Happy Holidays!

Greetings! We hope this newsletter finds you in good health.  2021 has been a challenging year and as we wind down, we want to thank you for all your support this year and to reflect on all our successes.  From January through December 2021, Women Watch Afrika has provided Social Services to the community, Citizenship Application Clinics, Workshops, and Advocacy at the Georgia State Capitol on Voting and Redistricting.  We cosponsored Assemblies and sponsored virtual meetings, assisted the community, provided aid to domestic violence survivors, and addressed climate change concerns.  Additionally, as usual, our civic engagement work continued with Voter Education and Registration, and we focused on Redistricting Education & Mapping Information Sessions.

While 2020 and 2021 brought COVID-19 (and its numerous variants) into our daily mindset, Women Watch Afrika has been able to pivot and meet the new challenges in the new normal we face.  The impact and consequences of the pandemic has ranged from loss of lives, health crisis, unemployment, housing insecurity, closed schools, lack of needed necessities, and many more.  As such, Women Watch Afrika has stayed active in assisting and providing necessities to the community.  Every month, we still purchase and distribute needed groceries (vegetable oil, noodles/rice, fresh peppers, onions, tomatoes, beans, and canned foods), toiletries, bath tissues, laundry detergent, masks, sanitizers, and gloves to the community, and during our November Communal Support and Turkey Day, after our final count, we found we gave away over 149 bags of groceries and household supplies and gave away 149 Turkeys!  The numbers of those in need keeps growing daily and with your help and support we have been rising to meet the challenge.

Some of our work has had to be remote, e.g. some of our Voter Education, Voter Registration, and Redistricting Education have been accomplished remotely using the help of technology: zoom meetings, phone banking, text banking, emails, social media, etc., but the work has always continued.  Additionally, we have also used these much needed methods to stay abreast of the community’s needs and concerns, and have conducted weekly Women Watch Afrika Community Focus Radio sessions.

As you know, Women Watch Afrika serves adults and children of all ages, a large majority of whom live 200 percent below the poverty level, many of whom their children receive free school lunch, and sometimes are dealing with chronic health issues.  We are proud to state that as usual, we have left no one behind, we have met the needs of our community this year and look forward to doing so again in the next year.

So again, we Thank You for all your support (time, donations, financial, and in-kind), and we wish you a very HAPPY HOLIDAYS and a wonderful New Year in 2022!