Category: IZOSH

Friday November 19th, 46 women gathered in person and via zoom to fund micro-loans to women living in extreme poverty and learn from our keynote speaker Deb Ellinger, Director and Founder of Elli’s House, a nonprofit serving homeless & runaway women involved in human trafficking in the city of Detroit. Thank you to everyone who provided donations to support the women of Detroit. The response was incredible and the tables were OVER-FLOWING! It took two cars packed from floor to ceiling to haul it all away!!

We learned that Human Trafficking is an illegal industry that exists in every corner of the globe, victimizing over 20 million men, women and children of any race, gender, and nationality each year. Women and children are disproportionally affected by human trafficking, making up as much as 71 percent of all trafficking victims, including 99 percent of all sexual exploitation. Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.  It is reported to be one of the most profitable illegal industries, 2nd only to the drug trade, earning traffickers approximately $150 billion per year.  While drugs can only be sold in one transaction, humans can be sold over and over again. Traffickers target and prey upon the vulnerable, accessible and trusting. Sadly, poverty is also a compelling factor.  As a result, the main countries of origin of trafficking victims are those with large populations affected by extreme poverty.  In an attempt to seek a better life for themselves and their families, those living in extreme poverty are easily lured by the false offers of employment and a better life.  In reality, none of these promises are honored and victims are often forced into prostiution or hard labor and receive little to no pay. What they believed would be the path out of poverty is the exact opposite and often leads to entrapment, loss of their freedom, and often sexual exploitation. Fear, physical and psychological confinement, substance addiction, and the lack of knowledge about alternatives are some of the reasons victims may never seek help. This is why iZōsh chapters are dedicated to the economic empowerment of women globally who are living in extreme poverty. By giving micro-loans to these women, we help to provide an alternative, allowing them to lift themselves out of extreme poverty, reducing the risk of oppression and exploitation in their lives. 

The commitment to helping those living in extreme poverty, less than $1.90 a day, is more pressing now than ever as they have suffered the most from COVID-19’s health and economic devastations. According to the world bank, as of October 2021, about 150 million additional people were pushed into extreme poverty, reversing decades-long decreases of numbers living in poverty. Whether these setbacks are temporary or permanent depends on large-scale government action as well as the unwavering support of individuals like you. We thank you for your resilience and generosity which helps keep the flame of hope alive for those working so hard in the most dire of conditions to build a brighter future for themselves and their families! Last night $10,385 was donated that went to funding 29 loans for women living in extreme poverty. That brings our lifetime chapter total to $38,437 loaned to 135 individual women! Behind every number is a face, a name, a business built – a hope for a better tomorrow!

What an inspiring and uplifting afternoon we had on Sunday, May 2nd as 42 women gathered via Zoom to fund micro-loans to women living in extreme poverty and were educated by our Keynote speaker, Dr. Jackie Ogega, Ph.D. from World Vision.

Through the compassion and generosity of our iZōsh®️ Birmingham members and guests, we were able to grant $7,760 in micro-loans to 30 women, bringing our chapter total to $28,052 of micro-loans to 106 women! By granting micro-loans to these women, we helped them to lift themselves out of extreme poverty and reduce the risk of oppression and exploitation in their lives. We are so grateful for the support of Redeemer’s mission fund which allows us to host an iZōsh chapter here in Birmingham!

The google slide presentation of our Event can be accessed here which includes ALL the profiles of the women who were funded for you to read. We are happy to report that after funding the 18 women selected by our participants in the 9 breakout rooms, we had enough money leftover to fund ALL 9 remaining women from each breakout room, IN ADDITION to 3 other women from Opportunity International!!! Here is the link to the recording of the Event for you to watch if you are interested as well as the link to the video that was shown.

Our keynote speaker Dr. Jackie Ogega shared with us her personal experience as a child growing up in Kenya and the impact Savings Groups had for her mother and family. She educated us on how World Vision works to EQUIP, EMPOWER, and TRANSFORM women by increasing women’s access to knowledge, business and farming skills, financial literacy, financial services, micro-loans, and incomes. They also work to strengthen women’s decision-making and participation/leadership skills and transform systems and social and gender norms to create an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion. Additionally, World Vision works to advance women’s wellbeing by enhancing a women’s dignity, self-determination, confidence, agency, and voice. Dr. Jackie explained how World Vision measures the effectiveness and impact of Savings Groups using a GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) approach. If you would like to learn more or support the work of World Vision you can visit www.strongwomenstrongworld.com.

On Friday, November 20, 2020 45 women from across the country gathered via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic to learn, give, and celebrate the joy of empowering women. Through the compassion and generosity of our iZōsh®️ Birmingham members and guests, we were able to grant $6,950 in micro-loans to 28 women who graduated from the Healing Hands of Joy Safe Motherhood Ambassador Program this year, bringing our chapter total to $20,292 of micro-loans to 76 women!

Our keynote speaker was Allison Shigo, CEO and co- Founder of Healing Hands of Joy.  She educated us on the plight of women living with obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. The work she is doing at Healing Hands of Joy through the Safe Motherhood Ambassador program is truly inspiring. She discussed the impact COVID-19 has had on the women in Ethiopia and how a $250 micro-loan will change the course of these women’s lives.

Through her travels to Ethiopia working on the Emmy Award winning documentary, A Walk to Beautiful, a film following the lives of five Ethiopian women who have suffered from obstetric fistula, Allison witnessed firsthand the need for an organization that works with the Ethiopian community to ensure all women suffering from obstetric fistula are reintegrated into their communities, receive psychological care, education, support and the means to be productive post-surgery. In 2009, she co-founded Healing Hands of Joy, a non-profit dedicated to serving the needs of women with obstetric fistula and currently serves as CEO. Working with a team of Ethiopian advisors and staff, Allison developed the Healing Hands of Joy program and Safe Motherhood Ambassador Training pilot project to transform and improve the lives of former fistula patients. Her vision is to see the Safe Motherhood Ambassador Training program change fistula patient’s lives around the world and prevent more women from suffering needlessly.  

There are always more women graduating from the Safe Motherhood Ambassador program so if you are interested in supporting future Ambassadors, or possibly some of the women we were unable to fund tonight, you can visit the Healing Hands of Joy website at https://healinghandsofjoy.org/  and make a direct donation at any time! At the bottom of the donate page when you process your donation there is a “comments or additional instructions” box where you can add the name “iZosh.” If you do this, Healing Hands of Joy will be able to report back to us an updated number of loans funded from any direct donations made which we will be sure to share with all of you! As of 11/21/2020 we already know another $250 has been donated which means 29.8 of the 31 women seeking loans at this point have been fully funded by iZōsh Birmingham.

If you were unable to join us, but are interested in watching the Event, you can click here to watch the recording.

On Friday October 4th, 55 women gathered to learn, give, and celebrate the joy of empowering women. Through the compassion and generosity of our iZōsh®️ Birmingham members and guests, we were able to grant $7,642 in micro-loans to 22 women around the world, bringing our chapter total to $13,342 of micro-loans to 48 women! By granting micro-loans to these women, we help them to lift themselves out of extreme poverty and reduce the risk of oppression and exploitation in their lives. We are so grateful for the support of Redeemer’s mission fund which allows us to host an iZōsh chapter here in Birmingham!

Our keynote speaker for our fall event was Dr. Alain Mukwege – research associate at the University of Michigan school of nursing and son of Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He educated us on the history of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and how the ongoing conflicts are financed in large part by the exploitation of the natural resources found in common household items. In contrast to the unspeakable violence against women was Alain’s message of hope. He described the work he and his father are doing at the Panzi Hospital where they have cared for over 50,000 survivors. Their goal is to transform pain into power and ultimately to change hate by love.

Lastly, we had the pleasure of hearing from Alain’s wife Deborah, who brought pieces from her beautiful Congolese wardrobe as well as purses that were handcrafted by the women at the Panzi hospital. To learn more about the Panzi Hospital or to support their work visit the Panzi Foundation website at https://www.panzifoundation.org. If you want to learn more about ending the violence ongoing in the Congo and to take steps to demand the development of Conflict-Free Mineral supply chains you can visit https://enoughproject.org/get-involved/take-action.

March 15th, 2019 was our innagural iZōsh®️ Event. Our first speaker was Robin Phillips, co-founder of iZōsh Ann Arbor and current President of iZōsh International. Robin spoke about the origins of iZōsh and shared stories of a few women she has met who were living in extreme poverty that were empowered beyond their wildest imaginations by micro-loans. Through the support of Redeemer’s mission fund and 44 individual women, we granted a total of 26 women living in extreme poverty micro-loans totaling $5,700!!!!

Additional photos will be downloaded soon

On March 5th, 2019 roughly 30 Redeemer women and friends came together to experience what it feels like to be a woman struggling to get out of extreme poverty. Through a role play activity, we assumed the role of a woman who has come together with other entrepreneurial minded woman in her village to grow her business and support one another through hardships with their collective savings. We will also went through the micro-loan process and through the support of Redeemer’s mission fund our chapter funded 6 women at this Event totaling $1,000 dollars. It is so incredible to see the results of women investing in women!!!

Click the photo to see additional photos of this event.