The Methodist Women’s Federation and Women’s Training Centers
Most of the people in Bolivia live in poverty. Unfortunately, this keeps women permanently marginalized, socio-economically, ethnically, and educationally. Seventy percent of illiterate people in Bolivia are women. The percentage of women in leadership positions is very low, and jobs and opportunities for salaries are limited. Bolivian women also have a high mortality rate, due to problems during childbirth and uterine cancer.
And yet the Bolivian women have great spiritual, cultural and creative strengths that help the survival of their families and communities.
The Federation of Methodist Women
The Methodist Women’s Federation (FeFeMe) has chapters in 130 local churches, organized by the 14 districts, in both rural and urban areas. These Women’s Federations promote diverse programs including Christian growth, prayer, and worship, as well as training for health and educational issues and the empowerment of women in their communities and society.
The Tabitha Center For the Promotion of Women
JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT: In their own words….
“We find ourselves in times of change in our country, brought about by new laws in the Bolivian State, in which women now participate with men in all segments of society at a 50-50 ratio. We feel that now more than ever we need to prepare and train ourselves, to build our confidence to take on these new challenges. It is essential to note that in our culture, education has been primarily the privilege of men, especially in the rural areas, which results in the fear that women feel because we are too accustomed to only listen. Now we want to change, we want to speak out, we want to say what we feel and what we think. To avoid mistakes, and to succeed in a proactive and positive involvement, we recognize that we need more training because the percentage of women in leadership roles is very low in this country. Women also suffer more intensely from social, economic, cultural, ethnic and educational marginalization. For these reasons it is essential that we have our own appropriate space. In our country, there are no alternatives for the development of women. Those that do exist are not available to women of limited economic resources. For this reason, FeFeMe has the goal of building a Women’s Training Center in order to improve the quality of life of our women and their families.“
BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT: In their own words…
“The Federación Femenina Metodista (FeFeMe) in Bolivia for many years has dreamed of having a space where women can meet, work, learn, share and grow fully. With this goal in mind, many women have been working at small activities (sale of handicrafts, etc.) in order to save money. This dream has been handed down from one group to successive groups of national leaders until very recently, when all these consolidated efforts resulted in the purchase of land, located in the city of El Alto. We are very happy to have completed the first step of this dream and now that we own the land, we dare to ask help because we want to continue moving forward, knowing that the culmination of this physical expression or our dream will be that all the women of the 14 Districts of our country will benefit because they will have their own secure place to do their activities.
BENEFICIARIES OF THE PROJECT: In their own words…
“The beneficiaries would be all the women living in any community where there is the presence of the IEMB, as well as other people interested in overcoming their fears and improving themselves. This will finally be a place where they can find, and receive, support and training. We have 14 districts and 1 sub-district, in which there are 212 churches, each one having its own women’s society where women already are participating with a desire to excel.”
Oklahoma’s history with FeFeMe: The Oklahoma Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has a historic relationship with the IEMB, the Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia. For the past two decades we have supported the Federation of Methodist Women, strengthening their Handicraft Program through the sale of handicrafts, mostly in our churches here in Oklahoma. We have just recently learned of this “dream” that the FeFeMe women have had….for over 18 years they have been saving money, mostly through the sale of their handicrafts…dreaming of one day being able to purchase land and then build their own Women’s Center. They had been saving for over 18 years….then enter Oklahoma. About two years ago, David Stephenson and Susan Waite began to bring a LOT of the FeFeMe handicrafts to Oklahoma, to sell whenever and wherever we could in Oklahoma Methodist churches. The generosity of Oklahoma Methodists was overwhelming, and in the last two years alone, the money sent back to FeFeMe from all those sales (100% of all proceeds), allowed FeFeMe to DOUBLE the money they had been saving for 18 years! It was only last September that we learned that the 18-year dream was FINALLY being put into action with the purchase of land in El Alto. We in Oklahoma should be DETERMINED that it will NOT take another 18 years for the women of FeFeMe to raise enough funds to build Tabitha: The Center for the Promotion of Women!
Just how does it help? Read Justa’s story.
For more information, or a speaker to come to your church, UMW or Sunday school class, contact Susan Waite, Member of the Jilakata, at ksmc.waite@prodigy.net or call 405-824-8421
Tax-deductable donations can be made payable to: Chapil Hill UMC (memo “Tabitha) and mailed to Susan Waite at 1115 Bedford, Oklahoma City, Ok. 73116
