WOMAN, CRADLE OF ABUNDANCE

The American non-profit Woman, Cradle of Abundance, Inc., was the beautiful outcome of a special meeting, when Monique Misenga Mukuna, the head of the Congolese non-profit Femme Berceau de l’Abondance (FEBA, French for Woman Cradle of Abundance), and Elsie Tshimunyi McKee became friends. Elsie was born and reared in the west Kasai province of the DRC. As a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary she has supported various educational and medical projects in the Kasai, including teaching there short-term. She became personally acquainted with “Maman Monique” and her work in 2008. When the African-initiated non-profit FEBA entered its second phase in 2010, Elsie began to work closely with Maman Monique and her colleagues. She spent several years working to establish a non-profit in North America to support FEBA’s ministry, which ultimately became Woman, Cradle of Abundance. In 2011, Elsie also began documenting FEBA’s story to share the amazing journeys of Maman Monique and her colleagues with her students and other North Americans. This culminated in a book in which Maman Monique tells her story, “Cradling Abundance. One African Christian’s Story of Empowering Women and Fighting Systemic Poverty”. It was published in July 2021 by IVP Academic. Establishing a non-profit in North America involved several partners, especially Shari Oosting but also Gordon Govens, Sandra Larson, Karen Oleri, and Lisa Robinson. Shari enlisted her lawyer relatives' help to apply for and receive IRS determination as a 501(c)3, in 2013. Shari and Elsie chose the name, FEBA, Inc., [yes, it is confusing!], which does business also under the name Woman Cradle of Abundance, Inc. Both FEBA, Inc., and Woman, Cradle of Abundance or WCoA are legally recognized names. In 2014, Cheryl Ciaranca, a teacher at Community Middle School in Plainsboro, NJ, asked if her youth club Hands Across the Water (HAW) could become a part of the FEBA, Inc./ Woman, Cradle of Abundance, Inc., non-profit. HAW had developed a long-term relationship with CENEDI, the Kivu non-profit Center to Mentor Children in Difficulties, led by Pastor Innocent Nunda wa Nunda. The goal of CENEDI, which addresses the problems of children and their families (mothers, sisters, others) who have suffered violence and have no access to education, are entirely compatible with those of FEBA in Kinshasa. FEBA puts primary emphasis on women and girls, but also educates children. CENEDI puts primary emphasis on educating children but also addresses violence against women and empowers them to support themselves. Both Congolese non-profits fulfill the mission of the US-based 501(c)3. This US-based non-profit is legally one entity, which has two focus points in Congo, one in Kinshasa, one in Kivu. Supporting the work of CENEDI in Kivu is primarily the responsibility of Hands Across the Water, the youth division; FEBA in Kinshasa is most closely related to the original WCoA.