A Grassy Manger & Beautiful Mary

My Christmas is not going the way I had hoped.  We are unable to travel to see family this year.  My youngest baby is sick with a cold.  It is 70 degrees here in Washington and before church this morning I had a series of unfortunate events which made getting to the service seem like a climb to Mount Everest. And when I turn on the news I see many people whose Christmas season is probably not turning out like they planned…bad weather, loss of electricity, delayed travel, credit card breach, and the list goes on.

It is difficult to experience the real meaning of Christmas with all demands and distractions.  For many, Christmas brings up pain from loss or stress dealing with family or finances.  The to-do lists and Christmas parties are exhausting and everyone else seems to know where to find the most creative Christmas card.  One thing I have enjoyed this year is explaining to my very curious, almost 4 year old the story of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  His thoughts, although mixed with stories of Santa and elves, are priceless.  He fixated on baby Jesus lying in the manger. He adamantly interrupted the story asking, “Why is he laying on grass???” Later as he meticulously put up window clings of the nativity scene he stepped back and looked at Mary and said, “She is so beautiful.”

These moments of confusion and wonder for him have surprised me and challenged me in my thoughts on Christmas.  I am too often distracted by the sadness I feel of being far away from family, the size of my Christmas budget, or the state of my messy house.  In the craziness of it all…baby Jesus, the King of heaven and earth, did leave his throne in heaven and laid on grass in a barn where animals ate and slept.  I’ve known the story since I can remember but when I think of what that means for me that God became man and came to the earth in a filthy barn surrounded by animals is overwhelming.  I am thankful that His love came low to redeem us from the filth of lives. 

And then to look at Mary…for my little man he saw a beautiful cartoon picture of her on our window and said “so beautiful.”   Being pregnant myself this season I think of her and imagine her discomfort.  Did she really travel “obviously pregnant (Luke 2:5 NLT)” for close to 100 miles on foot or on a donkey to Bethlehem?  Only to arrive to a town with not one room for her and her newborn.  I can’t imagine arriving at the hospital to deliver my baby only to realize there was not one single room available.  Yet Mary did deliver in barn and placed her tiny King in a manger. How could I have missed the discomfort of the story for so many years?  

In her song of praise Mary exclaimed,

“For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.  For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.” Luke 1:48,49

            So yes my child, He did indeed lay in grass and she is indeed beautiful.  I hope to take my discomforts, my disappointments this Christmas and praise Him for such an unbelievable story of His grace and sing “He has done great things for me!” 

I love this version of Halleluiah by Cloverton

The Specificity of God’s Love

I recently took a trip to my now favorite spiritual retreat location at a place called “Corhaven” in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  Growing up in the Bible belt and smack in the middle of Christian camp central, I’ve been on many retreats in my day but this one was different.  About a year ago, I took my first trip to Corhaven and arrived with much anxiety. It was shortly after the birth of my second baby and I felt like it was a bad time to spend the day away.  I also knew that at the retreat we were to spend the afternoon in silence. Yes, silence. 

With a newborn and a 2 year old, I had not experienced silence in a very long time.  And the thought of it actually made me nervous. What would I do with myself for 3 hours? What would I think about?  I knew it was meant to be a time to commune with God…talk to Him, listen to Him, experience Him.  I was nervous what God might say or what I would say to him.  But since my husband had my bag packed at the door that morning (I guess he knew something I didn’t), I took a deep breath and started my drive out to the Shenandoah’s. 

It was a beautiful day and the morning was great, led by the Rev. Bill Haley who gave us direction and things to think about in how to be in God’s presence.  I was still nervous about the afternoon but I decided to just relax and try and enjoy the time of quiet.  Corhaven is a beautiful little spot with a warm farmhouse, abundance of trees, walking paths, clucking chickens, and a creek.  As I began my walk through the woods, I asked God to open my mind and spirit to what He had to show me. 

As I was walking, I noticed all the many different types of trees and different types of leaves.  Not that this was something new that I had never seen before but I thought to myself, “Wow, there are so many different ones…different colors, different shapes, different sizes.”  I considered how specific our God is in His creation.  My mind was immediately taken to the specific characteristics of both my children.  I remember vividly when my first child was given to me after he was born that he had this perfect little swirl of a cowlick on the top of his head.  I love, love, love, his little swirl. And now he is older and I thoroughly enjoy combing it so it is plain sight.  I thought of my newest baby and his pouty lips, his birthmark on his leg…so many details, so much thought put into their creation.

