International Women’s day Celebration

• Admin

International Women’s day Celebration

2.1.  Women and Teen mothers engaged in small businesses

On March 8th, 2025 Circle Rwanda celebrated International Women’s Day with 50 women engaged in small businesses and teen mothers. We discussed women’s rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment. It was a special moment where we recognized their testimonies and hard work in sustaining their livelihoods. The day concluded with cutting a celebration cake and sharing lunch together.

Impact and Participant Feedback:

Most of them expressed their feedback positively that they are happy for having meeting and celebrating IWD every year since last year and this has made them to have confident and love themselves beside the life challenges but since they meet and discuss their right and obligations towards their families they love each other help where it is possible.

Moreover, of them one narrated the following;

My name is xxxx, I was raped and gave birth on 14th years and the one pregnated me brought me to Kigali.  Since then I have been living a miserable life, where I was beaten almost every day. At that time, I was ignorant, thinking that I could not survive alone.

But after receiving training, I realized that I am a human being, capable of raising my children. I did not know about International Women’s Day and had never celebrated it before meeting Circle, which introduced us to it. Since last year, we have realized that we have rights and need to claim them. I have come to understand that:

• I can have confidence in raising my children properly and giving them a good education.
• I can empower myself and advocate for what I know.
• I can also speak about gender equality to my fellow women who have been oppressed by patriarchy, have accepted humiliation, and feel that they are useless.

I thank this organization (Circle) for opening our eyes and helping us understand that women’s rights are human rights. Moreover, we have started savings groups where we support each other in small businesses, and now we are able to feed our children. Indeed, we are happy for celebration cake and lunch shared.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt:

Poverty and hard living life in Kigali

Family conflicts

GBV encountered in their business

However, despite all the challenges, they have learned valuable lessons on how to manage difficulties, stay strong, and keep moving forward toward a better life.

International Women’s Day Celebrations with women and teen mothers engaged in small business.

Read more for the following attached file
Open PDF