Celebrating International Women’s Day – and #LastingChange – Please meet Eliafura, who is one of the many women to have benefited from support given through Comic Relief.

Through mentoring and training, the Gatsby Trust gave Eliafura the confidence to develop her business, and to make a #LastingChange by passing on her knowledge and skills to countless other women.

The Gatsby Trust (which has been awarded a Comic Relief grant of £264,959 over three years) helps 1000 female entrepreneurs by educating both women and their partners about women’s rights, and by providing support and training.

Team Honk is raising money and awareness for Comic Relief.
Tanya (T) from MummyBarrow, along with Annie from Mammasaurus and Penny from The Alexander Residence  (all of whom are the driving force behind Team Honk) have been invited to Tanzania by Comic Relief for International Women’s Day #iwd2014, to help raise awareness of how the charity has helped women in Tanzania get jobs, start businesses and secure a future for their families and communities. Creating female entrepreneurs and #lastingchange for women, their families and communities and beyond – rippling out #lastingchange in Africa.

More about Eliafura

Eliafura makes the most beautiful batiks and tie dyed material.  With the support of the Gatsby Trust Eliafura has registered her business and learned important health and safety rules around the chemicals she uses. Eliafura now also trains other women in the village who bring material to her and she shows them how to create these beautiful patterns. They sell easily to not only local schools where teachers like to buy them but also overseas.

Tanya, Team Honk, sent me a digital postcard of the photo of Eliafura: We bought her entire stock because we loved them all so much and are now working out how to sell them on so we can complete the circle of donation, funding, training, selling, donating.

Want to get involved yourself? The first ever Sport Relief games take place from 21-23 March, and you can sign up for your local event here.

Have you sponsored us? Us London-based types dressed up in tutus and stripy tights and joined in with Honkopoly #TeamHonkRelay, the London stretch of Team Honk’s relay from Lands End to John O’ Groats, to raise money for Sport Relief. You can find out more about it here, and sponsor our efforts through the London just giving page.

How else can you help? If you are on twitter, please RT, share and support any updates you see with the #lastingchange hashtag.

Read more about the Team Honk trip to Tanzania here, and here (Annie), here (Tanya) and here (Penny). We wish them all a safe journey, and look forward to hearing more from them on their return – Inspiring women, making a #LastingChange for #InternationalWomensDay #WomensDay #IWD14.