            David’s Psalm came to mind, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…my frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of the them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Ps. 139: 14, 15b, 16) It is overwhelming to think of God the Creator being mindful of us.  But yet, He is mindful in a very specific and meticulous way. 

            Although, I have had the privilege to grow up always being taught that God loves me, this experience was particularly powerful to me.  His love is specific. He love is too deep and too numerous to measure.  It is beyond my comprehension.  In a New York Times article a few years ago it described the difficulty to keep count of the many species on the earth and how new ones are cropping up each year.  “Each year, researchers report more than 15,000 new species, and their workload shows no sign of letting up. ‘Ask any taxonomist in a museum, and they’ll tell you they have hundreds of species waiting to be described,’ says Camilo Mora, a marine ecologist at the University of Hawaii….They estimate there are 8.7 million species on the planet, plus or minus 1.3 million.”  Astounding that God is still creating and we are unable to keep up!

           

           

            It is transforming when we deepen our understanding of God’s vast love.  It transforms our perspective of who we are, our purpose in life, and the world around us.  Bill Haley recently said, “Its early fall now and in the coming weeks the leaves of the trees will undergo their change of clothing...from green to red to orange to gold. And then they’ll fall to the ground at our feet.  I am reminded of Walt Whitman’s observation about such leaves. He said ‘I find letters from God drop’t in the street - and everyone of them is sign’d by God’s name.’”

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
 the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
 human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:3-5

            

Hope for HIV Positive Moms

PHOTO Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

         I recently had the pleasure of hearing a Zambian woman, Martha Sichone Cameron, share her story of being HIV positive and her incredible journey including the birth of her two HIV negative boys, Josiah and Judah. She described how she had lost almost half of her family to AIDS and the pain of burying someone almost every other week.  She married young and the man left her not only with a broken heart but with HIV.

         In her country, Zambia, one of the hardest hit countries by the disease, more than one in seven adults are living with HIV, women and girls being some of the most vulnerable. According to a UNAIDS report, “among young women aged 15-24, HIV prevalence is more than twice that of men in this age category.” UNAIDS also reported, “In 2011, there were 330,000 new HIV infections in children, and more than 90 percent of all new cases were in sub-Sahara Africa, which is home to 92 percent of pregnant women living with HIV.”

         Thankfully for Martha, she was given access to quality health care. She describes her experience for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation below and her resolve to change the access to care for women living with HIV: (read entire blog post here)

“I had never thought that I could have an HIV-negative child. But prior to getting married, my doctor surprised me, introducing me to prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services that help mothers like me have HIV-negative babies. He also educated Andy (her husband) and me about how to keep Andy HIV-free too. This exciting revelation was the motivation I needed to begin my family. I was ecstatic, as was Andy.

After suffering a devastating miscarriage, losing our baby girl due to a cord accident, Andy and I welcomed a baby boy, Josiah, into the world in May 2009. Josiah was tested for HIV multiple times, and we were relieved to learn that he was HIV-negative.

Josiah’s HIV-negative status, and the success of the PMTCT services I was able to access, prompted me to become more involved in the AIDS community in Zambia. I was appalled at how difficult it was for women to find the services they needed to prevent the transmission of HIV to their children, and the stigma that I and other HIV-positive individuals were subjected to. It wasn’t right, and I was committed to supporting a change.

I helped my church start an HIV support group for children, women, and families affected by HIV and AIDS, and advocated for the development of a new care and treatment center for my community.

When Josiah was five months old, Andy and I made the difficult decision to move our new family to the U.S. This meant leaving my community and the job I loved. The transition would have been more difficult had we not had the incredible support of Andy’s family and church, as well as the excitement of expanding our little family. Shortly after arriving in the U.S., we got pregnant again.

Just like in Zambia, I immediately began PMTCT services, and in February 2011 we gave birth to a happy, beautiful baby boy we named Judah. Like his older brother Josiah, Judah is HIV-negative as well. Andy has also remained HIV-negative.

