Irmas Unidas de Chicuque (United Sisters of Chicuque) was organized by Diane Bishop of Seeds of Hope to give employment and economic opportunity to women in the fishing village of Chicuqe, Mozambique. The women make jewelry and sew to supplement the family income. Diane reports that:
The women there have virtually nothing in the way of material possessions. They gather firewood and water daily, cook on open fires, live in homes with dirt floors and no windows or doors, wash their laundry in the river, grow their own food, and care for their children – a life very different from ours – but they love their families and do whatever they can to ensure the well-being of their children.
They value education and many of them who missed schooling during the wars are going to night school. They have hope for a better future for their children and they are willing to work hard to provide that future.
They lose one of every four children before the age of 5 and even then may lose more later to malaria.
Many times their husbands leave the village to work in the city or in the mines of South Africa.
Many of them are Christians and live their faith in a daily way that we find astonishing, knowing how difficult their lives are.
