Women for Women

"At 41, I thought my life was over," says Nazmije, a survivor of the Kosovan conflict of 1998-99. "As I ran from village to village with my five children, I saw that my country had turned into a place of horror."

The Kosovan conflict was one of terror. It left 10,000 people dead, mostly men and boys, because of their ethnic loyalties. It left 20,000 raped, mostly women and children, because ethnic cleansing included abuse amongst its weapons of warfare.

Half the population fled across Kosova’s borders until the conflict was passed. Nazmije was among many who then chose to return, with her five children, to their village, Cikatove. “I came back to nothing. I was heartbroken," Nazmije recounts. "War left me in great pain. I was homeless, jobless and sick.” In her struggle to start over, Nazmije took many medicines, but found no relief. “For me, the best ‘medicine’ was the Women for Women programme,” she recounts, explaining that their classes awakened in her the realisation that, one day, she could support her family.

Women for Women International is an NGO set up for women in conflict, or post conflict, environments. It mobilises them through a holistic programme for those who have lost everything and have nowhere to turn for help.

The organisation’s one-year programme is designed to take women on a journey from ‘victim’ to ‘survivor’ to ‘active citizen’.

At the same time, Women for Women links up each woman in a post-conflict situation with a woman elsewhere in the world who sponsors her with financial and moral support.

“The letters I received from my sponsor, Shan, warmed my heart," Nazmije said. She was astonished that a woman in a far flung country who had never met her would put faith in her and make a commitment to change her life.

“If she was so committed to help me improve my life, why should I not do it for myself?"

Women for Women believes that providing people with a sustainable form of income is crucial to the healing process for both the woman and her community. Nazmije has therefore joined a group of women in her village in order to work on weaving looms.

She writes, “The loom work has become part of my life. Because we don’t have another space, I put the loom in the same room where my husband, five children and I sleep. I work there when I finish cleaning and cooking. The loom sounds to me like music, and it makes me feel good and calm."

Nazmije's story is one of many.

In the Global Handicrafts marketplace, we have items from the looms of Kosovo available for sale. We also have products from other Women for Women projects in Afghanistan. Your purchase of these items will keep women like Nazmije in the business of life!