I’ve learned so much through my experiences as an HIV-positive pregnant woman in two countries. What strikes me most is how much harder it was for me to access the PMTCT services I needed in Zambia versus in the U.S. Every mother, regardless of where she lives, should have the opportunity to have an HIV-negative child, but so many cannot reach the services they need to do so, or don’t even know that they can.

As an HIV-positive mother of two HIV-negative babies, I feel it is my duty to educate women about stigma, HIV prevention, and the incredible gift of PMTCT services. I continue to advocate for increased access to these critical services and I look forward to the day when every HIV-positive woman in the U.S., Zambia, and every other part of the world has the knowledge, and the ability, to have an HIV-negative child.

         Early this May when I originally heard Martha’s story, she said, “I was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and I would not be here today if not for PEPFAR.”  PEPFAR has made amazing progress in fighting HIV/AIDS especially in sub-Sahara Africa and especially in this area of mother-to-child transmission. In Zambia alone, PEPFAR provided “545,500 pregnant women with known HIV status receiving services and 54,400 HIV-positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral prophylaxis for PMTCT.” (PEPFAR) Overall, since the beginning of PEPFAR, HIV infections have declined 19%. Last year alone, PEPFAR helped prevent mother-to-child transmission for 230,000 infants. (PEPFAR)  Martha named her boys, Josiah and Judah.  She proudly explained, “Josiah means ‘God has heard me’ and Judah means ‘My Praise’”…truly fitting names for her story of hope and healing.

PEPFAR’s accomplishments in Zambia: www.pepfar.gov/countries/zambia/

UNAIDS Report: 2012

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation: www.pedaids.org

A New Initiative for Women’s Dignity

         I recently attended the launching of a new initiative by The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity called HER Dignity Network.  It is designed to be a network of people and organizations that share the same vision of ensuring and restoring dignity to women at every stage of her life…from conception to death.  I found this “lifespan” aspect of the initiative to be particularly interesting and something new that I haven’t heard from other initiatives within global women’s health.  We tend to focus and advocate on certain issues such as gendercide, sex trafficking, unequal access to education, among others but the idea to look at women throughout the whole of their lifespan helps us to take a look beyond the statistics into the whole life of the woman.  Her birth, her childhood, her womanhood, and her old age.

Dr. George at Her Dignity Network Launch

         During the launch, the website –  www.herdignity.net  – was unveiled and a panel focused discussion was led on issues and challenges facing women around the globe and work done by different organizations to eliminate some of these challenges.  Dr. Jameela George, from the Center for Bioethics in India, discussed the traditional patriarchal culture in developing countries.  She gave staggering statistics of the violence done to girls due to that cultural preference…from conception to death.

         At the phase of conception to birth, she discussed female feticide where a baby is aborted simply because she is a female and gendercide where a newborn is killed because the baby is a girl.  These two terrible practices are happening at alarming rates in countries like China, India, and Pakistan.  As the baby matures to childhood, Dr. George discussed the lack of education and overall discrimination against girls to the point of neglecting access to basic needs.  She gave statistics such as: 65% of the world’s children who do not attend school are girls and 1 in 3 women across the world do not have access to a toilet.  She described a circumstance in her own clinic where a family only brought their young boy to be immunized leaving his sister at home. Dr. George refused to immunize just the boy and the family returned the next day with both their son and daughter.

PHOTO by Joni Kabana

         As a young girl blossoms to a woman, she faces even more challenges and violence.  Dr. George discussed the threat of rape and sex trafficking, sharing that 44 million women are missing in India and 50 million women are missing in China.  Unfortunately, the indignity placed on women doesn’t stop at youth but continues on into older age…with women receiving unequal inheritance rights and abuse in widowhood to name a few.  In addition, women are more vulnerable in situations like natural disasters and war.  Dr. George explained that females are less likely to receive medical, hygienic, and psychological aid in a natural disaster.  She also explained the high vulnerability of women and girls surrounding war.  During the Rwandan genocide, rape was “the rule and it’s absence the exception” according to the UN.

