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About Elena
This
is mind, pushed us to the creation of ELENA NGO in 1991. ELENA
NGO is made up of a small group of women of various educational
backgrounds, professions, ethnic groups and cultures. Together we
became organised to grow and strengthen women. We
also improve and give orientation to teenage girls, handicapped
children/women and women in general, both educated and non-educated;
living in ignorance, abject poverty and in a society of discrimination, controlled by men. Therefore,
we aspire for social change, empowerment, conscientisation, learning,
transformation, and we strategize and take action against societal ills. In
a nutshell, we work against a society that imposes physical, economic,
racial, ideological, moral and psychological violence against women. We
also combat life styles that are based on egoism, dependence, historical
factors, inflexible political structures, and legalised discrimination
against women. Our
central motto is: Girls/Women, cease your inhumanity to men. ELENA
NGO started as far back as 1991 as an informal handicraft initiative, to
train girls and handicapped people who have not had the opportunity to
attend primary and post primary educational
institutions for one reason another. ELENA runs a multi-purpose
skills development centre for women, handicapped, and teenage girls. In
this centre, afflicted women/teenage girls acquire basic skills for life
for a token contribution. We are also concerned with women’s
illiteracy rates, which are in many cases twice as high men’s rates.
It may seem obvious, yet in the past two decades, the value and importance
of educating women has not been adequately recognised. As the cost of education has shifted from the State to the household, there
is now even greater emphasis on the education of boys over girls, if
the fees are at all affordable. We need to do something and very soon of
course. If nothing is done, then women will continue to work for longer
hours, be discriminated upon, and the man’s centered approach of our
society against women will continue unchecked. We are now diversifying activities for women so as to enable them acquire basic skills such as type writing, handicraft, business management, computer literacy, etc., in addition to farming activities and petty trading, to help to raise additional incomes for households. |
The
high rate of illiteracy amongst women has led to many physical
limitations to women's well-being, limited opportunities for accessing
information and developing awareness amongst women. The risk of
dependence is on the upward trend. Women work more hours than
men, regardless of the season, both in farming and non-farming
activities. Despite the high labour input by women, women are still
experiencing time in poverty and there is a need for women to depart from farm and
non-farm activities and to learn skills that can yield better income for