In Rwanda, DFGFI works with the Tujijurane program, created in 2002 by Antoinette Mukakalisa, to empower poverty-stricken widows with opportunities for financial independence. We have provided financial support, materials and other resources to their programs for sewing (of school uniforms, lab coats and other products), hair dressing (training women for work in salons), a soap-making business and a nursery school.
In Congo, we support the widows of the Bingi area, now an association called “Widows for Tayna.” Our support includes community agriculture, small mammal farming, and palm oil production projects, all of which help take pressure off of the Tayna Nature Reserve and its natural resources. Plans call for expansion of these programs to villages abutting the Tayna Nature Reserve.
In DRC, we support an orphanage in the village of Bingi, an area that has suffered from insecurity due to rebel groups attempting to enter the Tayna Nature Reserve about 17 kilometers away. DFGFI currently supports a large group of orphans with school fees and supplies, uniforms, a nutritional meal program and medical care. Support is also provided for orphanage staff salaries and for medications for the local hospital. Plans for a small nursery school are now in development.
