it’s, you know… that time

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Okay, this one may make some girls roll their eyes and not want to read past this sentence:  let’s talk about “that time of the month.”  Are you still with me?  I know, no one really wants to talk about it but it’s something all girls have in common and really should feel more comfortable talking about with one another.  All too often American girls seem to shy away from this topic and not realize that their girlfriends are the best source of support and understanding when it’s that dreaded time of month.  Most of us find this an uncomfortable subject here– one better addressed by commercials and hopefully with no brothers or fathers in the room.  In countries around the world, however, this is a subject that brings women and girls together, unfortunately usually outside of the classroom, back at home, where girls are stuck being just because it’s “that time of the month.”

thinkpeace workshop for girls recently handed over 3500 pairs of panties which are now on their way to Haiti.  Our goal with our Drop off Your Drawers campaign is 5000 so we’re still working at it but this was a fantastic donation that will ensure that girls in rural areas of Haiti can attend school and live comfortably, covered in a way that makes them feel safer and more protected.  In too many parts of the world, clean underwear and/or feminine hygiene products are simple  luxuries that most people cannot afford nor do they have access to them.  It’s something that we just take for granted.  We know our underwear drawers are full and we know that we have products to protect us.  Millions of women and girls will never know that kind of freedom.  We want to share a story with you written by a wonderful friend, Denise Stasik, who has done amazing work with women and girls in Zimbabwe and Uganda:

about underwear 

We are all the same. Women are all the same. So just like women in industrial countries, women in Africa also have monthly cycles and are in need of feminine hygiene products.

Why do I state the obvious? Because I have met many people who don’t understand that women, wherever we live, have the same basic health care needs. And this subject of feminine hygiene makes many people uncomfortable, as if to discuss it is taboo for some reason. Yet here it is – an ongoing monthly problem for many women worldwide.

This need was brought to my attention in an odd way when I was working in Zimbabwe.  During our feast day, a sudden wind sent our paper and plastic bags swirling across the sand. Quickly, young children jumped up and ran to retrieve them.  Rather than returning to our table, the children ran towards their homes, carrying the bags with them, big smiles on their faces.  I asked an elder woman what was happening. She explained that young women often cannot leave their homes for one week each month while they have their period, as they have no hygienic products. They use whatever they or their children can find – mixtures of dirt and grass, newspaper, plastic bags. They must wash and save these things to reuse month to month.  Not only are these materials irritating to the skin, they are unsanitary and can lead to dangerous infections.  In addition, I learned that no one could afford the equivalent of $1 US per pad when the daily wage earning, if any, was between $.50 to $1.00 US per day. If the cost alone is not prohibitive, the disposal of these products is. There is no weekly garbage pick-up. There are no garbage cans for disposal of waste.

I discussed this issue further with the school teachers and was made aware of the impact lack of feminine hygiene supplies has on most girls’ education.  By the time a girl reaches adolescence she is likely to drop out of school because missing a week of school each month is just too difficult for her to handle academically.  In addition, the anxiety of not knowing when Day 1 will start each month causes some girls to just stop trying to make the long walk to school.  Uneducated girls become socially and economically vulnerable young women with few options to safely and adequately provide for themselves and their families.

We were fortunate to learn about a wonderful disposable, reusable, durable feminine hygiene pad product. Made of unbleached Killington Flannel, this pad can be used with or without underwear (yes, many women have not even one pair of underwear).  With sewing patterns, thread and needles in hand, we laid out the cloth and prepared for our first class, which had been estimated by the elder women to be approximately 40 in attendance. Soon the women streamed in from their huts, and the total attendance was near 300 by day’s end. After the lesson on women’s health and hygiene, we distributed the bright orange and blue patterns. The women smiled, picked up the scissors and began to cut. No need for a pattern – these women could sew!

Such great joy of women working beside women filled the air. The excitement of this new product that would help make their lives a little less cumbersome was almost palpable. The female bonding was warm and wonderful as we embraced one another.  We are all the same.

At the end of this trip, we distributed underwear to all of the women who had participated in this project. I held the large bowl filled with the many colored panties, and offered the first pair to the oldest woman who participated in this project. She gleefully chose a bright yellow pair.  With a bright smile, she asked, “Now, how many women do I share this with and who are they?” It took a few seconds for me to understand that she thought this pair of underwear was hers for only one week each month and then would rotate through three other women before returning to her the following month.

