Called and sent
to the “periphery”, to be “bearers of hope”.
Accompanying women towards their integral development.
We care for women from
Kinteko, a sector of Butare parish. Some of these women were living in
excessive poverty, not even capable of feeding their families once a day.
Helped by Sister Leocadie, they started getting together in small associations,
collecting 200 francs each. The money
collected was given d to one member in
turn, to enable her to pay the “health
insurance”. Later that money was lent to each member of the group in turn , to enable her to start a small business of selling
vegetables, fruits etc… With the little
daily profit, one could feed her family at least once a day.
The second step was to encourage the women to have a common
activity: cultivating mushrooms, making
soap, rearing rabbits, chicken, and pigs. The activity of rearing animals has been rather difficult to realise without seeking financial support from donors.
The worst poverty is in
the head. So, it’s important to
stimulate change of mentality, attitude and behaviour through talks, sharing of
experiences, recollections, interventions given by Sister Leocadie and other resource
persons on various subjects. The most frequent topics are about: family life, education of the
children, how to live marriage as a vocation, how to build family life where
there is harmony and peace; and how to protect children especially girls from
human trafficking, etc…
We sensitize the women about building one’s
action on values: solidarity, concern for others, honesty, sense of belonging
and of the common good; acceptance and esteem of the others in their differences.
We encourage them to be firmly rooted in their convictions, religious beliefs,
practices, and give God a place in their
lives, etc. We stimulate in them the openness to trust each other; to share and
participate in all activities. We awaken in them the concern for cleanliness
and beauty of the environment where
their activities take place. Someone
said: “No one is an island”. As we need
others to move on in life, so others need us.
Sr Leocadie Kana