Short and Sweet to bring us together. Light candles online with us if you choose, or just join and watch. Shabbat observance is about 20 minutes with more time for socializing for those who would like to stay after. We will have music and a thought or poem for the day provided by the host.
The shabbat will be followed by a special presentation: We are honored to have a visiting guest speaker, Ruth Titi Manyaki, the founder and executive director of Women, Environment and Health(WEH) zooming with us following our Short and Sweet Shabbat . WEH was founded by Ruth in October 18, 1999, as she brought together 25 women in Douala, Cameroon, with a desire to improve living conditions in the surrounding rural villages and encourage economic independence for women.
WEH’s mission is to improve public health by empowering women, improving the environment, and providing healthcare and education for children orphaned by AIDS and/or displaced from their homes and families by wars, violence, and persecution. Kol Shalom for many years supported an orphan Lydienne from the time she was 6yrs. old until she graduated High School. Our Sunday School students participated in a drive to collect school supplies for WEH's students.
At present WEH is supporting 450 orphans in the villages by not just paying school fee's but maintaining on-going relationships with them and the families that have taken them in. In recent years more and more children arrive in the Francophone villages having escaped on foot from war in the Anglophone provinces. WEH volunteers have stepped up to organize their villages to provide needed support for these vulnerable children in an increasingly dangerous environment.
Ruth herself is now in danger as her reputation has made her number 1 on the Ambazonian Defense Force (a violent armed separatist group) list of individuals to kidnap. She has harrowing stories of hiding in the grass as armed bandits were actively searching for her. Ruth will give us an update on WEH, and answer any questions you have. I hope you can join us to meet with this remarkable woman.