I replied, “This is for you and only you.” She looked stunned as she clasped her undergarment to her chest.  Through tears, she slowly and sincerely said, “Never before have I been given such a precious gift.”  I was speechless.  No words could express the many mixed emotions that I was feeling.  This was a pair of women’s underwear, nothing more. But to her, it was a precious gift.  The remaining women were just as excited to choose their pair. The yellows and pinks quickly disappeared, followed by blue and white. Strangely to me, all of the purple ones were the last to be chosen. I asked why. The women replied that purple was a “royal” color, which they related to “rich and powerful.” They did not feel worthy of royal.

We repeated this project in other African villages. After completing this project in one such area and returning 10 months later, one young woman approached me outside of our first aid clinic. She asked to speak with me in private, behind the building. I followed her outside. I wondered what was on her mind as she slowly pulled up her skirt. She wanted to discreetly show me that she was wearing one of these reusable pads. This woman had walked 4 miles to tell me how much this had changed her life. She was now able to leave her hut every day, any day of the month. She was able to cook and care for her children without the worry of dealing with her body’s needs in more cumbersome ways. Like many of the women in the first project site, this woman had also formerly used a mixture of grass and mud, which caused great irritation to her skin. She smiled and said, “Now I am like you because I can be a moving woman all days.” We embraced, and I held on a little longer as I again thought, “Yes, we are all the same.”

In this same African district, we had presented the pad project to the young girls still in school. The headmaster was thrilled, as she too noted the unsettling drop in female retention rates in school as adolescence approached. But when we returned the following year, the headmaster excitedly described a 39% increase in female retention rate at the school.  She attributed this increase to the pad project and predicted that number would continue to grow. These young girls now have a realistic means to meet the needs of their changing bodies. The headmaster made several pads and stocked them in the first aid kit in her office. She communicated to her students that if a need arose during school hours, the girls should come to her office and she would assist them.

Some of you reading this might still be feeling uncomfortable with the subject of women’s menstruation and feminine hygiene.  But if you are a woman living in the United States, you have easy access to products that allow you to navigate freely at home, school, work and in the world (and if you are a man, you are realizing “I had no idea….”).  Let’s make what is a natural part of growing up more comfortable for girls in Uganda and make it possible for them to stay in school and build a better future.  And let’s give Ugandan women the freedom to “be a moving woman all days.”

________

We are excited that our friends at the Giving Circle will be teaching thinkpeace girls how to make pads this summer at camp.  These will go with our outreach packages for girls and women in Uganda.  If you would like to donate some Killington flannel to this project, please contact us!

bearing witness

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we care

On this last day of Genocide Awareness month, we are reflecting.  It’s been a busy month for thinkpeace girls as they worked hard to raise awareness and funds with StudentsRebuild and One Million Bones for CARE.  We made bones at our club meetings, at school, at a mother/daughter event, in our neighborhoods and at a community event.  With every bone a dollar was raised to go towards the efforts of CARE to help victims and survivors of displacement in the Sudan, Burma, Somalia and the DRC.  Through the efforts of thinkpeace girls we’ve contributed about $1000.  More importantly, we’ve learned about the ongoing atrocities in these countries and have raised awareness among our families, friends, and in our communities.  Most importantly, we have felt the responsibility to bear witness and take a stand for peace.  One girl, one voice, one bone… matters.

Last week we listened as Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace prize winner Elie Wiesel introduced President Obama (at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum) with this hard question:  ”Given the possibilities of power and the suffering of children… what is it about the human psyche that can allow humans to become inhuman?”  To which the President responded with “We all love, hope and dream.  How can this have happened? We must teach our children that awareness without action changes nothing.”  He went on to discuss the need to mobilize peoples’ consciences.  This past month, thinkpeace workshops have focused our efforts on trying to do just that.  We’ve talked a lot about how humans become inhuman, enough to murder people they once thought of as friends or worse, who were their brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.  We know that when the flames of fear are fanned, people react.  We know that when babies are hungry and there is no hope of a cup of grain in sight, people react.  We know that when dynamic leaders make promises of a better future, people react.  We are wired to protect ourselves and our children, but at what cost?  What is the solution?

If we believe in the fundamental right to live in peace then we must not turn our backs to the suffering that continues today around the world.  Together we can raise our voices and say, “Never again!”  And then, the hard work begins.  We have to know what’s happening in the world and connect our voices with those of the people in Sudan, Burma, Somalia, the DRC, Afghanistan, Cambodia and elsewhere who are saying, “Hear us!”  Together we can calm fears through education and safety measures within communities.  Together we can create sustainable living so that no one is hungry.  Together we can learn to listen and share, creating dialogue between all people.  What connects us all is our humanity.  No matter where we live or how well we live, we are all connected.  President Obama said, “Preventing genocide and atrocities are at the core of our National security and are in the moral interest of the United States.”  We have to do everything we can to prevent genocide and to help those who have suffered.

