When Anna became a mother at just 19, she dreamed of giving her baby a safe and loving start in life. But as a single mother in Bucharest, with little support from her parents and no stable income, no money for rent or for her baby's milk, she was desperately vulnerable. During the first year of the pandemic, some high school colleagues reached out to her. They promised her help and “safe work from home” just by video chatting online…

On a quiet morning, weighed down by an inexplicable tension, twelve-year-old Hayat faced an experience that would change her life forever. It was 2006, and she sat quietly, wide-eyed and unsettled, watching her surroundings without understanding what was coming. When her eyes fell on the medical instruments — the scissors and razors — her young heart started to tremble. Overwhelmed by fear, she quickly spiraled into panic as the nurse and her assistant forcefully restrained her, exposing the lower part of her body…

In the heart of East Africa, where the sun rises over bustling towns and quiet villages, lives a woman whose smile defies the darkness she once endured. Her name is Aisha and her story is not only one of survival, but of extraordinary strength and renewal.

Violence against women is one of the most devastating and widespread human rights violations today. As the world nears the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, we are called to face this crisis with honesty, urgency, and unwavering determination. CWFL is proud to participate in this global effort…