PurpleLily in Africa (Sidama) – empowering girls and women
Sidama, Southern Ethiopia For this work, I partnered with 2 Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs). The first was in the Southern Ethiopia region of Sidama, where I partnered with an NGO that focuses on teaching women literacy and numeracy. Although the Sidama region is rich in natural resources such as coffee, avocado, fruits and vegetables, poverty is rampant. The women that we worked with earn their living from the land. They sell their vegetables or coffee to support their families and earn an average of USD$10.00 / month. It appears that many are financially responsible for bringing up their children and I quickly identified the importance of financial literacy skills. Most of these women didn’t go to school as they needed to help their mothers while growing up and the expectation was that they would marry young, at about 14 years old. A majority of the workshop participants were 25 years old with 3 to 7 children. The aim of this project was to offer Life Skills and Financial