We must bear witness.  Which means that we will take a stand.  thinkpeace girls have been making bones as a part of a national art statement illustrating the deaths and destruction of genocide.  At our state installation in New York, we laced the pathway of bones with sprigs of baby’s breath, signifying a breath of hope– that a new generation will not know this kind of suffering firsthand.  Elie Wiesel said, “Memory is our sacred duty.”  Let’s hope that generations to come will only know the memories.  Let’s work together to ensure that.  Let’s bear witness.  Let’s use our voices, our hands, our brains, and our hearts to heal the world.

We want to share with you a poem that a friend and peacebuilder wrote specifically for thinkpeace girls to recite on the National Day of Action.  From New York to California, these words were spoken and felt, deep in our bones and in our hearts:

Prayers for Peace                                                                                                                  by Ann Keeler Evans, M.Div. ©2012

I.  When I said that I would work for Peace                                                                             It seemed as if it were                                                                                                          The natural place                                                                                                                   To go to work.                                                                                                                           I believe in Peace… it’s the right thing to do.

There was so much I learned                                                                                                As I started this journey —                                                                                                  That although the precepts behind Peace                                                                           Are so very simple                                                                                                               The work of Peace can be quite complicated.

And was I naïve to believe                                                                                                  That everyone wanted Peace?                                                                                       Maybe I was…                                                                                                                   There certainly seem to be many                                                                                   Grown-ups                                                                                                                   Working against it…

Okay…                                                                                                                                      I may not know                                                                                                                   How Peace will work everywhere                                                                                        But I can be part of how it starts.                                                                                          It’s not a lot, but it’s a step                                                                                                        I can take for Peace.

I will accept Peace as my goal                                                                                            And I will bear witness                                                                                                           Both when it works                                                                                                             And when it doesn’t.

I will bear witness…

II.  When I said that I would work for Peace                                                                      What I didn’t understand                                                                                                   Was that all the world didn’t value                                                                                    Each and every girl.                                                                                                                  I believe in Peace… it’s the right thing to do.

It makes me mad when I think                                                                                            That some people don’t think                                                                                            Girls should go to school                                                                                                       Or grow up and get a job                                                                                                      Or become an astronaut                                                                                                       Or a President                                                                                                                       Or a Peacemaker.

It frightens me when I hear                                                                                                       That girls                                                                                                                                   Just like me                                                                                                                           Are being hurt                                                                                                                      And bought and sold.                                                                                                         Why don’t people know                                                                                                     How precious they are?                                                                                                     Why don’t they care?

I will not stand in silence.                                                                                                          I will help to make them visible                                                                                                 I will learn at least one girl’s name                                                                                      And what is important to her.                                                                                                It’s not a lot, but it’s a step                                                                                                        I can take for Peace.

I will accept Peace as my goal                                                                                            And I will bear witness                                                                                                       Both when it works                                                                                                             And when it doesn’t.

I will bear witness…                                                                                                                1. I will bear witness…

III.  When I said I would work for Peace                                                                                    I believed that the world                                                                                               Wanted to live without war.                                                                                                      I believe in Peace… It’s the right thing to do.

And then I read about lives                                                                                              Being destroyed                                                                                                                  And houses and villages and countries                                                                           Being leveled                                                                                                               Because someone                                                                                                             Must win!

People are killing one another.                                                                                          They are torturing one another.                                                                                         They are hardening their hearts                                                                                     Against their neighbors.

It breaks my heart.                                                                                                                   It scares me.                                                                                                                             I don’t know what to do.                                                                                                      But I won’t sit around and do nothing.

I will speak out.                                                                                                                         I will put out petitions.                                                                                                               I will send supplies as I am able.                                                                                          It’s not a lot, but it’s a step                                                                                                        I can take for Peace.

I will accept Peace as my goal                                                                                            And I will bear witness                                                                                                       Both when it works                                                                                                             And when it doesn’t.

I will bear witness…                                                                                                                1.  I will bear witness.                                                                                                             2.  I will bear witness.

IV.  When I said that I would work for Peace                                                                            I didn’t realize that                                                                                                              Entire countries were invested                                                                                               In the failure of other countries                                                                                              To live in peace.                                                                                                                        I believe in Peace… It’s the right thing to do.

That war was as much or more                                                                                       About money                                                                                                                     Than it was about                                                                                                           Tribes.

That people depended upon                                                                                              Our not knowing that                                                                                                             So that they could                                                                                                       Continue to pursue their own needs.

Well, I’m going to learn about money.                                                                                  I’m going to learn about politics.                                                                                           I’m not going to be                                                                                                      Someone you catch in your swirl                                                                                           Of Lies.                                                                                                                                  It’s not a lot, but it’s a step                                                                                                        I can take for Peace.

