End Hunger-Walk The World on 7 June 2009

End Hunger: Walk the World on Sunday 7th June 2009
Will your Club participate? - Article by Else Larsen, SI Representatative the UN in Rome-FAO ( UN Agency -Food and Agriculture Organization)

(Today is International Women's Day- I have published many articles from CSW this past week- and thought that the issue of poverty and hunger would resonate with Soroptimists . I was one of the lucky people whose mother always had enough food available for the 6 children and two parents in the family. My parents weren't rich by some standards but with the thrifty behavior of my mother- were able to stretch a little food into hardy meals. Billions of people today do not have enough food in their stomachs- women and children representing over 70 % of that number. This article presents another opportunity that we have to join with partners around the world and focus on an issue that clearly is one that women must expose- poverty.......Dawn Marie Lemonds)

On Sunday 7th June 2009 the whole world will once again be on the move. Within 24 hours and in all 24 time zones, thousands of people will put on their walking shoes and join in a five kilometer walk to campaign against poverty and hunger.

Did you know that:

· More than 800 million people in the world do not get enough to eat, most of them are women and children.
· Almost 200 million children under five years of age are underweight due to a lack of food
· Malnutrition in children causes mental retardation and physical stunting
· One child dies every seven seconds from hunger and related causes
· For only US$ 50 per year (or 25 cents a day) you can fill a plate of nutritious porridge for a needy child in school.
· You can help to End Hunger by organizing a walk against hunger on 7th June 2009

End Hunger - Walk the World is a global event initiated in 2003 by TNT, a global mail and logistics company, in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). TNT and WFP works together with FAO and many NGOs to help raise awareness about poverty and hunger in the world and raise funds for WFP supported school feeding programmes in the poorest countries. School feeding programmes are a powerful way of reducing child hunger and increasing the enrollment of more children, and particularly girls, in primary schools, which is part of our SI Programme Focus 2007-2011 and the corresponding Millennium Development Goals.

Will your club participate?
To find out how to organize a ‘’Walk’’ visit http://www.wfp.org/ Next click “How to Help” - next “For Individuals” and you will find “Walk the World” and “How to find out More” This website will be updated regularly so keep an eye on it. There may also be a WFP Office in your own country or region which you can contact directly. To organize a ‘’Walk’’ is easy and a lot of fun – and, remember, your Club will be encouraging many more children, and specially girls, from poor countries, to attend school and help them fight hunger pains and concentrate on their studies.


To find out how to join or how to organize a ‘’walk’’ get in touch with WFP Headquarters in Rome by email: WFP.Walk_the_World@wfp.org and to learn more about this years Walk the World activities look up http://www.wfp.org/ I strongly encourage you to get involved. To organize a ‘’Walk’’ is easy and a lot of fun – and, remember, your Club will be helping many more children, and specially girls, from poor countries, to enroll in school and to complete primary school.

Restoring Dignity- Update- Cafe Juniper Opens

Soroptimists - Restoring Dignity
Our new Juniper Café is soon to be opened near the lake at
Desta Mender, and set among many juniper trees!
It is near our teaching or conference centre where we hope
to attract groups, who want a pleasant place to hold a day
conference, and where they can buy food from our café. We
are enormously grateful to the Soroptimist International
organisation for raising all the money for this café through
the 2007 and 2008 President’s Day Appeals, called “Restoring
Dignity”. We want to thank the President of the Soroptimists
for those 2 years, Margaret Lobo, for choosing the Hospital to
be the recipient of this large donation – which also paid for a
hard-top vehicle for use at Desta Mender. We hope Ms. Lobo
will visit us for some celebrations in May or June and will then
be able to unveil a plaque in the café telling of the assistance
provided by so many Soroptimist women.
We are also most grateful to Rae Newman, from Canberra,
who has done all the work in a voluntary capacity, in training
the girls from Desta Mender who will be the future cooks and
managers of the café. Rae has also worked hard at selecting all
the equipment and furniture we need for the café – kitchen,
and storerooms and an attractive eating area with tables and
colourful table cloths!
We are sure this will be a great attraction, not only to help
us financially, but to make known the plight of so many
fistula sufferers in this great country. We ate there a few
days ago, after holding our weekly management meeting in
the conference room. We had a delicious lunch, eating true
Australian meat pies, and other delicacies, all made by the girls
under Rae’s tutorship!
I have just realised this is our first letter in the New Year – so
I send you all our warm greetings, and wish you much joy, and
may God be with each of you through the months ahead.
Dr E. Catherine Hamlin AC
The Fund joins Dr Hamlin in expressing its grateful appreciation
to AusAID, Soroptimist International and all the Fund’s other
supporters for their generous assistance towards the work of
the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
The Foreign Minister with Dr Hamlin and a fistula patient.