         Although these issues are becoming more known, there is still a lack of attention on the plight of these millions of women and girls.  In the U.S., women’s issues too often become political and divide people into different camps – with pro-life vs. pro-choice probably being the most divisive issue. Although I admire those who stand firm for their convictions, too many are deterred from the discussion due to conflicting opinions.  This is one aim of Her Dignity Network.  It is to challenge faith based communities, particularly the Christian community, to become more active in women’s global health. In Michelle Kirtley & Jennifer McVey’s article, Waking Up to Women’s Health Crisis, “We need to reframe our assumptions about global injustice to women. One of which is our American tendency to view abortion through the lens of “rights” rather than human dignity. As a consequence, our political conversation often pits the rights of the unborn against the rights of the mother. In some circles, “global women’s health” feels like code for “increased access to abortion,” and in others, pro-life advocates are branded as “anti-woman.”

         There is much work to be done to bring dignity to the millions of women and girls who find themselves discriminated against, enslaved, and abused.  Kirtley & McVey go on to say, “In the Gospels, we see Jesus, the physical manifestation of the compassion of God, expressing a particular love for women as equal bearers of His image in a culture that did not value them.” Her Dignity Network is challenging those who follow Jesus by taking up the cause of women globally…from conception to the end of her life.

Additional Panelists at Her Dignity Launch:

Debbie Dortzbach, World Relief http://worldrelief.org/recent-stories/world-aids-day-2012

Shannon Senefeld, Catholic Relief http://crs.org/newsroom/expert-biographies/profile-senefeld.cfm

Brenda Royden, Foundation for Social & Cultural Advancement http://www.foundationsca.org

Additional Resources:

On violence against women in war: The Economist - http://www.economist.com/node/17900482

More on the abortion debate: http://www.capitalcommentary.org/abortion/rising-above-rights-based-abortion-debate

A Day to Celebrate Women

Suffrage parade, New York City, May 6, 1912 Library of Congress Ball, Images of American Political History

     Today, March 8th is International Women’s Day. I often wonder where these kinds of holidays or special international days get their origin. After a little digging, I learned that the day came out of many movements around the world to improve women’s rights. In 1910, at a women’s conference in Copenhagen, Demark the idea was conceived and “International Women’s Day” was created.

     Women in the U.S., with leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, were not just fighting for women’s suffrage but fighting for women’s economic rights, property rights, parental rights, rights in education and religion, among others. Since then, many things have changed but unfortunately women around the world continue to face unbelievable challenges.

     The countless stories of the ways in which girls and women are dehumanized and disenfranchised around the world are overwhelming. Too many are neglected, abused, and denied opportunities for education, health care, and so on. A day like International Women’s Day is useful in bringing these inequalities and injustices to light along with highlighting how we can do something about it.

     Women Thrive, an organization based in the Washington D.C. area, who advocates for women and girls who are denied equal freedoms and opportunities around the world. Women Thrive partner with local organizations in order to create coalitions impacting women and girls. One such coalition is with Elimu Community Light (ECOLI) in Tanzania. ECOLI’s founder and director, Juhudi N. Mbwambo, took his first trip to Washington recently to talk with Members of Congress and leaders in the Administration and NGO community about the work he is doing in Tanzania. Excerpts from his interview with Women Thrive is below (for the full interview clickhere):

         I want American lawmakers to understand the fulfillment of children’s rights – all beings need nourishing from conception to age 18…. Our goal is to build the foundation of human development from early childhood. It’s the only time to prepare future human beings. A large amount of brain development happens during early childhood. We make sure that we work at the holistic level so that children can prosper from what they gain in early childhood.

         Girls are not given the opportunity to access education like boys are – socially, boys are sent to school more. Also, in the culture and the social way of living, girls have more duties. Girls are also at much higher risk of violence, specifically sexual violence. Girls are not given priority in the community and government.

         I believe women are the center of societal change. The mother’s role is to educate the family and ensure children grow well. It’s important that girls access education because they educate society and the family. No one can boost themselves without boosting women. If we change positively how women help the next generation, we will have a good generation.

         If we don’t invest in early education, we’ll find that goals like the Millennium Development Goals won’t be successful. No one can build a house without a strong foundation. Universal education to make sure children go to primary school won’t work without early education. With a pail of water, if 25% of the water is clean and the rest is dirty, you can’t make the water clean. We know that with early education, children perform much better and dropout rates are reduced because children are engaged in school early on.

