Meet Kurandza

Hi, I’m Alicia and I’m an INFJ Personality Type. I’m categorized as an advocate, meaning that I value creativity, deep connections, and envision a peaceful world with equality for all. Becuase of this, I’m beginning a new series here on Alicia in Wonderland to spotlight changemakers and spread awareness of organizations that are working to make this world a better place.

In February, I had a chance to meet Elisabetta Colabianchi, founder, and owner of Kurandza, a nonprofit organization that betters the current and future the lives of women in Mozambique, by providing education, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development programs. Kurandza means “to love” in Changana, the local language of Mozambique. Below are a few questions I asked Elisabetta about her wonderful nonprofit:

When did you first have the idea of starting Kurandza?

The idea to start Kurandza came about after I completed my assignment with the Peace Corps as a Community Health Volunteer in Mozambique. My experience living and working in Mozambique for 3 years allowed me to create a strong bond with the community, and I wanted to find a way to continue working with and supporting this community once I was back to the States. When I arrived home from the Peace Corps in the fall of 2014, I decided to start Kurandza with my counterpart, Percina, as a way to continue working with my village.

Do you remember the first group of girls that you were able to help?

The first group of women that we were able to help was a group of 12 HIV+ women who had no source of income to pay for transportation to reach the hospital every month and get their antiretroviral treatment. Percina and I wrote a grant to get funding to build a workshop and buy sewing machines and supplies so that we could start a sewing cooperative as an income generation project for these women. We built the workshop ourselves out of wooden stakes and mud bricks, and we taught the group of 12 women about financial management, entrepreneurship, health, and the vocational skill of sewing. These women not only made enough funds to pay for transportation to reach the hospital every month, but they also earned enough to improve their homes, participate in community savings clubs, and send their children to school.

The first group of girls that we were able to help was a group of over 100 girls that were sponsored last year after our first #IStandForGirls Campaign. The girls are now able to attend one of our three partner schools: a pre-school, primary school, and secondary school. All girls received uniforms, backpacks, textbooks, and school supplies in addition to having their school fees paid for.

How many women/girls have you helped since then?

Since we’ve started, we’ve helped over 100 girls get scholarships, 17 women have had access to jobs, over 150 women have been trained in nutrition and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and hundreds of other community members have been impacted by our work.

What does the future of Kurandza look like to you?

We have big plans for the future! We plan on creating a vocational center for women and a leadership academy for girls. We plan to continue with our annual #IStandForGirls campaign and this year our goal is to secure educational scholarships for 200 girls!

We also look forward to helping empower more community women to start their own businesses and become economically self-sufficient.

We’re excited to build an even bigger community of like-minded purpose-driven women around the world who want to join our cause to give back and make a difference!

What are other ways that we can support girls, besides a sponsorship?

There are so many different ways to help support our mission!

If you’re a business owner, you can become a partner and join our giveback partnership program and donate a percentage of revenue or set donation amount to our cause every month.
If you want to help by spreading the word about our cause, you can join the #IStandForGirls launch team and post on social media and/or blog about our cause (it’s launching September 1st, 2018!)
If you want to help on the ground in Mozambique, you can join us for our Empowerment Trip to Mozambique and meet the girls and women that you’re helping support!