top of page
  • Neelley Hicks

Women Arise in Beni


As I traveled to

Beni to represent the Women Arise Collective, I realized the mothers of Beni have a lot of difficulty in their lives, especially in the case of trauma. I was working with a group of local women and we did a group exercise. That’s where I was able to listen and find out what was difficult in their lives. I asked them to identify different cases of trauma.

As the answers came in, the first thing I noticed was the lack of self care. It stung me when I uncovered more: the cases of sexual violence and the killing.


So I as a Women Arise Collective staff member asked them to stand up with determination. This is needed because a Methodist and Christian woman is called to stand up and say NO to sexual violence against women, girls, and everyone.

– She must stand up against all kinds of violence based on gender.

– She must stand up against the stigmatization of victims of sexual violence.

– She must stand up, leave a few of her traditions, and think beyond that because she is an educator.

– She must stand up for to work through the trauma and reflect on a new, different life after the rape.

And at the end of the day they thanked The Women Arise Collective and Reverend Neelley, Di Mama Ngandi, for having thought of them. They also thanked me for having arrived where the others refused to go because of the difficulty of the roads.

We celebrate that Jolie has received funding to raise and breed pigs as a small business, which will bring income for her work and herself. If you would like to fund someone else’s small business dream, please give now! These small businesses can be started with as little as $200USD. – Neelley

5 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page