Women in rural Nicaragua face many challenges: the damaging farming practices of multinational companies, gender inequity and violence against women, severe hurricanes and severe drought tied to climate change, political violence, and, of course, Covid-19. Faced with these obstacles, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) partner Fundacion Entre Mujeres (FEM) is fighting back. As a farming cooperative, FEM provides training on how to become hibiscus farmers, beekeepers, and coffee growers and helps members process and sell their products. They support women experiencing violence and advocate for justice and convictions of abusers. Through adult literacy training and university scholarships for young women, FEM seeks to transform power dynamics between men and women so that campesinas, rural peasant women, can advance their power and their self-sufficiency.

Cristian Guzman Merio, the co-director of FEM, explains that FEM is building a cooperative that empowers women, enabling them to own their own land, participate in business and lead independent lives, happy and free from violence.

Every Sunday we say that the “First Unitarian Church of Wilmington is a beloved community that nourishes minds and spirits, fights injustice and transforms the world through loving action.” But how do we fight injustice? How do we transform the world? By supporting the UUSC through the Guest at Your Table program, we can help ensure that FEM will continue to fight injustice and transform the lives of Nicaraguan women. You can give online at this link, www.uusc.org/donate or use the envelope you received in this week’s mailing to send a check. This holiday season, please make room at your table for one more “guest.”