GTW NEWS BULLETIN - AUGUST 2007
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From: Jeanie D.
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2007, 7:18 PM
Subject: GTW News Bulletin - August 2007
ID: 258305

GTW Highlights August 2007

• GTW is issuing its annual call to gather locally in October; host or attend a GTW Regional Gathering near you and grow your community. See www.gatherth ewomen.org.

• We report on GTW at the International Women’s Peace Conference in July (see www.womenspeaceconference.org), including current news about the initiative that began there to communicate with the women of Iraq (see www.youtube.com).

• GTW’s impulse is alive and growing in Canada, Australia and Africa (see reports below).

• GTW’s video is now available featuring Jean Shinoda Bolen, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Jean Houston on the role of women today (email marilyn@gatherthewomen.org).

• We feature our sister organizations who offer many opportunities to engage: Evoluti onary Women’s October gathering in Baltimore, PeaceXPeace’s new interactive features on their website, Millionth Circle, Circle Connections, and a new initiative to gather in Sophia, Bulgaria in 2010.

News from Gather the Women

GTW Regional * Coming up: For the third year Gather the Women’s Fall Regional Gatherings are happening in October. All over the U.S., women are hosting events around the theme of One Community to develop community in their areas. Watch for details from the regions to be posted on our website at www.gatherthewomen.org. Click here to search for and connect with the Regional Coordinator nearest you.

There are currently 34 Regional Coordinators across the United States; 11 have been added during 2007. A Regional Coordinator acts as a center point to gather women in circle and create GTW events. There is a monthly conference call to share inspiration and collaboration. If you would like to find our more about how to become a Regional Coordinator and host an event, call or email Marilyn Nyborg at 530- 477-7883 or Joy Adams at 949-454- 1349.

GTW National * Seven GTW Regional Coordinators from Canada, California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Alaska, and Florida met in Dallas, Texas to participate in the Third International Women’s Peace Conference. We created a workshop on HOW to gather women, and participated in Millionth Circle’s HOW to do a circle, and Circle Connections’ HOW to create ACTION circles.

We found sisterhood with almost 1,000 women from some 46 countries and 36 states. Many colorfully dressed in their native dress from many parts of Africa, Muslims from a number of countries, Palestinians and Israelis, Russian women and more. One beautiful African woman stood and declared that African women were taking over Africa, which was greeted with cheers and encouragement. It was also rewarding to hear from so many women who had participated in our earlier GTW International Women’s Conferences in San Francisco and in Dallas 3 and 4 years ago. Also, many women came forward to identify themselves as aligned with Gather the Women.

We solidified our relationship with these organizations as well as PeacexPeace and explored ways in which we could further our work together. We had 52 women participate in our workshop and look forward to hearing from many of the women we connected with. We put faces to names we have corresponded with, networked with old and new connections, bonded with one another and found ourselves enriched by this broad exchange. We were surprised at how many women shared our spiritual base defining our response to action needed.

The overall and constant theme was that women will have to lead the way here. As Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen pointed out in her keynote address, men have too often been driven by the need to win, whereas women tend to mediate and compromise, from which comes the promise of real change. [Submitted by Marilyn Nyborg, GTW's Leadership Council.]

A video of Naba Hamid, a professor of parasitology from the University of Baghdad, asking women to respond to the people of Iraq, touched many women at the Conference. Anne Fitzgerald presented the video “Naba's Call to Respond to the Women of Iraq”, and facilitated a circle process “Activating Women's Wisdom to Respond to the Women of Iraq”. A group formed to write a statement of commitment to the women of Iraq. To view a clip of the video, click here . To receive a copy of the DVD and to write your own statement, write to Anne at afspirit@comcast.net. [Submitted by Anne Fitzgerald, ~Spirit at Work Global~, who is GTW’s Regional Coordinator for the Greater Boston Area.]

GTW International * Canada: Warm greetings from us all on Vancouver Island! On the weekend of September 21, the core group of GTW Canada and active GTW women from the U.S. will be having a retreat at Glenairley, near Victoria, to share what we both have been up to and to see if there is something we may consider doing together. There will be eight of us from each side of the border… a good balance. A small group of local women who have been involved with GTW have also been invited to join us at noon on Sunday for circle-brunch. We look forward to being with our cross-border friends and catching up on what is new and happening locally and internationally. May all our boundaries remain transparent through the sincerity, magic and fun of our authentic relationships and open hearts!

November 4th will see the second event in our Margaret Fulton Leadership series. Planning around Women in Leadership for Peace. [Submitted by Clare Peterson, for the Core Circle of GTW, Canada; see www.gatherthewomencanada.or g. ]

* Australia: Gather the Women Congress, July 6-8, 2007, Sydney, Australia. Women from all regions of Australia were joined by their sisters from the U.S. and Kenya at the third of the 6 GTW Congresses on 6 Continents. The event was held at the Citigate Central Hotel in Sydney and was best described by Robyn Craig of Perth in these words: "The connections we all made, the warmness and familiarity between participants was significant and opening, inspiring and powerful..." The Australian Congress was anchored by Anique Duc, who worked with a regional planning committee to create a dynamic event.