I will accept Peace as my goal                                                                                            And I will bear witness                                                                                                       Both when it works                                                                                                             And when it doesn’t.

I will bear witness…                                                                                                                1.  I will bear witness                                                                                                              2.  I will bear witness                                                                                                              3.  I will bear witness

V.  When I said that I would work for Peace                                                                             I had no idea how unprepared I was.                                                                                   But now I’m learning what it is                                                                                                  I need to know.                                                                                                                   This much I do know:                                                                                                                I believe in Peace… it’s the right thing to do.

So I’m setting myself some goals.                                                                                    There is some part of peace about which                                                                                I will care passionately.                                                                                                         I’m going to learn all I can about it.                                                                                       I’m going to learn how I can impact it.                                                                                  I’m going to apply what I learn.                                                                                             I’m going to share what I learn.                                                                                             I’m going to find as many girls as I can                                                                      Wherever they are in the world                                                                                          Who also care about Peace.

There are skills that I have that not everyone has.                                                              The world needs my skills, so I’m going to develop them.                                                   I’m going to practice them.                                                                                                   I’m going to teach them to other people who need them.                                                  And then I’m going to put them to work in the service of Peace.

And in the meantime, I’ll keep growing up                                                                      Strong and Lovely                                                                                                                Full of art and play and laughter and friendships.                                                                 I’ll reach out to whoever wants to work for peace.                                                          These are the steps, I can take for Peace.                                                                         And they’re worth a lot to someone!

I will accept Peace as my goal                                                                                            And I will bear witness                                                                                                       Both when it works                                                                                                             And when it doesn’t.

I will bear witness…                                                                                                                1.  I will bear witness                                                                                                              2.  I will bear witness                                                                                                              3.  I will bear witness                                                                                                              4.  I will bear witness

VI:  When we said we wanted to work for Peace                                                                We didn’t realize how complicated it was.                                                                        Now that we know, we believe even more strongly                                                        Peace is the right thing to do.

We’re going to learn.                                                                                                       We’re going to make friends.                                                                                          We’re going to help.                                                                                                        We’re going to make a difference.                                                                                  We’re going to make a global village                                                                                     Of people who care again.

When things don’t work, we’ll try again.                                                                          When things are hard, we’ll encourage each other.                                                        When things are ugly, we won’t look away.                                                                     When things are wounding, we’ll care for one another.                                                  When things are needed, we’ll find a way to help.                                                             And when things are beautiful,                                                                                            We will dance and celebrate and share food                                                                    And Dreams                                                                                                                        And Wonder                                                                                                                        And Laughter.

And then we’ll get back to work.                                                                                     There will always be more work to do.                                                                            There will always be more connections to make.                                                            There will always be more truths to tell.                                                                           There will always be those who need us                                                                               To stand with them

                                                                                                                                             But you know what?

Peace…                                                                                                                                It’s our goal.                                                                                                                           It’s what we believe in.                                                                                                          It’s what we do.                                                                                                                     It’s how we live.

creating change

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displacement

From Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize speech (1986)–

[A boy] asked his father: “Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?”

And now the boy is turning to me. “Tell me,” he asks, “what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?” And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.”

 

Lately I’ve found myself explaining to people the latest thinkpeace focus:  the One Million Bones project.  The first reaction is one of total confusion.  “Bones?  Why are you making bones?”  When I talk about genocide, the expressions become ones of concern but also of only of distant recognition.  The fact is, most people I talk to have no idea that genocide has occurred in their lifetime.  Most believe that such atrocities have not happened since World War II.  If you ask most teenagers, they truly have no idea.   Yes, we know that wars have happened and still are… and we know that there is suffering in the world.  But genocide and displacement?  These concepts seem to go undiscussed at school and at the family dinner table.  The fact is, as a whole, we seem to have tuned out this news:  genocide and displacement are CURRENT events.

At our thinkGIRLUP monthly meetings, we’ve been discussing why these atrocities are still occurring, why world governments are not taking a stronger stand, why these issues are not talked about in social studies classes and more.  We talk about intolerance and acceptance.  From the school bus to the mall to our neighborhoods and communities and on into the world, intolerance is what creates conflict.  We talk about raising awareness and using the power of our voices and the creativity of our hands to enact change.  And we make bones.  Why bones?  The bones  are symbols of a couple of things.  First, we know this:  when you take away the things that make people different, the color of their skin, hair, eyes, their religious and cultural differences, etc., you see that we are all the same.  We are bones.  We all have the same ones, with the same shape, tone and texture.  We are one and the same.  Second, the bones signify the bodies of all those who have fallen victim to genocides around the world.  We have joined the One Million Bones campaign, in partnership with StudentsRebuild and CARE, to raise awareness and funds (for survivors and victims of ongoing displacement in Sudan, Burma, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) through art activism.  This is our way to spread our voices, combined with others, to create change, to insist on tolerance and to take a stand against genocide.