     The fact that 65% of the world’s children who do not attend school are girls is disheartening but work like ECOLI is doing to invest in girls at a young age is helping to change the trajectory of a girl’s future and ultimately entire communities. I am thankful for days like International Women’s Day that helps us devote one day of the year to the worth of women and girls.

Learn more about what Women Thrive is doing and the coalitions they are building!

Learn more about ECOLI and how you can help!

The Tigers Come at Night

            It is always exciting to see a movie that contains a meaningful story receive a lot of attention during awards season.  This year, Les Miserable has been nominated for several awards, including Best Picture nominee for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe for Best Picture.  I was thrilled that this Hollywood version of a great piece of literature was true to the spirit of its story of redemption and grace.

            I was particularly moved, this time more than any other, by the story of Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway.  She was a young beautiful girl who found herself in an unfortunate and tragic situation.  She was in love and had a baby with a man who abandoned her.  She lost her job that was supporting her child, Cosette, and was thrown out on the street.  She was forced to sell her beautiful locks of hair, her teeth and finally her body in efforts to keep supporting her little Cosette.  She was trapped in a life of prostitution and misery that led to her death.

            As I sat in the movie theater, tearful over the story of Fantine, I thought of how this story is not just one of fiction.  It is a gross reality that today millions of men, women and children are currently trapped in slavery.  A reality that is difficult to comprehend in our modern day.  According to UNICEF, each year nearly 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade.  In the film, Fantine sings that famous song, “I dreamed a dream, when hope was high and life worth living…. But the tigers come at night…. As they tear your hope apart, as they turn your dream to shame.”  The tigers she sings of are still present today…those who prowl around seeking out those to abuse, oppress, and exploit.  They steal childhoods.  They rip families apart. They turn hope into horror.

            Fortunately, in Les Miserable, the story doesn’t end with the death of Fantine and Cosette abandoned as an orphan.  It continues with ex-con Jean Valjean rescuing Cosette, because of his vow to Fantine, and raises her as his own.  Jean Valjean, because of the grace he was offered and received as a desperate young man, responded with a life full of grace and mercy.  His response to the miserable world he was in is compelling even in modern times as we face evils like modern day slavery.

            As I sat in my comfy theater recliner I wondered, “What is my response?” What am I to do with the guilt I feel with the knowledge of other’s sufferings especially in stark contrast to my own comfort?  Although I am unable to imagine the misery of those trapped in slavery, I have traveled enough around the world to have my own images of poverty and disease. I am tempted to live oblivious to this suffering I know of and it takes a conscious effort to think beyond my own world.

            I am thankful that there are amazing organizations to support, such as International Justice Mission who are working to eradicate such evil.  IJM’s mandate is to confront violence that robs people of their dignity, freedom, health and security.  Those who work for IJM are true heroes who have committed themselves to save the lives of others.

            Bill Nicholson, screenwriter for “Les Miserables” said “I am here to tell you we write a story and that’s important because stories matter. Why? Because stories form our culture…Every time we write a story we are in fact creating a moral structure and that moral structure is influencing the people who see that film…. And they add up, all these films, to a sense of what is acceptable in life and what is not. So we have an enormous power, particularly the movies that are widely seen. You may think if they’re pure entertainment there is no moral message in it, but that is not true.”  Les Miserable may or may not be awarded tonight for best picture at the Academy Awards, but far more important than an award is how this story and message of slavery, redemption, and hope…will affect our culture and own lives.

“Here’s hoping someday in the not-too-distant future the misfortunes of Fantine will be only found in fiction and not in real life.”

Anne Hathaway, acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Awards 2013

Raise Your Hand: Renewing our Commitment to Children Affected by Conflict

An excerpt from my recent interview with World Vision’s Women of Vision

For the full article/interview click HERE

This entry was posted on February 12, 2013 by Jessica Bousquette- World Vision Adovcacy atWomen of Vision

Nyaranzo (not her real name) looks up to the sky as the sound of gunfire and explosions echo from the horizon. No one needs to tell her what it is. The sound is familiar, it’s the reason she’s on the run, hungry and lonely. Eight-years-old Nyaranzo is among thousands of internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are homeless because of fighting between government troops and a rebel group. At night, she sleeps in a dusty classroom and during the day her home is a playground. She has no family here – possibly lost as they ran for their lives. The sounds of the explosions bring a lull to those around her. “Maybe my mum is still coming,” she says, her deep sadness and hunger shows in her eyes as she looks up to the sky.

