Meet Noongipa, 50, PWC Board Member

Noongipa outside her home

"My husband died when I was very young, I didn’t know anything, I didn’t know my rights. My husbands relatives took our 100 cows. The clan fought for me but I was only given back seven. I had to return to my parents home. I suffered but now I see widowed woman are not suffering in the same way, they go to PWC and find out what their rights are. 

Relatives tried to marry off my daughter when she was 11 but I resisted. I went to PWC and my MP and the relatives stopped, they were scared they’d be put in prison for trying to marry a girl under 18. My daughter now has a qualification in animal husbandry.  Education is a priority for me as I can see that girls who go to school understand their rights and people treat them differently. They have freedom to decide who to marry and what to do. PWC has sponsored another of my daughters. They're the only organisation in this district that's serious about girls education.

PWC has helped many women, and me personally, to promote our voices. If PWC ended women would become like orphans again, they wouldn’t have a place to run to."

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