Solidarity

Dear friends,

Next Tuesday on March 8th, thousands of women across the globe will be meeting on bridges in a second annual "Join me on the Bridge" campaign building bridges of peace and calling for an end to violence against women in zones of conflict. In 2010 over 20,000 people took part in 119 events across 21 countries. This year thousands more are expected with 200+ events confirmed. 

That day marks the 100th anniversary of Women's Day International, and "we will honor our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers" who took a strong and brave stand for women’s equality 100 years ago. (Women for Women Int'l)

We will be gathering from China to Australia, Europe to the Congo, Mexico to Pakistan, Russia to the U.S. carrying signs and banners with messages of peace that read, "No to War," "Stop the violence," Yes to Peace." Many women in places like the Congo and Rwanda will be walking for hours or days to get to their bridges.

We will stand in solidarity with women from war-torn countries particularly, this year, for the women of Afghanistan who need a seat at the peace negotiation table in an effort to help rebuild their country. "One hundred brave Afghan women, who are suffragettes of today, will stand on a bridge in Kabul, to take a stand on two fronts:

• To demand a seat on the High Peace Council, known as 'the Jirga'. The Jirga is negotiating with the Taliban at the expense of women's rights.
• To oppose a new law being presented by the Karzai government that will decentralize the justice system so that individual cases are settled by local Jirgas (councils)." (Women for Women Int'l)  

We will stand strong, here in Tulsa, Oklahoma U.S.A., on Tuesday, March 8th at 11 :00 AM on the River Parks Pedestrian Bridge, as a sign of unity and our commitment to help build bridges of peace across the world today.

We can not turn a deaf ear or close our eyes to the suffering of women in this world. Some may be next door to us; some may be in our own families. A women who is suffering violence and abuse and in despair needs another woman to tell her that there is hope for the future--that their lives can find new meaning and purpose, and that with support of others they can rebuild their lives.

For more information about this inspiring movement across the world go to this link:

http://www.womenforwomen.org/bridge 

I encourage you to open it and click on the video in the upper right corner. There you will see for yourself the images of women who are telling their stories and causing our hearts to be changed forever.

Peace in our hearts, our homes and in the world,

Sheila