www.fistula.org

International Women's Day-Celebration at CSW53

5 March 2009-Celebration of International Women's Day

Today marked the official celebration at the United Nations of International Women's Day. Soroptimist delegates came early to ensure that they had one of the 230 available places in the session highlighted by a wonderful speech given by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In addition to the Secretary General there were impressive presentations from leaders from several different regions of the world- similar to the presentations at many of the other events this week.

It was disheartening to learn that VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN knows no borders, knows no economic condition and is a condition endured by millions of women in the world everywhere. Secretary General Ban ki-moon launched his campaign one year ago at CSW52 to UNite to End Violence Against Women.

SG Ban Ki-moon told the government and NGO attendees at the UN and also gathered world wide video conference that he was impressed and moved by the distinguished participants attending the meeting. He strongly reinforced that we must continue to UNITE to End the scourge of violence against women. " Women are like rivers, connecting us to the heartbeat of the earth, Men, on the otherhand, are Warriors. While women weave the fabric of society- men dismantle all that keeps society whole.
-Violence Accentuates Poverty
-1 of 5 women and girls of the world suffer rapes or attempted rape, beatings and even murder"

He then went on to tell of a Health Hospital that he recently visited in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He met a 18 year old woman who told her story.

" While she was fleeing the soldiers she was raped by four soldiers. While physicians can heal her body and repair her wounds, who can repair her soul. Who will help her repair the stigma on her and the shame she will endure on her family. He said I was shocked and saddened beyond expression. I was very angry. Women need to live free of fear. I spoke to the President and the commander of the army. I spoke to everyone I met about such unspeakable tradgedies. I told the President that there is no excuse for this situation whatever and where ever it happens in his country-he is responsible. Violence against Women is a crime against humanity."

Mr. Ban talked about the cost of VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN to society- of death, injury,inability to work and in ability to be productive. The cost to lives is incalcuable and too often the perpetrators go free.

Mr. Ban talked about some positive programs like the WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN where men are taking responsibility to advocate and educate other men and boys about the unacceptability of VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. "REAL MEN DON'T HIT WOMEN LET ALONE RAPE THEM."

He told a story about an older man who participated in a workshop for men. The facilitator of the group was nervous about the message he would bring because the old man's words had so much power and he was afraid he might say the wrong thing.

The man told the group. " I came home and told my children that things have to change now. No longer can your mother come home from a full day of work and have to cook the dinner and clean the house.d He said- children- you will now have to clean the house while your mother is cooking dinner and I will do the dishes!"

"Society has to change.
Society can change society. Violence against Women cannot be tolerated in any form in any context!"

Mr. Ban's passion for the cause and compassion for women and girls is real and infectious! Not a person could feel anything but sincerity and commitment to FIGHT for this cause.

The rest of the session included regional leaders-
-HE Mrs Saidy, VP and Secretary of State for Women's Affairs of the Republic of the Gambia
-He Mrs. Gaytan, President of the National Women's Institute of Mexico
-Ms. Plibersek, Minister for the Status of Women in Australia.

After their report was a riveting panel of experts representing a variety of issues related to the topic of Violence against Women:
- one of my long time heroines- Radhika Coomaraswamy, United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict- Violence against women and girls in the context of armed conflict
-Yakin Erturk- United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women- Violence against women: the scope and dimensions of a global challenge
-William Lucy-International Secretary Treasurer of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -Violence against women in the work place
-Imrana Jalal- Human Rights Lawyer and advisor at the Pcific Regional Right Resource Team - Ending Violence against women and girls: using the law to create change

Their messages in full will be available on the website mentioned earlier- http://www.ngocsw.org/

We carry the burden and the opportunity for being part of collective change with the challenge of these amazing people who spoke today!

Dawn Marie Lemonds, SI Programme Director