Excerpt from blog entry written by Facia Harris and Monika Biswas.
On the 9th of March 2010, members of Ecumenical Women started the day with a worship service at the United Nations Church Center that centered around reflections on the story of Deborah.
The church members together affirmed that:
We are women created in the image of God, fearfully and wonderfully made.
We affirm that all women are created in the image of God.
We claim our voices and dare to tell our stories while uplifting the stories of others.
We claim our agency in political discourse.
We claim our responsibility to challenge oppressive systems.
We claim our power, our beauty, and our hope.
We affirm that we are called by God to be leaders and prophets, witnesses to God’s love and justice in the world.
Jointly, the congregation was asked to anoint their neighbor by placing a circle of oil on their neighbor’s hand while saying: “You are called by God.” We, Monica and Facia, members of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), realized that the oil symbolically affirmed our mission and our advocacy roles within society. After that, everyone went to different missions and conferences that were taking place in the United Nations Church Center, the Salvation Army and United Nations.
Monica along with an eight-member delegation representing Ecumenical Women had a meeting at the Seychelles Embassy. The meeting was part of an ongoing advocacy effort focused on the three main interventions (provided in images below) that had been developed by Ecumenical Women for CSW 54. In one word, it can be said that the visit to the Seychelles’ embassy was simply a success because the ambassador was very hospitable and sincerely explained and listened to our questions and concerns about women in Seychelles. Some of the topics covered were women’s empowerment, domestic violence and churches’ roles in assisting those that have been violated either by their husbands, families or society.
Aside from the mission visits, a capturing side event, “Violence against women in Nigeria,” was organized by the Nigerian Consortium. The points that were highlighted and fully discussed were: rape, trafficking of women and children, girl-child gender violence and documentation of violence against women in Nigeria. One of the speakers provided very vivid and horrifying cases with pictures, from across Nigeria, of women who suffered from violence. The discussion also highlighted that Nigeria has a high rate of trafficking in women and girls to Europe and the Middle East, in addition to internal trafficking.
