-Takeaways
Sally Armstrong spoke at the awards dinner on Thursday night. Sally is a journalist who has covered the recent wars in Rwanda, Bosnia and Afghanistan. Through onsite interviews, she has focused on the impact of war on women and children. The bottom line Sally said, “women are beaten, raped, tortured, starved, traded as bounty & otherwised used as pawns of war. Silence is seen as consent.”
Sally is a powerful woman, and brave beyond belief. Listening to her, made me more committed to moving away from silence into action.
Patricia Hinnen, Chair of the Microenterprise Development Program, spoke of the work to establish Village Banks in third world countries. It takes $5000 in donations to start a Village Bank, and the women typically borrow $200 at a time to start or expand their business.
According to Patricia, the intention of these Village Banks is “To enable families to end their own poverty … with dignity.” The initiative has been highly successful. At last year’s conference, the TIAW Micro Committee met and agreed on a “challenge.” Although, at the time they met, only 20 banks had been established, they decided to raise enough money to fund 25 new Village Banks, during 2005. At
Jacksonville , awards were given to 20 different Networks for funding banks, and much of the money for the remaining five had already been raised.
Working with all these incredible women was phenomenal! I’m used to working mostly with men. It was tangibly different. Successful, experienced, focused - there was an intense emotional commitment to making a difference that was at all times pervasive. At the same time, there was no waste of time. The conference and meetings were run like clockwork, but also with delicacy. During the board meeting on Saturday, tears came into the President Hannah Sorscher’s eyes. At that moment, I realized the passion and commitment she had for the work and why she was there.
I came away from the experience thrilled with the opportunity and the possibility.
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