Marie Gorette Mukandutiye, Rwanda

Second Sponsored Sister through WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL :

MARIE GORETTE MUKANDUTIYE

26 YEARS OLD, SINGLE

SISTER SINCE JULY 2010

WILL GRADUATE IN JUNE 2011

LETTER FROM MARIE, DECEMBER 2010

MARIE'S FIRST LETTER TO ME

Dear Sponsor,

How are you doing and how is your life over there? I am so glad to have this chance and write to you, so that I can send my greetings and sincere thanks for your support. 

Thanks for helping a person you don't know. God bless you, my heart is full of joy and happiness due to your monthly support. 

I used to be very poor, due to your monthly I got an income generating activity which helps in my day to day life. 

I get problems, I gave birth to a baby under operation and died, this was my first born. Let me stop, but please reply as soon as possible, I also would like to know your news.

God bless you, till next time.

IN RWANDA

Imagine you lost everyone you loved in a senseless and terrifying month of violence. 

During the massacre, you had a choice: kill or be killed. 

You saw your friends and neighbors turned into murderers, rapists, looters or torturers.

You cannot forget. 

But you must continue to live—with yourself and with the people around you. 

Years later, you still have bad dreams. 

And your country is still struggling to recover.

You live in poverty, raising a family on your own. 

You adopted children who were orphaned by genocide and AIDS and raised them as yours, sharing what little you have.

This is today's Rwanda.

During the 1994 genocide, more than 800,000 Rwandans were murdered, and 200,000 more displaced.

During the 1994 genocide, up to 500,000 women and girls were raped and tortured.

Today, more than 1/3 of households are run by women; 80% of those are run by impoverished widows.

Today, Rwanda is more than 70% female.