“It’s often too easy to feel that the problems of others who live far away in circumstances we cannot imagine are not ‘ours,’” said Leslie Thomas, curator and co-director of “Congo/Women” and the founding executive director of Art Works Projects. “But if we do our job right, the arts can help us come together and take that next step to support those with whom we share this earth.”  We are all connected on this planet, but so often we seem to forget our global brothers and sisters, making us accomplices to the crimes against humanity.  As a photographer, Marcus Bleasdale believes art is an empowering medium for activism. His photos  highlight the most extreme human rights abuses around the world.  He believes that “artists partnering with NGOs, advocacy groups, and individuals that lobby organizations and governments can learn about abuses, including sexualized violence used in conflict.”  The visual image goes a long way in illustrating the issues facing humanity.

Naomi Natale, founder of the One Million Bones project said, “is important to recognize that these atrocities are occurring today, and that intolerance is at the root of these conflicts. Equally important, however, is the message that there is hope for a better future, and through working together to learn about the mistake of intolerance and actively contributing to a collective movement, students can deal with genocide in a manner which allows them to be empowered.”  Students CAN learn.  Youth CAN be heard.  And collective action can make a real difference.

“At the end of the day, the job of all of us working in human rights is to let the story of individuals shine through our chosen mediums as storytellers,” said Leslie Thomas.  At thinkpeace workshop for girls, we believe the impact of one million bones being displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC will open minds and hearts and get people talking… and ACTING.  thinkpeace girls are taking action.  They are talking to friends, neighbors, and family members, raising awareness and asking for action.  They are telling the stories of the victims and survivors with every bone they make, so that no one is forgotten.

“When we make something with our hands it changes the way we think; which changes the way we feel; which changes the way we act.” —Carl Wilkens


on girls, gloria, and a global equal rights amendment

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When my daughter was in 3rd grade she did her biography report on Gloria Steinem.  She stood up on a soap box in front of her class with her long, blonde hair and 70s style aviator glasses demanding equal rights for all.  As she practiced her speech in front of me, I remember wondering: who is the Gloria Steinem of this generation and where is the feminist cry for equality that was such a big part of my childhood?

In 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John, “In the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.”  Ah, a feminist voice from the beginning of our country’s development.  Still, nearly 75 years later, women were still not being heard, valued, or counted by the U.S. Constitution.  In general they could not vote, own property, keep their own wages, or even have custody of their children. Public demand for equality first became known in 1848, at the first Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott  held a meeting of 300 women and men to call for justice for women in a society where they were across the board barred from the rights and privileges of citizens. A “Declaration of Sentiments” and eleven other resolutions were adopted, but the right to vote was still too hot of an issue for most Americans.

To Susan B. Anthony, this was unacceptable. In 1872, she went to the polls in Rochester, NY, and cast a ballot in the presidential election, citing her citizenship under the 14th Amendment. She was arrested, tried, convicted, and fined $100, which she refused to pay. In 1875, the Supreme Court in Minor v. Happersett said that while women may be citizens, all citizens were not necessarily voters, and states were not required to allow women to vote.  Until the end of their lives, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned for a constitutional amendment affirming that women had the right to vote.  Feminists of their generation who fought a good fight but left so much work to be done.

The 1900s saw more women take on the issue of equal rights as women joined the workforce and led the movement for progressive social reform.  Finally there was enough support nationally to win the vote. Carrie Chapman Catt and the National American Woman Suffrage Association were the new voices being heard throughout the country. Together with progressive voters, they finally won the first specific written guarantee of women’s equal rights in the Constitution, the 19th Amendment, which declared, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” It had been 150 years from Abigail Adams’ advice to President Adams to this victory for American women.

In the 1960s, over a century after the fight to end slavery fostered the first wave of the women’s rights movement, the civil rights battles of the time provided an impetus for the second wave. Women organized to demand their birthright as citizens with the call for an Equal Rights Amendment.  The Equal Rights Amendment passed the U.S. Senate and then the House of Representatives, and on March 22, 1972, the proposed 27th Amendment to the Constitution was sent to the states for ratification.  Arguments by ERA opponents played on the same fears that had generated opposition to woman suffrage. Anti-ERA organizers claimed that the ERA would deny a woman’s right to be supported by her husband, the overturning of privacy rights would be overturned, women would be sent into combat, and abortion rights and homosexual marriages would be upheld.

Although we’ve made strides and have won several battles, women still face many challenges.  Our work isn’t done.  When I was in 3rd grade I marched with my mom and the National Organization for Women.  When my daughter was in 3rd grade she seemed poised to be the next Gloria Steinem!  5 years later she’s just really coming into her own voice and realizing that it needs to be heard.  Louder.  Louder,  Louder.  And her voice needs to join with mine and yours and hers and theirs.  The voices of the women before us, from Abigail Adams to the National American Woman  Suffrage Association to Susan B. Anthony to Gloria Steinem to Hillary Clinton are calling us to use OUR voices to continue to demand change.

A recent New York Times article reflecting on Gloria Steinem’s pivotal role in the women’s rights movement, quoted the author Susan Faludi, “We’ve not seen another Gloria Steinem because there is only one Gloria, and someone with her combination of conviction, wit, smarts and grace under fire doesn’t come along every day.”  I beg to differ.  I see it every day.  I see it in girls.  They’ve got grit.  They have great voices.  I agree with Sarah Hepola, “Ms. Steinem’s DNA has been scattered into a million cells — in the blogs, as well as in the work of women whose labors do not land them on cable shows: Ai-jen Poo, the organizer of Domestic Workers United, or Navi Pillay, head of the Commission on Human Rights at the United Nations.”  They’re in Leymah Gbowee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Tawakkol Karman.  They’re in Lady Gaga, Emily-Anne Rigal and thinkpeace girls!   It’s not about one specific thing anymore, one specific issue, and one specific leader.  It’s about teaching girls to collectively use their voices for humanity and join ours as women.  “We often have a cultural fantasy about individuals,” said Emily Nussbaum, the television critic for The New Yorker and a longtime feminist reporter. “But collaboration is just as frequently the source of great things, and it’s less rarely recognized. Change doesn’t always happen because of one person.” Together we are the fourth wave of feminism.  Feminisms.  Plural.  Our isms embrace humanity:  tolerance, justice, equality.   It’s time for a Global Equal Rights Amendment.  As Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “Human rights are women’s rights… And women’s rights are human rights.” Let’s get these great girl voices going!  The next Gloria Steinem is in us all.

 

 

 

on water

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World Water Day is Thursday, March 22.

3.575 million people die each year from a water related disease.                                            Women spend 200 million hours a day collecting water.

Water.  Humans are more than 60% water. Our blood is 92% water, the brain and muscles are 75% water, even our bones are about 22% water! Water cleanses our bodies, our belongings. Water keeps us alive. Today, nearly one billion people (that’s one in eight) lack access to clean water.  When we thinkpeace, we thinkwater.

The water we see and feel now is the same ancient water on the earth from the very beginning of time! Our atmosphere draws water into itself, and willingly, constantly gives it all back to the earth time after time after time. When we think of water, we might picture the churning of a beautiful green ocean, or a still quiet lake. Perhaps we see ourselves on the banks of a river that has carved the great canyons, or we feel the mist and see a rainbow appear by a tropical waterfall. We are water, water is us.  We are one and the same.

In her TED talk, Suddenly, My Body, Eve Ensler spoke on her relationship with water after her friend performed a healing ritual to help rid her body of cancer. She said, “It was energy, love and joy. It was all these things, it was all these things, it was all these things, in the water, in the world, in my body.” She felt the hurt, the pain, the healing. She felt the intense connectedness between her body and the earth.

On July 28th 2012, ThinkPeace Workshop’s 4th annual Summer Camp will commence. We couldn’t be more excited!  We have so many amazing things planned for you!  We have been busy this year making incredible connections and dreaming and scheming up rainbows of possibilities, from soulful art projects similar to our story boards last year to making bones for an installation on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to beginning writing our own stories, and finding our voices to performance art and multi media productions!  Again, this will all take place in Saratoga Springs, NY, a place known for it’s healing springs.  All around the city continual flowing springs are offered as places of healing.  Each one has a separate name and mineral content.  Each one claims to help heal specific ailments. Tasting them, or ‘taking the waters’ as Saratogians call it, is said to promote health, longevity and well being.  These endless springs well up from deep inside the earth and are a large part of what makes Saratoga Springs a special place. At ThinkPeace Workshop summer camp, you will have an opportunity to ‘take the waters’ as a part of connecting with the earth as begin to cultivate your voice, your life. We’ll talk bones and water and girl issues as we embark on our journey to be the change!

Mary Oliver wrote~                                                                                                               At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled

after a night of rain.

I dip my cupped hands. I drink

a long time. It tastes

like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold

into my body, waking the bones. I hear them

deep inside me, whispering

oh what is that beautiful thing

that just happened?