For children around the world, like Nyaranzo, violence and conflict can cause displacement, family separation, hunger, and lack of access to clean water, education, and health care. Because of these things it can also put them at risk for abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence. Displacement and disruption of normal patterns of life weakens the protective environment around children and places them at greater risk for trafficking, neglect, exploitative work, and recruitment into armed forces.

As advocates around the world observe Child Soldier Awareness Day (also known as Red Hand Day) today by asking countries to make a commitment to protecting children affected by conflict, ask our elected leaders to renew our commitment…. So what can you do? Does your action really make a difference? Yes! I had a chance to ask Sarah Sagely Klotz, a former foreign policy Congressional staffer, about her time working to protect children who have been recruited or kidnapped into armed forces.  I asked her what helps legislation move forward and the role advocates can have.

If you want to push something through Congress, you can’t expect it to happen overnight.  It is a long tedious process that could take a few years so you should have the long-term perspective in mind. Advocates play a vital role in not only giving wind to efforts to get something introduced or through Congress, but acting as a resource to Congress.  Advocates not only give passion, but can give a depth of insight and knowledge about certain issues. Members of Congress and their staff are juggling several issues at one time and it is invaluable to have a trusted resource to be able to call and ask for help, insight, and experience.  Once you begin that sort of relationship, when you come back to that Member or staffer for a request, you will certainly have their ear.

Sister Rosemary…A beacon of hope

             Next week is the 61^st Annual National Prayer Breakfast here in Washington and it is always one of my favorite events in DC.   I’ve only actually attended the breakfast once but have had the pleasure of attending events surrounding it every year. It’s a remarkable week of people coming from all over the world from different countries and backgrounds to meet together over breakfast to pray.

             One event I was involved in was a dinner for delegates coming from Africa. It was always fun to arrange the seating, give a capitol tour, and help play host for the evening. I would think through who should sit by who and what languages they might share; and in the end it would all come together. It was always enjoyable to watch everyone engage each other as they came from different places across the continent of Africa.

Sister Rosemary CNN Heroes 2007

          One person who was one of the most memorable and a definite favorite of mine was Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe from Gulu, Uganda.  She is a spunky, no-nonsense nun that works with women and children who have been abducted and brutalized by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). If you’ve never heard of the LRA it is a group of fighters led by a brutal and psychotic leader, Joseph Kony. They have terrorized the Great Lakes Region of central Africa for over 20 years. According to Resolve, since 2008 the LRA has killed over 2,400 people, abducted over 3,400, and displaced approximately 460,000 people. They prey on the weak and defenseless by abducting children to serve as child soldiers and sex slaves.  They prey on vulnerable populations like in Eastern Congo and Southern Sudan who are already in turmoil due to (among others things) regional conflict, violence, and displacement of refugees. 

         Sister Rosemary, however, is a beacon of hope and strength to hundreds of women and children who are rehabilitated at her school, St. Monica’s Girls’ Tailoring School. These girls, many who have become mothers, have been terrorized and abused by Joseph Kony’s LRA now are provided a safe haven and opportunities for a new life for the future. Sister Rosemary’s school is training them in life skills, tailoring, and making pop-top purses that are sold with the funds going back to the girls.                       

Myself with Sister Rosemary and Senator James Inhofe

             I recently came across a great video by Lampstand (click here) about Sister Rosemary’s work.  She said, “The lasting impact of the training we give in this place, in St. Monica’s for these girls is really helping them to get integrated again into society, and getting integrated, become self reliant, not relying on people to help them. The past is already gone but they can always live with hope for the future. They can make their lives better by taking care of themselves and their children.” Sister Rosemary, who joined the sisterhood at only 15 years of age, is changing the lives of hundreds of girls and children by believing in them and creatively giving them skills in order to have a place back in their communities.

Photo from Sisters United

To get involved in Sister Rosemary’s pop-top purses visit http://www.sistersunited.com

This entry was posted in Blog on January 31, 2013.