EMPOWERING WOMEN FOR EXCELLENCE INITIATIVE - Womens' Empowerment

OUR JOURNEY

With an escort of armed guards, the Inti Raymi Fund set out into the infamous “Northern Nigeria” state of Kaduna. We arrived into the city of the same name, which is the fulcrum or pivot point of religious tensions between the Muslim faith to the North and Christian faith to the South. It must be mentioned that these communities live quite harmoniously and respectfully among one another with varying religious preferences; however, it is this region where Boro Haram (Book Haram interpreted meaning: No Western Education) has pledged allegiance with ISIL. In this region, Boko Haram terrorizes with hundreds of hit and run bombings, suicide bombings, burning of dozens of villages and schools, kidnappings of young girls from places of infamy like Chobok. Many famous people such as Michelle Obama along Malala have been vocal with their social media campaigns of #BBOG (Bring Back Our Girls). To-date, Boko Haram campaign has seen an estimated 1,000+ Children abducted, 2,295 teachers killed, 1,400 schools destroyed and upwards of 2 million people displaced according to the Sahara Reporters.The missing girl count is estimated at 100-150 young girls still missing and living with the Boko Haram members reportedly in seclusion in the Sambisa Forest.

During our journey we were fortunate to met with and financially support a mother and father of one of the unfortunate kidnapped and missing girls from Chibok. This particular family's 17 year old daughter was the oldest of seven children this family has. After this kidnapping, the family was forced to immediately evacuate home and town and start a new life with nothing. Our funds will help them restart their life and support their other six children as they wait in agony to hear something from their missing oldest daughter.

EWEI PROGRAMS 

Upon arrival in Abuja, we set out to attend the ongoing Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative ("EWEI") programs in the nearby community. The Inti Raymi Fund had already been introduced to EWEI through our Human Rights Advisor's prior relationships overseas, so we already had a sense of comfort with this excellent woman's and young girls’ initiative program. Shortly after the programs, ceremonies and photos were completed, we were whisked off by the armed guards back to our hotel and notified there had been another "Conflict" in a nearby town which had begun to spread towards our township of Kaduna. Immediately upon arrival to our hotel the guards returned to the schoolhouse where they diligently escorted each and every girl and family member back to their homes in safety. We quickly learned that the Religious conflict and riots killed an estimated 55 people with several bodies being brought to our community inciting more retaliatory actions. This news immediately found the governor of the state of Kaduna implementing an immediate "24-hour full state curfew" with no one being able to leave their homes in fear of escalation of violence. News of these riots, lootings and killings made national and international news in press such as this BBC article.

Needless to say, our plans had changed. We simply could not leave our hotel the following day as planned and we were glued to the TV and internet for updated news on any escalations of the conflicts which could be heading towards our village. The following several days yielded several smaller retaliatory acts along with the reported news of rogue persons wearing police uniforms stopping traffic and killing a few people, however, news in this region without internationally recognized journalists for obvious reasons leaves us without the full story.

In the ensuing days, we were able to go into the streets even though there remained the 24-hour curfew since we had 2 heavily armed Nigerian Police escorts. During our community visits we noticed that at almost every single street intersection there were informal tire barricades created with 5-15 local men manning each self-policed checkpoint. These men were holding the most barbaric threatening hand weapons we’ve ever seen. Oversized machetes, metal shepherds hooks with razor sharp edges strapped to billy-clubs, bats and so forth. They appeared to be ready to defend their neighborhoods from whatever may come barreling down their streets, with no confidence of government support by the Nigerian military or police. We did notice some military troops randomly placed in the communities and guarding main intersections; however, seeing the locals react in this fashion revealed to us that they have seen this before and were prepared.

Navigating through these communities, we were able to visit a number of recipients of EWEI funds for entrepreneurial start-ups, some in the form of grants with others being 0% interest micro-loans. (see our images below). Despite the fact that this was an “adrenaline packed” expedition, it was equally rewarding and satisfying, knowing we were helping many marginalized and oppressed women in one of the most economically challenged places in the world. Additionally, given the added layer of difficulty due to Boko Haram’s heavy terrorism in the region, it was rewarding to know we did what we could do to help. After a half day of additional visits we felt it was best to try our luck driving out of this 24-hour military curfew/lockdown city and head back to the capital city of Abuja. After about 45 minutes of zig-zagging through tire blocked intersections and getting police approvals to pass, we finally made it back to the semi-sane capital city of Abuja where we were set to take off to our next Project location in Tunisia. Shortly after escaping the grips of Kaduna, we read that one of the local chiefs had been kidnapped, extorted from then killed which reignited panic and continued 24-hour lockdown, proving to us that our decision to "break the blockade" and escape was a good decision.

Despite the chaotic journey getting into Kaduna to support this women's empowerment organization of Nigeria, we enjoyed our time together and strongly recommend the Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI) Programs. If you wish to learn more about them and or contact them directly, please reach out to them at the links below: