CWR Hairdressing project changes for refugees

In 2019 Covenant World Relief (CWR) supported a creative project that taught hair-styling and baking to unwed mothers, widows and daughters at the Inke and Bili refugee camps for refugees from the Central African Republic.   The project was enthusiastically received by everyone, particularly by the women as now they could style hair.

Mrs. Wasaletuku.  Her husband left her over 2 years ago and she doesn’t know where he is.  Without him she found it difficult to feed her 4 children and had no money to send them to school or for clothes.  But with this hair-styling project.  Now she has mastered hair-styling.  She braids hair for students and earns money to care for her family.  She is happy.

This project came about through Rev. Anthony Bofio’s 5 year history of working on various relief and long term recovery projects at these camps with the UN HCR.  In early 2019 he and Rev. Emmanual Dole traveled to Goma, DRC to visit HOLD-DRC (Humanitarian Organization for Lasting Development. https://www.actforcongo.org/hold-drc).  HOLD-DRC is an NGO that works for sustainable long term development, particularly with women who have been abused in the violence around Goma.  Two of the economic initiatives is to train participants in are hair-styling and baking pastry and then get them started in a small business.  After his visit Rev. Bofio was inspired and proposed a project to send a couple young women from this area for training by HOLD.  In June 2019 two women went for 4 months of training supported by CWR.  Upon their return they started training the refugees.

Rev. Bofio commented about the training:

• The women started practicing immediately
• They are invited everywhere to braid hair in neighborhoods and in larger cities
• They make model cakes, simple and adaptable to the population
• The need is great, very great especially for the hair-styling
• In Bili camp: 65 women in the camp and 15 in the host village were trained = 80 total
• In Inke camp: 45 women in the camp 12 in the host village were trained = 57 total
• In addition- 1 man was trained with women and he has just set up his workshop in the camp
• Grand total trained = 138 trained (137 women and 1 man)