Sukumani Bomaki! Rise up, women!

This is the slogan of Gone Rural, one of the community-based organizations Global Goods Partners works with in Africa. Gone Rural strives to provide employment opportunities for women across rural Swaziland. Here's the story of one of the many women whose lives Gone Rural has changed for the better: [caption id="attachment_520" align="aligncenter" width="213" caption="Zodwa Ngcamphalala"][/caption] In 2007, Zodwa Ngcamphalala was 30 years old. She had completed secondary school, but had not pursued further studies because of the lack of finances and opportunity. She had two young children to support; her husband worked in South Africa and was only able to visit the family a few times a year. She lived in a drought-ridden community in Tibane, an area in southeastern Swaziland. Her family's diet mainly consisted of dirty, unhygienic river water and maize porridge. Working with Gone Rural gave her the opportunity to change all of that. She was able to supplement the family income with her work making beautiful decorative baskets for the organization. With additional funds (ZAR 100-200, or about $13-$26 USD a month), she was able to not only enrich family meals with more nutritional food, but also send her two children to school. With the remainder of her income, Ngcamphalala made a shrewd move: she went into business. In addition to her work with Gone Rural, she now supports her family by providing solar-powered cell phone charging services in her community. Eco-friendly micro-entrepreneurship: certainly a cause worth supporting. You can help Zodwa Ngcamphalala and enterprising women like her around the world by purchasing the goods they produce, made available to you through organizations such as Global Goods Partners.