The Power and Resilience of Filipina Women

This past weekend, I spent time with the women of Sarilaya, a women's organization whose cause is centered on female empowerment and healthy living. They support women who earn livelihood in the rural areas, and the women and families they support grow organic foods. They have children’s centers in these rural areas to help the men and women who are out working all day. I had the opportunity of training the incredible mothers and teachers on the LitClubs curriculum, and they are preparing to launch 9 new LitClubs at the start of the new year!

Armie and Riza, above, demonstrate and practice the art of the read-aloud

What I loved about this experience the most was the opportunity to hear the stories of Filipina women. I learned so much about their daily struggles, their victories, and their strength. Their lives are centered around being good mothers, providing for their children, and caring for the children in the centers. It was beautiful  to laugh with them, to listen in to their stories of resilience, and to witness their determination to create better futures.

Michelle shows off her heart map

Pam Allyn, our Executive Director, helped me put together the agenda for the LitClubs training, and we made sure that the training would be inspiring and igniting. We wanted the women to feel the essence and spirit of our LitClubs, and sure enough, the women smiled brightly as we went through each exercise, as this training became a space for them to get re-inspired and refueled as they continued their work of caring for the young ones.

Below: The Seven Strengths Translated in Tagalog

Sharing our stories together was a priceless experience. The best part about it all was the fact that we all learned something valuable from each other. I was glad I had the opportunity to create an empowering, uplifting space for us all.

When the training ended, the women took off to their next destination in their Jeepney, a common mode of transportation in our country. (They love taking photos, can you tell?) :)

-Written by LitCorps Ambassador in the Philippines, Ruby Veridiano

Connecting with the Power Women of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, Over Great Distances and Through Big Storms

A couple of weeks ago a magical thing happened at the LitWorld office. Don’t get me wrong, magical things always happen at the LitWorld office, but this experience was particularly moving for me. Across oceans and cultures and all types of obstacles, LitWorld was able to connect with the amazing Power Women Group of Kibera, Kenya. We have a Skype date with the Power Women every few weeks and it is the highlight of the day, week, and month for all of us. The Power Women live up to their name & are a truly powerful group of women. After being ostracized by their communities because of their HIV-positive status, the Power Women came together to support each other and work together to improve their living situations - they’re motto is “To pull together is to avoid being pulled apart.”

On this particular Friday - 9 am in NYC, 5 pm in Kibera - we’ve come together to share stories, songs and smiles and I am blown away by how close the women seem. It’s as if we are in the same room - although from their end they are experiencing inclement weather and we can hear what sounds like a torrential downpour beating down on the tin roof above them. We have some trouble hearing each other over the sound, but nothing can drown out the enormous smiles they have on their faces and the pure love that is radiating from each and every one of them. Because of the difficulty communicating we decide to sing songs - Dorothy leads us in singing “This Little Light of Mine” and the Power Women lead us in singing “When the Saints Go Marching On” - songs we all know and sing with ease and joy. It hits me as we sing that even though these women are so far away from me physically and live such completely different lives from my own, and even though we don’t speak the same language - we still have so much we want to share with each other and we have one very important thing in come - the eagerness to connect.

The rain finally settles down and YaYa is able to read aloud from a book that I had never heard of, but know I would have loved as a child. The book is called Frederick and it is about a little mouse who does not help the other little mice prepare for the coming winter months, or at least he does not help them in the more conventional way - by gathering grains and nuts. Rather, Frederick is gathering colors and words to share with his fellow mice when the food runs, so that he might warm their hearts and feed their spirits during the darkest days of winter. The book really resonated with me because I very much believe that every person has their own unique gifts to offer and even if they’re not conventional, they’re still essential.

After reading the book, we all went around and thought of one word that we would share with our children to help them get through hard times, to help them get through their own darkest days. No one woman said the same thing and every answer was beautiful. Some of the words we came up were: love, friends, bravery, hard work, school, hope, strength, family. Each answer was so personal and yet we all related - we were speaking the same language, even though we needed a translator to communicate - we were speaking the language of the heart, the language of stories.

This was an experience that for me truly defined what LitWorld is all about - sharing stories and moments and lessons; across language barriers, despite storms, using every possible technological means to connect. It was truly magical. And what I’m going to remember the most, what will brighten even my darkest day, are the dazzling and infectious smiles of the Power Women of Kibera, Kenya.

- Carey

A Trip to the Local Library

Koidu town has finally got it’s own public library. Most of the books are donated and the quality of storybooks might not be overwhelming, but they have a great children’s section and the women I work with can only read children’s books anyway.

