page devoted to her work in the women's ministries section of the Episcopal Church's Web site.
Take a look at Chris Blattman's blog where he reports on his recent research.
The findings challenge the conventional wisdom on women after war. Almost all aid has been targeted at women formerly abducted by the rebel group, especially those forced to become 'wives' to rebel commanders, and who returned from the bush with children. These women are much more accepted and supported by their communities and families than we think, and in many cases are doing just as well (or, rather, just as poorly) as other women. Yet aid seldom reaches those women without sensational stories.
http://chrisblattman.blogspot.com/2008/04/women-after-war.html
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May 8, 2008 4:46 PM