Amani ya Juu means “higher peace” in Swahili. Amani is a skills training program for marginalized women seeking to restore hope and dignity to women struggling to understand their value and purpose. This peace initiative with roots in West Africa, was established and has flourished in East Africa. Amani's founder, Becky Chinchen, fled to Nairobi, Kenya with her family during Liberia's civil conflict in the mid-1990s. The experience of exile, grief, and loss common to refugees gave birth to the Amani project -- a place where women affected by conflict and injustice can work together to find healing. At Amani life can be resuscitated, and purpose can be restored. Amani has grown as peace experienced in Kenya extends to the planting of sister centers in Rwanda, Burundi, Washington, D.C. Now, Amani has come full circle in returning to Liberia!
Amani Liberia serves a two-fold purpose. Amani gives African women the opportunity to gain valuable skills in sewing and business by training in marketing, purchasing, bookkeeping, leadership, quality control, management and design. Individuals learn these skills as they become integrally involved in this self-sustaining social enterprise. Through this work, Amani aims to sow seeds of peace in the hearts of the women as they grow in community with one another and with God.
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