Hope for Congo

This October 2nd I will be running 5K in honor of my daughter’s first mother.

I am not a runner. I’ve never been a runner. I am not even sure how to run. But, as we wait for our daughter to arrive home I’ve been using running in order to de-stress during the adoption process. I’m also putting rubber to the road for a good cause. I am in training for my first ever 5K.

The 5K event is sponsored by Women for Women International and Run for Congo Women Org. Women for Women International works in sponsoring women in war torn countries by teaching advocacy, financial assistance, job skill training, trauma counseling, and small business assistance so they can begin to rebuild their lives. These organizations began working in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2004 in the towns of Bukavu, Goma, and Baraka. The programs through Women for Women International have helped over 31,000 women in the DRC alone since it’s formation.

It’s my hope that as our daughter grows up, we can sponsor other women in the Congo through this organization and teach her to give back to her community and culture. I hope that each year, our own family can sponsor at least one woman in Congo in our daughter’s name. It will be our way of honoring her first mother and connecting our daughter’s roots. Although we cannot tell our daughter’s first mother thank you to the gift of life we have received through adoption, we hope to honor her in running and raising money to sponsor other women in similar situations.

If you’d like to join me in Chicago and run also, you can visit more info here or here or here. If you plan on joining us, please click here and rsvp so we can meet up before or after the race.

If you can’t run with us, but would like to contribute, we will be fund raising from now until October for Women for Women International. You can contribute by visiting our team fund raising page.

Our team name is Team Hope. Our daughter’s middle name also means hope.

My daughter (in a jogger), my husband, and I will be running together this October in Chicago. We hope you will join us there as well. 🙂

I run for Congolese women.

I run for my daughter’s mother.