{"id":15427,"date":"2025-05-13T23:42:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T22:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15427"},"modified":"2025-05-13T23:42:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T22:42:47","slug":"christian-aid-week-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15427","title":{"rendered":"Christian Aid Week"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Christian Aid Week<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes the simplest things can make a world of difference: every year, people in Wales and all around the UK come up with all kinds of fundraising activities to support Christian Aid. The appeal gives us seven days to make a difference to people in the most vul-nerable countries around the world.<\/p>\n

Our global neighbours are also amazing at transform-ing their lives. This is Aline\u2019s story. Aline Nibogora is 35 and lives in Burundi. She was married young and when she was 14, she gave birth to the first of her six children. Her husband was violent and beat her regularly \u2013 one day it got so bad, she fled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would often jeer that he would kill me and bury me without anyone knowing,\u201d Aline said.<\/p>\n

Forced to leave her children behind, Aline wandered the streets trying to stay close by, asking anyone for a place to sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who showed me kindness would let me stay for two or three days, but it was difficult,\u201d she ex-plained. \u201cPeople would insult me and treat me with contempt. They forgot I was a human being. It filled me with sorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a patriarchal society where men dominate in al-most every aspect, life is particularly challenging for women. They\u2019ve been conditioned to be dependent on and dominated by men. But Aline found the strength and determination to push back against the injustices she was facing. Every gift, every action helps transforms lives; sometimes the simplest things can make a world of difference. Aline went to a three-day community workshop where Christian Aid-funded trainers taught people about village savings and loans associations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came out of it with amazing knowledge and skills. During the training, I stayed focussed and was deter-mined to not miss out on anything at all. I really liked the teachers\u2019 methodology; they restored in me a sense of hope and energy to take on initiatives. From then on, I started working hard, so I would not be dependent on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a small start-up loan, Aline began trading avo-cados and peanuts locally; then used her profits to buy a bicycle to transport greater quantities of goods to markets further afield. She is now a grocery whole-saler; she\u2019s been reunited with three of her sons and lives on her own plot of land in a village in Kayogo-ro, in Makamba Province. She is planning to expand the business and is building a home for her family \u2013 she hopes she\u2019ll one day have all her children with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought some solar panels,\u201d Aline added. \u201cWe now have electricity and the children are able to see to do their homework in the evenings. It’s true there’s a shortage of food at the moment, so there’s no lack of problems, but I’m doing what I can to get by, before we are able to harvest. I enjoy spending time with my children, who are my favourite people in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Aline is also now the chairperson of her own village savings and loan association and has helped 25 other families. She finds it important to be able to give<\/p>\n

back and train others for the further development of the community as well as her country. Aline says the support of Christian Aid has made the whole commu-nity feel comforted and empowered. They feel they are not alone in their initiatives. Without your support we could not go further,<\/p>\n

\u201cYou empowered us by changing our living condi-tions. Before, we couldn\u2019t see opportunities around us. Now we can see positive and significant changes in our lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

This Christian Aid Week in Wenvoe <\/strong><\/p>\n

This year in Wenvoe we are busy planning money raising activities to continue to support the work of Christian Aid. We invite you to take part and to en-joy the week with us.<\/p>\n

Our activities include:<\/p>\n