Come see what can happen at ThinkPeace Workshop for Girls this summer!

on tolerance

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Oh… I started to write a long post about anger management and tolerance but then I realized something:  I have to stop!  I’ve been holding on to some pretty negative feelings for a couple of days and it’s time to just stop!  That doesn’t mean that I’m not still upset or that I’m not going to do something about it!  It just means that, POOF! like that, I am sending the negative energy away!

What a relief.  Now I can deal with what made me angry in the first place.  I feel so much more in control and can now be productive.  Ah, I’m breathing!

This morning I had a note from the Universe:

“Guidance, attention, help, maybe.  Love, always.  Criticism, never.                                           What to give others.”

#positivereinforcement

 

you are amazing!

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“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”― Maya Angelou

There is nothing simple about you.  You have an amazing voice inside you.  You think, you feel, you act, you learn, you care.  You are always absorbing and forever becoming.  The best news is that you always will be!  You are never a finished product.  Each experience you have, every person who touches your life, each lesson you learn will add to who you become.

Recently I have read several books by incredible women who, it just so happens, are still becoming.  Who they are today is so not who they imagined themselves to be when they were 14, 24, or 34.  When Leymah Gwobee (Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of Mighty Be Our Powers) was a teenager, she assumed she would graduate from high school and go right off to college.  Then a horrific war broke out and consumed her country and dashed her dreams.  She reinvented herself in her 20s.  And again in her 30s.  Karen Maezen Miller, author of Hand Wash Cold, was certain that she was headed for corporate success and a life without children.  Once she achieved some success in her field, she realized that something was missing.  Her journey led her to become a Buddhist priest AND a mom!  Despite the changes these women have made in their lives, they are also still the girl with the dream and the young woman with the plan.  What they have in common is that they opened themselves up to becoming.  Who we are today isn’t the end , nor is it really the beginning.

You have already had many experiences that have shaped you.  Tomorrow you will have some that might make you reevaluate parts of yourself.  Next year your world could be rocked by some tragedy or some exposure to a new idea.  Five years from now you will think you have it sorta figured out.  And then you won’t.  It’s all good.  It all is a part of the you that is constantly evolving.  The you that is like no other on the planet.  You are amazing.  Maybe it’s time to start keeping a life journal.

Life journals are never ending places to explore who you are in the present moment, what came before, and what is still to come.  It’s never completed.  You can start and restart it over and over, with months or years in between.  The cool thing is that you’ll be able to keep a sort of running dialog going with your self.  The self you were and the self you are– and maybe it will help you along the way.  Recently I picked up mine from years ago and saw that I’m still struggling with some of the same issues I had back in junior high.  I was frustrated that I’m still coping with these parts of myself…and then I realized something new.  I realized that what I struggle with has also become what I am strengthened by and comforted by.  I have used what I have always thought of as my greatest weakness to become a better friend and a much better parent.  That thing that gnawed at me since childhood has made me create a different life for myself than if I hadn’t acknowledged it.  I love knowing that I am still growing, still becoming.  I wonder who I’ll be, how I will change and how I will stay the same, in ten years.  Wow, I just felt something.  Once again, I feel connected to my 14 year old self.  I like her!

You are a girl.  An interesting, deep, fascinating and unique human being.  Share YOU with yourself and then– with others!  Sarah McLachlan sings, “Life is like a gift they say, wrapped up for you everyday.   Open up and find a way, to give some of your own.” What you have to give is special.  Afterall, you are amazing.

 

making a difference

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THINKPEACE GIRLS MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 – 13:58
“When news of the devastating tsunami and earthquake hit, many of our campers contacted us saying they wanted to DO SOMETHING. We learned of the Students Rebuild: Japan challenge and knew that we had to be a part of it; that we would bring our girls together to make as many as we could. One of our girls attends a school in the Bay Area which has a sister school, Tokiwagi, located in Sendai. The students at her school looked for ways to help their sisters across the universe. In addition to fundraisers they held, thinkpeace contacted them and asked them to join us in the crane making campaign. Having that direct connection made everything so real for them. Our kids created and sent over 2000 cranes. We were all so thrilled to be a part of something that had affected us so deeply and see it spread globally, creating more awareness and compassion.
Thinkpeace girls felt like they really could make a difference. We can’t thank you enough for that. When this new challenge came up, they were eager to jump all over it! We’re meeting this weekend to start creating bones. It’s a fascinating endeavor. We’re looking into ways to incorporate this message and the need for awareness of issues facing youth in Somalia and the Congo into this years’ workshops.” — Kelly Himsl Aruthr, Co-Director – Thinkpeace Workshops
Ready to take action? While registration for Paper Cranes for Japan has ended, you can carry forward the spirit of hope and healing embodied in every Students Rebuild challenge by taking a stand against humanitarian crises. Tap your creativity by making a handmade bone – out of any material you choose – which will raise awareness and critical funds for CARE International’s relief work in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Join A Path Forward today!

