Women for Women International: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo

Part of travel is learning about the world we're living in and using those experiences for its betterment. Women for Women International is an organization that allows sponsors to provide monetary aid directly to women in areas affected by war. Women for Women International works in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo - as well as countries in South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

Women for Women International does more than facilitate the gifting of monthly sponsorship donations (27 USD per month); it allows a sponsor and her in-need "sister" to communicate through letters, provides education and skills to sponsored women (including literacy), and provides access to capital for small business development so that sponsored women can improve their own lives and the lives of their children.

In regions like Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, mass rape, forced sexual slavery, and forced impregnation was a part of war and ethnic cleansiing. Male members of families who perished or fled after political upheavals has placed more burden on widows, mothers, and grandmothers who face depression and economic hardship.

Women for Women International has recently been awarded the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. If you are interested in sponsoring a female war survivor, or you want to know more about Women for Women International (read stories about sponsors and their sisters, learn more about the organization, and see where and how Women for Women International works), visit their website www.womenforwomen.org.

(For small loans issued to entrepreneurs in Bulgaria and other countries, visit Kiva (www.kiva.org). In addition, don't forget Bulgarian Handknit Crafts which supports the Stara Zagora Home for the Handicapped.)