The Women’s Organization of Rebirth Through Healing Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness around sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our mission is to educate individuals and mobilize communities. Through powerful initiatives, large and small, our purpose is to put pressure on world leaders who uphold and maintain a system of violence against women by allowing it to persist unaddressed. Apathy is a weapon that the world as a whole is guilty of. The Women’s Organization of Rebirth Through Healing seeks to connect and unite individuals worldwide, who share in our commitment to end violence. W.O.R.T.H. recognizes the dire need to address the human rights violations against women and children in the Congo. We seek to address and raise international awareness surrounding issues such as personal safety and security, sexual violence, displacement, access to health care, food and shelter, economic stability, detention, gender, religious, nationality and race based discrimination, among a myriad of other key issues necessary in demanding that human rights be accessible to all. At a grassroots level, W.O.R.T.H. is building partnerships with key organizations in the DRC, including Panzi Hospital, to address what is needed on the ground. Panzi Hospital is the primary hospital in South Kivu that specializes in treating traumatic fistula; in fact, it is the only hospital in South Kivu performing fistula repair operations. Each year, more than 3500 women come to the hospital in need of counseling or surgical treatment. There is nothing you can do from afar if you do not make the connection to what is truly needed on the ground. W.O.R.T.H.’s future plan is to build a W.O.R.T.H. transition house in the Eastern Congo that will serve as a safe space for women and children as they slowly begin their road to healing. At a community level, W.O.R.T.H. seeks to organize communities through education initiatives, including awareness raising campaigns and fundraisers organized by students on campuses across North America. At a global level, W.O.R.T.H. is dedicated to putting pressure on world leaders through the building up of collectives. These initiatives will be aimed at using activism through unity as a means of making sure voices are heard and faces are seen. We intend on reaching out to Congress I the US; to Parliament in Canada, to global leaders and activists worldwide to ensure that violence against women worldwide is on every agenda and made a key priority. Our goal is to ensure that the international community are no longer the guilty bystanders turning a blind eye to the deadliest war since World War II.

The Women's Organization of Rebirth Through Healing is poised to, not only reach the hearts and minds of those wanting to join our fight, but to put pressure on world leaders to take a stand against sexual violence as a weapon of war. It is a necessity that the G8 leaders and the United Nations play an integral role in intervening and putting an end to human rights violations in the Congo as well as other war torn countries. One of our missions, with your help and through partnerships with other organizations and sponsors who share our vision of hope, is to put pressure on world leaders and the international community. Join with us as we continue this fight for justice and humanity.

W.O.R.T.H.

The Women's Organization of Rebirth Through Healing is dedicated to raising international awareness surrounding violent sexual rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our mission is to assist in efforts that ensure that proper medical care is in place for women and children who have survived sexual violence. W.O.R.T.H. is committed to advocating for the overall wellbeing and self-resiliency of Congolese women and children. Our goal is to bring international attention to the persistence of sexual violence in the DRC and to support women and children who have suffered and continued to suffer as a result of armed conflict.

We serve women and girls of various ages who are survivors of brutal and inhumane sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of The Congo.

We also serve volunteers of all ages worldwide who would like to be involved with W.O.R.T.H. and help in our effort to mobilize communities. Education and awareness is key and involvement at a community level is essential.

W.O.R.T.H. has just launched a project to assist students who would like to raise awareness at their campus/ school/ sorority or fraternity. We provide students with informational resources and hand-on support in putting together fundraising initiatives and awareness raising campaigns at their school. The program is in need of funding as well.

Despite the immense success of our First Annual Benefit (as mentioned above), we truly need a primary sponsor for next year's Second Annual Benefit in Atlanta, which promises to be bigger than the first.

We also intend to organize an educational panel that will bring forth keynote speakers to share their experiences in their particular field, as well as how sexual violence has directly or indirectly impacted their work, their lives and/or their communities.

Aria Maddox, Founder
Joy Plaza, President
Leslie Lambert, Secretary
Veronica Rivera, Assistant Secretary
Kathleen Foreso, Treasurer

Our primary objective for the fiscal year is to reach out to potential sponsors who can assist us in establishing funding that is essential in program development and implementation.

Another objective is to carry forth fundraising initiatives and to support students in putting together education and awareness raising projects at their school.

We also intend to establish partnerships with grassroots organizations in the Congo and in America, who can work in collaboration with us to develop programs that are inclusive of the needs of all women and children in the Congo, for everyone in the DRC is directly or indirectly affected by sexual violence and the impacts of armed conflict and economic and political instability.

We are proud to announce that our First Annual W.O.R.T.H. Benefit, that took place on March 8th 2008 in New York City, was an incredible success.

The Benefit was an initiative aimed at using art in all its forms, as a platform for raising awareness. Among our incredible performers were some of the most successful spoken word artists in the world. We also had a live painting that was auctioned off, along with merchandise from incredible independent designers.

W.O.R.T.H. was able to raise money for Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The money raised will be used for medical equipment and supplies, to build up new programs dedicated to women's healthcare, and to assist in maintaining the infrastructure necessary to ensure a safe space for women and children.