This year, Britain’s longest running door-to-door fundraising week is asking Lees residents to support women living in poverty around the world, many of whom are discriminated against from birth.
Christian Aid Week is taking place between Sunday 10 and Saturday 16 May and the main event in Lees this year details of event / house to house. Christian Aid’s regional coordinator, Bex Turner said: “This amazing sum could not be raised without the hard-work and dedication of our collectors. Their support is invaluable – they are giving real hope to the world’s poor and walking alongside them helping to lessen their load”.
The collections from this week will help to transform the lives of women like Loko, from Ethiopia. Four times a week, Loko makes an eight-hour journey to gather wood to support her family. She said: “If I can’t collect firewood, my children will starve”. As she walks, she prays: “I ask God to change my life and lead us out of this”. Just £5 could give Loko a loan to start her own business buying and selling tea and coffee, releasing her to spend more time caring for her family.
Discrimination against women is one of the greatest injustices of our time and the statistics speak for themselves. Globally, less than 20 per cent of landholders are women and women do twice as much unpaid work as men. In many countries girls are treated like second-class citizens while boys are provided with opportunities for an education, work, food and even decision making at the expense of their sisters. Almost as soon as girls are strong enough to walk many can spend hours fetching water and doing household chores.
Often forced into early marriages, they can also face the dangers of giving birth before their young bodies are ready. Deprived of an education, later in life women have to rely on men for their financial security, with any hope of following their own dreams dashed, leaving them vulnerable to deprivation and violence.
If you would like to help women like Loko, and are able to collect, or deliver, donation envelopes on one or two streets please see Paul or Liz Dent or call 0161 627 4515.
