"Stand alongside women in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are building their business solutions to poverty."

The birth of Jesus, as told in the Gospels, includes the story of Jesus' birth mother, Mary, and her home-stay with an elderly cousin, Elizabeth, who was also pregnant with her first child. Together these women would help one another through the birth experience. Elizabeth offered encouragement and nurture to the young woman, and Mary assisted the older woman through the last several months of her pregnancy, and possibly through delivery.

Women today continue to help one another to meet the economic and social challenges they face. Afghan women, now in the second year of a garden-to-market program titled Through the Garden Gate, have experienced the economic change that is possible when village women work together to grow high-quality produce, package and process vegetables in ways that will appeal to markets outside the village. Through their association with one another, social change also becomes possible.

This Christmas, MEDA invites women in the United States and Canada to join in a women-to-women network to stand alongside women in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are building their business solutions to poverty. Poverty statistics* indicate that "Women (without a man) still make up the poorest strata of society, and both they and their children not only suffer themselves, but their contribution to the world is diminished."

Give to see change. Link arms with women across the ocean through: the MEDA Store.

* Jones, Linda. Trends Affecting Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities. 2008.

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