Women For Women On 60 Minutes
August 14, 2008 | 3 Comments
I just received this email a few minutes ago from Women for Women International. This is an AMAZING segment on 60 minutes. If you can’t watch it live, record it.
60 Minutes – re-airing “War Against Women”
Sunday, August 17
7:00pm ET
Dear Racquel,
CNN’s Anderson Cooper will be highlighting the plight of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the CBS news magazine, 60 Minutes, this Sunday.
This is a re-airing of the piece televised in January and included a visit to Women for Women International’s offices in the DR Congo. The program will be broadcast at 7:00 pm ET on Sunday, August 17. Please check your local listings for 60 Minutes air times.
In the piece, Anderson Cooper shared the struggles of all the women we serve in the DR Congo. Specifically, he met with Lucienne, a Women for Women International program participant.
Lucienne was held captive, tortured, abandoned by her family, and gave birth to the child of her rapist. Her story is bleak, but she is picking up the pieces of her life with the help of Women for Women International and her sponsor, Deborah. In the interview Lucienne told Anderson Cooper that she named her child Luck. “I named her Luck because I went through many hardships. I could have been killed in the forest, but I got my life back. I have hope.”
After the segment initially aired, many of you wrote to us to tell us how moved you were. We invite you to bring together your friends and family to share with them the work you support and to watch the 60 Minutes piece.
If you can’t watch together, please forward them this email and ask them to watch or record it.
Every day Women for Women International staff in the 8 countries where we work see women with a story like Lucienne’s — women standing in line waiting for their chance to reclaim their lives. They deserve the chance to change their lives and have their stories told. Your support makes that possible and we are eternally grateful.
In fact, at the end of the piece, you’ll see how Lucienne is speaking in front of other members of her Women for Women group. She is lit up with hope and enthusiasm…because she is reading a letter from her sponsor.
On behalf of the women we serve,
Trish Tobin
Women for Women International, Chief Marketing Officer
Foreclosures, Homeless Pets and One Remarkable Little Girl
July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
There are so many innocent victims of the US housing crisis. Celia’s story about a woman committing suicide (below) is one tragic example.
As a Realtor I not only read about it in the news everyday but I experience it first hand: the text in the listings: “Pre-foreclosure, bring all offers”, the anxious sellers waiting for me to show up with my potential buyers, the empty homes in complete disarray as if someone just walked out one day not wanting to turn around and see what they were leaving behind. These are truly hard times in our country.
Once-in-a-while, during such tragedy emerges some brilliant examples of the best of humanity. But, one rarely thinks of a 10-year-old girl as one capable of making such a difference to so many innocent victims…the pets of foreclosure. There are a growing number of pets of all kinds becoming homeless due to the loss of a home to foreclosure. I Googled “Homeless Animals Due to Foreclosure” and came up with pages upon pages of links and articles about the number of homeless animals as a direct result of foreclosures and the efforts throughout our country to take care of these treasured pets and family members necessarily left behind.
But one particular story touched me. A ten-year-old girl from Oregon named Mimi came up with the idea all by herself of creating a website: FreeKibble.com where people can play a game she created called the Bow Wow Trivia Game. Each question answered results in the donation of 20 pieces of kibble. The more people play Bow Wow, the more kibble will be donated. On May 14th, 2008 Mimi delivered her first round of free kibble, 240lbs, to the Humane Society of Central Oregon. Her next delivery was for 500lbs, enough to feed 1,000 dogs for one day! Sponsors such as Zootoo.com pay for the kibble. Mimi has even added a second game for cats: Free KibbleKats.com.
Several months ago I wrote two articles: Raising Children to Make a Difference in the World and Children can help too. There is something about the selflessness of a young child that blows me away. If Mimi can make such a difference, imagine what we can do if we set our mind to it!
Can We Move This Along Faster?
July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Like so many others, breast cancer as well as other types of cancer, run in my family history. This started to concern me when I took care of my Granny the last year of her life, while she was fighting colon cancer.
I do the self exam monthly, but I am not old enough to start having mammograms yet. ( I could actually have one done but insurance will not cover because I am under the age of 40. )
Then as I was watching TV several months ago, I heard of another Breast Cancer that is not detected through a mammogram, called IBC, Inflammatory Breast Cancer. This really got me thinking, what if several members of my family actually died from this and they did not consider it breast cancer back then? Does this run in my family as well? How would I know if they just discovered this “type” of cancer recently?
So, needless to say, I read anything and everything that has to do with cancer to learn as much as I can. Today, while on AOL, I read this article about a new procedure that could detect breast cancer early, AND you don’t have to have your breast pancaked in the process!!!!
The part of the article that really caught my eye was thinking of other countries that could not afford to bring in the mammography machines. This is an amazing article and if this early detection does work, how can we speed up the process of getting it approved for use at-least in countries that do not have early detection devices?
If anyone has any ideas or more information, let me know. Think how many lives this would save in other countries? In the U.S? Let’s get some letters or petitions or something going ASAP. (And remember to do your own self exam every month!)
June 20, World Refugee Day
June 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment
UNHCR celebrates World Refugee Day 2008:
“On June 20, we celebrate World Refugee Day. This year, events around the world will focus on the fundamental need for protection. For some, this means economic security; for others, protection is freedom from violence and persecution. On World Refugee Day, we will turn our attention to the millions of refugees who live without material, social and legal protection.”
To learn more about UNHCR and see what you can do, check out their DONATE page and see how your small change can make a difference.
May 30, 2008 Weekend Challenge: It’s a Small World After All…
May 30, 2008 | 9 Comments
We always seem to say, “It’s a small world.”
But the things that are happening within our own country and abroad can seem so far away, because it may not be happening to us here at home. I know many people who just don’t want to know. They have great hearts, but stories of tragedies just cause them too much pain.
The definition of Apathy is a state of indifference — where an individual has an absence of interest or concern to certain aspects of emotional, social, or physical life.
The words, apathy and indifference are powerful. Question: Is it just as bad to be indifferent about child slavery than to be the one to sell the child? If we know about it, and do nothing, what does that make us?
It can be overwhelming.
I am overwhelmed all the time about such subjects as child slavery, genocide, and the state of our our own foster care system. I can’t ignore it, because I know it’s happening. Then the ongoing questions start popping in my head: What can I do? Who am I to do anything about what is happening today in Darfur? How can I help the woman escaping North Korea? How can I help wounded soldiers and their families here at home? It can go on all day.
Then I take a breath.
Because I know the first step out of indifference and apathy is knowledge. So everyday, I read the news. I start with CNN, then to BBC and lastly, to Reuters. Because the saying, “Knowledge is Power” is the first step of exiting our own “cul-de-sac” mentality. Our small world becomes large. Then once you make that connection to the Mother who lost her family to war in the Congo, or to the child that was sold into slavery by their parents, the world can become small once again.
It comes full circle.
So today’s challenge is simply to read. Read about our world and what is happening to our global brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and most importantly to our children. Take that first step. Make the connection and believe that it is a small world after all.
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