GECU is a community based organization whose mission is to empower young mothers that are driven to work hard by providing them with the skills necessary to develop a good life for themselves and their children.
This organization was founded in 2016 by Amri Zainab. As a social worker who helped many women that were victims of domestic violence, she realized that poverty was the root cause of the issues.
To help her community out of poverty, they work hard to develop programs focused on education, health and women’s rights. Activities involve classes on tailoring, farming, weaving, baking and more. They also provide mentorship programs and psycho-social support to the sick, homeless and elderly.
Last year when we were running our Prints 4 Pads project in partnership with our sister company Adventure Artists International, we were contacted by Zainab with a request for assistance. We were very impressed with the efforts that this organization is making on the lives of many young women. So we sent them a case of reusable sanitary pads from AfriPads.
Here are a few words of gratitude that we received from them...
After this project ended, our connection with this wonderful organization continued to grow. Our founder Susan Schmitz and Zainab spent some time getting to know each other and discussing how we could best support them on an ongoing basis.
During the time of COVID, life has been much more difficult than usual. Unemployment has skyrocketed due to the halt of tourism and the closure of businesses. Children have not been able to attend school, where they were provided meals that they depended on. Families are struggling to put food on the table.
We sent them a modest $200.00 and asked Zainab to report back on how the funds were used.
Watch the video below to see just how far the money went...