The Congress, organized around the theme "Women Inspiring Change", featured keynote presentations by women leaders including Senator Lee Rhiannon, Eva Cox and Rev. Dorothy McRae-McMahon. Numerous other presentations described both regional and global women's initiatives. A highlight of the Congress was a panel of immigrant and refugee women representing the Phillippines, South Korea, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, describing their unique challenges. Joyce Oneko of Kenya shared news from the African women and the women of Canada sent a welcoming message on DVD.

At the Congress closing session, women from diverse regions of Australia stepped forward with interest in serving as local anchors for Gather the Women Australia. A GTW National Event is being planned for International Women's Day and a core circle is being formed to carry forward the intention for the Australian arm of GTW. [See www.gatherthe womenoz.com. Submitted by Kathe Schaaf, GTW’s Liaison to the Continental Congresses.]

* Africa: Grassroots African Women's Conference, December 1-4, 2006, Bondo, Kenya. Ripples continue. The second of the 6 GTW Congresses on 6 Continents was held in Bondo, Kenya and brought together 513 grassroots women from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, South Africa, Zambia and North America. In the words of event organizer Joyce Oneko, "It is grassroots women who carry the burdens of ensuring that their children are fed, educated and have wothry futures, of caring for those suffering from AIDS and other diseases, of building and maintaining the social fabric of their communities for the benefit of all.... Grassroots women develop programs that work extremely well, but these are rarely shared with their peers or the wider world in an effective manner." For three days at a Teacher's College in rural Kenya, grassroots women of Africa were given this rare opportunity to exchange information about their unique local programs, to explore together their challenges and to celebrate their successes.

The conference was focused on four topics of interest: 1) women and health, 2) food security and the environment, 3) economic empowerment and 4) capacity building. After hearing presentations about model programs and innovative resources in each of these area, participants were able to select workshops which allowed highly interactive participation and a focus upon practical skills and networking. A lively Marketplace allowed regional women to sell crafts and products, and the delegates from North America decorated a Meditation and Prayer Room which offered the women a quiet and beautiful space for reflection. The entire event was punctuated by spontaneous singing and dancing.

Joyce reports that there is a continuing 'buzz' in the rural areas of East Africa as a result of this gathering. Women who attended the conference have begun to host their own local events to share what they learned; one such event anchored by the Engorika Women's Group in Tanzania drew more than 250 local women who were eager to hear about new ideas. Joyce also plans to create a network of women's centers which can serve as local hubs for teaching practical skills, access to computers and micro-lending programs. [Submitted by Kathe Schaaf, GTW’s Liaison to the Continental Congresses.]

GTW Visuals * Marilyn Nyborg has assembled 3 keynote speakers (Barbara Marx Hubbard, Jean Houston, and Jean Shinoda Bolen) on a VERY inspiring DVD you can use for your circle. Email her at marilyn@gatherthewomen.org to order one, and check out what she has to say about GTW and community-building at www.consciousmedianetwork. com (scroll to Marilyn Nyborg in the upper left of the home page.)

News from our Sister Organizations

Gather the Women’s mission is to make the incredible wisdom of women more visible wherever it arises. Check out our sister organizations below. If they call to you, follow your heart to your place in the matrix of women arising now to make a difference.

* Evolutionary Women is hosting their 4th gathering, this one in Baltimore, October 5-7, 2007. When women gather to connect with their own evolutionary impulse, miracles happen. Check it out at www.evo lutionarywomen.org .

* PeaceXPeace is launching many new programs to connect women and circles of women across the world. Hear the voices, participate in the dialogues, and connect your circle to a women’s circle in a developing country at www.peacexpeace.org .

* Millionth Circle continues to invite circles to register and be counted as we create the awareness we need to change our world. A critical mass of women’s circles may yet impel us toward the Fifth United Nations Women’s World Conference. See www.millionthcircle.org , and www.5wwc.org for more information.

*Looking for personal support forming and growing your circle? Check out www.circleconnections.com .

* In February 2007 women from many of our sister organizations attended the UN's Commission on the Status of Women. Gatherings there have led to an initiative to hold a Women's World Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2010. See www.sophiawwc.org to get involved.

Inspiration
From "The Feminine Face of God" by Patricia Hopkins and Sherry Rochester. In: Return of the Great Goddess, ed. Burleigh Muten.

“You will be teachers for each other. You will come together in circles and speak your truth to each other. The time has come for women to accept their spiritual responsibility for our planet.”
“Will you help us?” I ask the assembled patriarchs.
“We are your brothers,” they answer, and the entire room is flooded with an energy of indescribable kindness. I am absolutely confident in this moment that they are our brothers. I feel their love without any question. They say then, “We have initiated you and we give you our wholehearted blessings. But we no longer know the way. Our ways do not work anymore. You women must find a new way.”