 

Hey Life? I’m Right Here.

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I was checking out this really sweet site this morning (www.therubybooks.org) when I had a thought that maybe you have had at some point:  what AM I doing with my life?  I have these really big dreams.  Some people call them plans.  I keep thinking that I’m working towards fulfilling them.  I make schedules and write myself lists and notes.  I get very little checked off and so my dreams continue to loom large and distant.

This thought eats away at me, that I may never realize my dreams.  Why have them then?  A friend had a huge health crisis last night and when I couldn’t physically be there for her (an entire country lies between us, sadly) and I thought about what my life would be like without her in it, I had to do some big rewrites to my plans!  As my friend faced her own fears about mortality and poor health she had an epiphany:  ”I feel changed by this.  I feel so vulnerable.  Life is such a privilege… breathing…”  The truth is that John Lennon knew what he was talking about when he sang, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”  Who knows what each day will hold for us?  Who knows if we will struggle to breathe today?  Who knows if tragedy is just around the corner? What we have is this moment right now to actually make dreams and plans happen.  What can I do in this moment, now?

Which brings me back to the Ruby Books site…her character, Jeanne, asks herself to reexamine her dreams.  Perhaps, she ponders, they are not too big “just misunderstood.”  Yes, my dream is to teach peace through global sensitivity.  I also have a dream to see thinkpeace girls actively working to be the change they wish to see in the world while being supported by our girl community.  I have a dream that one day soon we’ll bring boys into the picture to advocate for girls worldwide.  I have a dream that all girls will be counted, valued, safe, and heard.  Actually that’s a dream I have for humanity.  Without looking at the big, giant, overwhelming global picture in my dreams, I can look around me and see manifestations of the issues all around me.  I can start here.  Right here.

Life IS a privilege!  And so, instead of dreaming, I’m going to live my life.  I’m listening to what my life is saying to me, to let my dreams BREATHE.  One breath at a time.  Yes, it will make me vulnerable but opening my heart wider is part of the thinkpeace dream!  Here I go…

 

I do? Not.

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Try to imagine for a moment…you are a 14 year old girl who hasn’t tasted life yet!  You’ve just begun to blossom.  You want an opportunity for an education.  You want to play.  You want to have a voice that is heard.  You want to be healthy and feel safe.  You want to be counted, literally.  But you aren’t.  You don’t have a birth certificate.  There is no record that you exist.  You rely solely on your family to make decisions that will impact the rest of your life.  You have no choice.

Your husband was chosen by the time you were 5.  You are lucky that you were able to stay with your family until you are 14.  But now, it’s your wedding day.  Your groom is 37.  You’ve never had a conversation.  He doesn’t know that you’re good at math or interested in medicine.  He doesn’t know that you like to read or paint or play an instrument.  He doesn’t know that you are already tired from all the work you do for your family every day.  He doesn’t realize that you are still a child.  This is normal.  This is life… in the developing world one in seven girls is married before the age of 15.

According to Girls Not Brides, “Child marriage is a global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe.  Region by region, half of all the world’s child brides live in South Asia where 46% of girls are married before they reach 18. Child marriage rates are 66% in Bangladesh, 39% in Afghanistan and 47% in India – where the sheer size of the population, at over 1 billion, means that many millions of girls are affected. Every other region is affected too, from Sub-Saharan Africa, where the child marriage rate is 38% overall, to Latin America and the Caribbean, where the rate stands at 29% (UNICEF, 2011).”

Working to end child marriages means addressing major issues such as poverty, traditional values, gender roles, and security.  The solutions lie in empowering girls, educating communities and families, improving girls’ access to education, providing economic incentives and changing laws.  Child marriage violates girls’ fundamental human rights.  The time has come.  We must work together to put an end to this practice and protect girls around the world.  ”We can end child marriage NOW.  Let girls be girls, not brides,” Desmond Tutu.

At a recent thinkpeace meeting girls learned about this practice and were deeply affected.  We have reached out to various organizations such as Girls Not Brides, Girl Up and DoSomething.org to learn more and to become a part of the solution.  Thinkpeace girls played at getting married:  they fashioned wedding dresses out of crepe paper, had wedding cake, laughing with each other all the while.  But then they were shown photos of their “grooms” and were told they’d have a baby within a year.  The fun ended when reality hit.  There are tough issues to discuss surrounding child marriage but we know that together, we can make a difference.  Talking about it is just the beginning.

Imagine…you’re a 14 year old girl with a future.

The wedding photo