The Friends Women Association (FWA) is an organization led by and for women. It was started in 2002 by women who wanted to work together to help each other improve their lives, and in particular to address the problem of HIV/AIDS and violence against women in their community.
Throughout the cycles of violence that have affected Burundi, the women of this small African country have been devastated by their vulnerability to the challenges of widowhood and trauma.
They have held back their tears and rarely have they been offered opportunities to express their pain, and as such they have hidden in the depths of their hearts a strong desire to speak out. This reflects their situation of living in a state of permanent trauma. The wars have taken away their husbands and their brothers, and for some of them, their mothers and sisters as well.
The Friends Women’s Association (FWA) was founded by a group of women in Bujumbura, Burundi, on August 18, 2002, during a two-day workshop about the trauma of war and HIV/AIDS. They decided to focus their work on the national struggle against HIV/AIDS and malaria, working through community participation and improving the health situation of mothers and their children.
They were inspired by the Burundian poverb that says “umukobwa ntaseka uwundi aba yibagiye” or “Rather than mocking your colleague, do something to help her, since tomorrow it might be you who needs help.” FWA calls out to women to create constructive interpersonal relationships so that together they may address the fight against AIDS, malaria, poverty, and violence.
On May 31, 2003, Friends Women’s Association was incorporated as a not-for-profit in Burundi. In 2004, a medical clinic was opened in Kamenge in order to treat malaria, opportunistic infections of HIV/AIDS patients, pre- and post-HIV test counseling, as well as to provide activities to assist orphans and other vulnerable children. Considering the violence that Kamenge has faced, the need for peace education and trauma healing was also clear.
Furthermore, for women, many of them former refugees who are trying to reintegrate with their communities, there is an important need to support ex-combattants that are in the midst of being reintegrated in their communities of origin after the peace accords signed in Arusha by the new government.
In April 2006, FWA’s lease ended, and it was decided that the clinic should move to a more permanent location on property owned by FWA. Since then, a main clinic building has been built, and additional construction is underway (see “Building the Clinic”).
FWA tries to aid women’s medical and social needs. We encourage the resucitation of hope and of good thoughts for a successful cohabitation with neighbors and a new start for the construction of a durable peace.