The only problem is that it cost money to become a member, and even though it is only around 3 dollars for a yearly membership a lot of people in Koidu never have a chance to pay the fee. Most families have to survive for a couple of dollars per day and the average income for teachers, tailors etc. are around 45 dollars per month.

Our tailors know how to read simple words and some of them can read basic children’s books as well, so I decided to let our project pay for the library membership fee so they have a place to study and practice reading and writing when we are going back to Denmark in a few months. It ended up being an exciting field trip and we will definitely go there a few more times to read before we leave.

Mariatu reads "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus"

On our way to the library. (from left: Mariatu, Naomi, Anni, Fatmata M., Fatamata K. and Hawa G.B.)

/Anni

Sharing Stories Around the 7 Strengths

For the past two weeks I’ve been working with a group of 14 young women in Sierra Leone. I’m leading a video workshop for the women to create their own documentary films and LitWorld girls club activities. Most of the women are illiterate so I have to be creative to explain and shape the exercises to them. The other day, I introduced them to LitWorld’s 7 strengths. The only word they know beforehand was hope. After explaining and exemplifying the words, I asked the women to discuss in their local language how the words relate to their own lives. The women worked in groups and when they had all shared their thoughts in the small groups I asked them to share in class. Because the discussion had taken place in their local language, I had no idea what they’ve been talking about, so it was an overwhelming surprise to learn the stories they had told each other.

10 years ago a bloody civil war came to an end in Sierra Leone, and it turned out that some of the women had shared war stories. Fanta explained that she was abducted by the rebels and had to live with them in the bush for a couple of months until she managed to flee and came back to her father. When I asked her, which of the 7 strengths she related her story to, she replied: “Even though I was abducted and lived with the rebels, I still belong to my family.”

/Anni

Reflections on Kenya: Only the Beginning

I was carrying years of anticipation and excitement with me when I took my first steps into the small courtyard and buildings shared by the Children of Kibera offices and Red Rose’s upper primary school. As soon as I walked into the space I was overwhelmed by the sense of joy, curiosity and love emanating from the girls gathered to meet the LitWorld team. The Red Rose Girls LitClub was waiting to embrace us all and I only wish I could have held onto the whole group forever.

The impact of the Girls Club at Red Rose is in every girl’s smile, every hug between friends, every thoughtful, reflective answer the girls gave to the questions we asked. The tragedy of the daily lives of these girls is real and all encompassing, the poverty, the dangers to their health and safety as women, the disease and pollution, and yet they sparkle. They radiate intelligence, ambition and hope in spite of the winding passageways running with rivers of sewage that each one deftly navigates to get from home to school and back again each day.

They feel themselves as leaders, as important members of their learning community, as girls on the brink of being women with a bright, beautiful future ahead. Hearing their dreams to become doctors and lawyers, their imaginings of fairies and magical monkeys that turn into princes, their questions about the world and their ideas to make it better, I know that they are being strengthened and protected and connected by the clubs in a way that means health and hope and happiness.

In Kisumu, every moment was full and there were so many people looking for our time, our care, our ear. And yet the LitClub girls were in many ways the same, beautifully bright, curious, funny, warm and open to our friendship, our love and our stories. I fell in love with them instantly and wish I had so many more hours to learn about every moment of their lives and every dream they have for their future.

Our work in Kisumu was expansive. We met with not only the girls but their principals, their teachers, their mothers. The time we spent with their mothers broke my heart and put it back together again. The group of mothers in Kisumu came to hear about what their daughters have been doing and learn about how they could be involved in their daughters’ learning. Some had never held a pen before, and were gently guided by those who sat nearby, but all were eager to be together. Coming together is so important for all of us as human beings. Feeling like we are a part of a group and working toward a common purpose, a goal that is good.

These mothers shared their worries about whether or not their children would be fed tomorrow, and they shared their stories about what makes their daughters special, and together in that room as the afternoon stretched toward evening they shared a promise to be strong for their daughters, protect their daughters and show their daughters how they could grow up to become the dreams they hold for themselves in their hearts.

I came home and can’t seem to shake the feeling of being separated from my dearest friends. I know this is only the beginning because I know the stories of the women and girls in Kibera and Kisumu, I know their smiles and their laughter and their secret hopes. And I will not forget. I will find ways to keep sharing, keep learning and keep discovering new ways to bring peace and hope and love and learning to each one. Each of my dear friends.

- Jen