Update #1
March 3, 2019, 6:20 pm
Hey everyone! I wanted to give you an update and also share a little more information with you as far as what we will be doing specifically with The Liberty Project. First, I wanted to share with you just a few of the statistics and reasons behind why we are praying and working to see a generational change for the women of Mozambique.
Cabo Delgado is the province in Northern Mozambique that Pemba is located in. The Liberty Project is the only Christian non-profit based in Cabo Delgado, Northern Mozambique that focuses on working directly with these issues that are facing the women of Mozambique.
*The illiteracy rate in women in Cabo Delgado is 75% and is a direct result of child marriages, false identity, and poverty.
*Cabo Delgado has the highest rate of child marriages in Mozambique at 50% and as a result Mozambique as a whole is 8th highest in the world. 1 out of 2 girls are married before the age of 18, and 1 out of 4 girls are married before the age of 14.
*One in ten women in Mozambique are infected with HIV/AIDS, and girls who are married as children are at an even higher risk.
*95% of women will experience some form of sexual abuse or exploitation at some time in their life. A big contributor to this is sexual initiation right ceremonies around the age of 9-11 years old. In the Makua culture girls as young as 10 years old are expected to have multiple partners as a way of providing for their family.
*75% of women suffer from PTSD as a result of sexual abuse, forced prostitution, and sexual cultural rituals.
These numbers are absolutely heartbreaking! It is our prayer to see these chains of sexual abuse, exploitation, and cultural oppression broken, and for these women and girls to discover their worth and true identities in Christ.
How does The Liberty Project do that you may ask? The first way is through the Freedom Program. The Freedom Program is a six month program of discipleship, education, and restorative care. Our prayer is for each woman to discover who they have been created to be in Christ and the plans that He has for their lives. Also giving them tools like education and restorative care, so they can say goodbye to their past and hello to a new wonderful future in Christ. This leads into the second phase which is focused vocational training.
The second phase is a 12 month program, along with continued discipleship,
they can learn training in the sewing, or hospitality industry. The Collective Africa is a clothing line they have developed and through it we are able to share our message of freedom to customers around the world. The hospitality training focuses on training cooks, bakers, baristas, servers, and café managers as a way to help gain employment for sustainable futures. This is where I come in, my role is Head of Department of the Liberty Café and Bakery. Along with continued discipleship with the ladies I will oversee the day to day operations of the Liberty Café and Bakery which will be used not only as a training tool, but also as a way of employment for locals. The Liberty Café and Bakery is a public example of restoration, and championing women from ashes into beauty, bondage into freedom, and dependability into sustainability. It is our prayer to see a generational change for these women and young girls, that they would know their worth comes from their identity in Christ and not who their society says they are. That they would know how beautiful, loved, cherished, and truly priceless they are.
