"Women Across Borders" was founded in 2008 by Kave Bishogo, a refugee from the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) who moved to Central Durban, South Africa from the DRC six years ago. As a passionate young woman, Kave was inspired to give something back to the community she was living in, and thus, "Women Across Borders" was born.

The central ethos of this organisation is to empower, inspire and unite women from different backgrounds, countries and cultures, enabling them to realize their dreams and be actors of change in a developing world. As a young woman who has experienced much strife and hardship, Kave used the opportunities provided to her to study, and better her life situation. The improvements in her life can now impact the life of other women.

"Women Across Borders" is an inclusive multi-cultural organisation, attracting and reaching out
to women from all sectors of society. Focusing specifically on the disadvantaged, both physically
and emotionally, it seeks to give women opportunities in life.

"Women Across Borders" is committed to see women as the main vehicle of change and poverty alleviation. We truly believe that by uniting and inspiring women from different background and women who have access to different resources we can make a great impact in the lives of disadvantaged women especially refugee women and those that live in very impoverished areas.
 

Who We Work With and the Problem We Address

“Women Across Borders” works with refugee women who are living in the central Durban area; our public is mainly from the KwaZulu Natal region in South Africa. The region is inhabited by a large numbers of refugees from different countries that aim to survive through unskilled and badly paid jobs. Most of these jobs are mainly available to men.

Most refugee women are unemployed and illiterate or did not finish their high school education. Their employability is very low, even lower than the employability of refugee men, and their social and economic conditions are critical. In order to escape absolute poverty and deprivation, they get married and hope that a family situation can improve their status. Their education level is so low that sometimes for them it is difficult to understand what possibilities they have.

Most women we work with experience abuse - emotional and/or physical. They are at a very high risk of contracting HIV because of their lack of knowledge of the disease and because their husbands often have multiple partners without adequate protection.

Refugee women do not have the necessary life, professional and communication skills to get jobs and make a sustainable living for themselves. Very often refugee women do not speak the communication languages used in South Africa. Without communication skills they can not access educational programs or the job market. “Women Across Borders” answers this need through its literacy program. Once women have gone through the literacy program and can communicate and read, they have the possibility to access other training programs as well as health and personal development workshops. Language skills alone may not be enough to find a job or build a micro business, but learning new skills enlarge the spectrum of employability opportunities.

• Adult literacy
  This project is aimed at teaching refugee women and girls how to speak and write English. Language barriers are a crucial factor in a refugee's life and determine how easily one is integrated into the new community, and can interact with locals.
  
  Overcoming this will help many refugee women and girls to communicate and further their study formally and informally. It will help break the walls of xenophobia in our community. Computer programmes will also be implemented with the aim of providing sufficient skills that are in demand in the 21st century's economic market.
  
  
• Arts training
  The arts project is aimed at creating a platform of economic opportunities for women. They are taught how to start an SMME in any area that they show proficiency. The course helps the women to look after their children and family.
  
  
• Leadership workshops
  Women Across Borders will be hosting workshops and training days that vary in topics - for example - family planning; women and sexuality; how to save money; HIV and AIDS prevention methods; etc.
  Participants may be of mixed gender depending on the topics. Each workshop lasts for two days and participant age range is from 20 – 30 years.