CITY OF JOY
V-WORLD FARM
By July 2013, the City of Joy had graduated 222
women! Women are leaving the City of Joy having
had the opportunity to heal from their emotional
wounds, live in community, recognize their leadership
skills, and gain valuable skills they can apply to their
lives, future business, and engagement in civic life.
The V-World farm, a partnership between V-Day and
the 11th Hour Project, is a sustainable farm about an
hour away from the City of Joy, which is partly
serving as an added learning tool for the women at
the program, reinforcing this feeling of forward thinking
for Congolese women. A lush expanse of land with
carrot, cassava, corn, tomato, soya, rice and bean
crops, the grounds include Tilapia ponds and many
pigs. V-Day’s plan is to develop the farm into a
functioning and commercially successful model
over the next 10 years, to be run by women survivors
who will live there to form a farming cooperative.
The cooperative will tend to the land and also train
participants at the City of Joy in sustainable farming
methods.
On a cultural and political level, the City of Joy
stands out as a unique example of a project that has
its eye on the future of Congo. City of Joy provides a
foundation for its women participants, and is an
inspiring a new model of programming. It has also
served as a physical hub for grassroots sensitization
work, from which women participants have boldly
advocated for themselves and their sisters in the
press and in front of elected officials.
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