Women

Pulling Women, Girls Out Of Poverty

Published

5 years ago

April 26, 2019

For more than 844 million people worldwide, or one in every nine people on Earth, access to clean and safe water is still out of reach. The majority of these people live in rural areas and have to walk for hours to collect water for themselves and their families. And the burden of gathering water for households falls disproportionately on women and girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, women are responsible for 72 per cent of the water collected and walk for miles each day to haul 40–80lb (18–36kg) of water home, sometimes repeating this journey several times a day. In Africa alone, women spend 40 billion hours a year walking for water – time that could instead be used to go to school, run a business or improve their households.
Beyond the time lost fetching water, the gender-specific implications of not having access to water faced by women are unfairly weighted. For example, in many developing countries, girls drop out of school when they reach puberty as a result of missing a week every month for menstrual management. Without an education, these girls become trapped in the poverty cycle with no tools to help build a way out. In fact, according to USAID, for every extra year a girl stays in school, her income can increase by 15–25 per cent.
In addition, the water collected is often filled with disease-causing pathogens that cause conditions such as giardiasis, cholera and schistosomiasis. These illnesses can last for weeks or sometimes months, forcing people to lose valuable time at school or work. As primary caregivers, women are also impacted by sickness due to unsafe water, time spent caring for ill children or other family members may be time spent away from income-generating activities. If untreated, these diseases can often lead to death, especially in vulnerable individuals such as children, nearly one in every five deaths in those under the age of five worldwide is due to a water-related disease. Without clean water, people are unable to wash their hands or clean their food, which can further increase the spread of disease.
In the Caterpillar Foundation’s work to alleviate poverty around the world, we have seen first-hand how access to clean and safe water transforms the lives of these women and girls, and, ultimately, their communities. We are proud to work with innovative partners dedicated to solving this critical issue, such as Water.org.
Water.org focuses on removing the cost barrier of financing sustainable water access – some 91 percent of people reached by Water.org live on less than $6 per day. By bringing small, easily repayable loans to those who need access to affordable financing and expert resources, household water and toilets become possible. Furthermore, access to these resources helps to reduce hunger, improve health, enable equality, increase education, encourage economic empowerment and, eventually, break the cycle of poverty. Through our support of Water.org’s work since 2008, we have helped bring clean water and sanitation to 3.8 million people in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Peru.
The ability to turn on a tap and have instant access to water for cooking and cleaning is something many of us take for granted. But for those in the developing world, the value of water and its impact on their lives is all too clear. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), access to clean water and basic sanitation can save around 16,000 lives every week. A WHO analysis also shows that for every $1 invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic return of $4. When people are no longer worried about collecting water, taking care of sick children or becoming sick themselves, they can invest their time in working toward a better future instead of just surviving. They can start businesses or improve their homes. They can go to school or get a job. They become empowered to improve their lives and the lives of those around them and can take steps to rise out of poverty.
With the help of our global partners, the Caterpillar Foundation has set out to empower 50 million people around the world to rise out of extreme poverty by 2020 and has worked to advocate and educate people about the important role water plays in making this goal achievable. This kind of work cannot be done alone; however, through collaborative and strategic partnerships, engaging with local communities, and implementing innovative and sustainable solutions, we know that water is one issue that can be solved.
So now we ask you the question that we have spent the past year asking ourselves and our partners: What will you do for water?
Karol writes from Lagos.

Kathryn Karol

Women

The Wise Woman

Published

4 days ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The wise woman builds her home. Mothers are supposed to live exemplary lives. The roles of mothers in the building of the modern Christian home cannot be overemphasized.
The function of the mother is to help the man build the home. She is a helper. A helper to the husband when the man is not doing well. It is important for the wise woman to assist when the man is not able to meet up with the items needed in the home.
A wise woman needs to reference God first and then the husband. Also the wise woman should respect her husband.
Caring for her own children as well as others is very crucial.
Do not despise children from other mothers. Discipline the child who is going the wrong way.
Ensure family bonding, show love and don’t discriminate. Connection with children is very important, especially the females. Find out who is her friend. Also find out the kind of lives they live. Caution, counsel and guide so that they make good partners.
Teaching children the dos and donts should start from birth. Inculcate the word of God in them so that when they grow, will not depart from it.
From the Scripture, some women influenced their families positively. Virgin Mary influenced the world, she never destroyed herself hence she gave birth to Jesus Christ.
Elizabeth, despite her age, God blessed her as she waited patiently.
A wise should curb favouritism in the family and love children equally. Whether a child is your biological child or not, it is necessary to show love equally. Reprimanding the children should be the function of both man and wife.

Women

The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

Published

4 days ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

Marriage is beautiful when there is love. Before and after marriage, couples show love to themselves. But you discover that after some years, that same love turn to be something else. A lot of people start going through emotional trauma in the hands of their loved spouses.
There are many things the woman desires to keep the love on as far as marriage is concerned.
Women are blesssed with feminine abilities that can be used for good in husbands lives. With your abilities, you can create a marriage that will last till couples get old.
A woman needs
man that is honest, trustworthy, nice, loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, if there is no reasonable finance, it is always difficult to manage the home.
Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3: “Your desire shall be unto you…….. “
What this means is that whatever the woman desires in life shall be provided as far as she performs her role in her home. There are many things the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy, at least helping to do one or two things when he is at home.
A man that is educated and intelligent so that they will transfer such traits to their children.
Knowing that there are traits that her husband has, traits of taking care of people, giving freely to people and caring for her family. She expects him to exhibit them.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family, remembering his family even as he is away from home.
No matter where he finds himself, he is not destracted by external influence. He returns home to his loved ones.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.
According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that a woman builds her home. As far as he rreturns home, you accept him as your own.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit. Don’t be a monitoring spirit. Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband. The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.
You can show some form of jealousy, but to an extent. Cooperation, respect and being honoured from time to time is what the woman desires.
The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man. A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.

Women

The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

Published

4 weeks ago

April 5, 2024

The Tide

A woman needs a man that is honest, trustworthy, nice, loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, If there is no money, it is always difficult.

Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3:Your desire shall be unto you……..
That is one aspect the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy, at least helping to do one or two things. A man that is educated and intelligent.
She knows that there is a trait that her husband has. Traits of taking care of people, giving freely to people and caring for her family.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family, remembering his family even as he is away from home.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.

According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that the women builds her home.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit. Don’t be a monitoring spirit. Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband.
The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.

The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man. A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.