Monday October 15, 2007 
Monday October 15, 2007 Wars Fought - and Won - by Women and Children
The average life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 36. AIDS, malaria, cholera and poverty have ravaged the country. Unlike Uganda, where government support and education have drastically reduced the toll of AIDs, Zimbabwe's folk medicine practitioners still recommend that infected men sleep with virgins. This has resulted in the rape and abuse of young girls throughout the country - and, of course, perpetuated the spread of the disease.
That was the situation in 1999.
Enter Betty Makoni, a 34 year old teacher who started the Girl Child Network, giving abused girls a platform to tell their stories of abuse through theatrics and poetry. Talk about making a difference. Now there are 350 chapters of the Girl Child Network, with 20,000 school children enrolled in it across Zimbabwe, places where these abused girls sing out their stories, and abuse is taken from its shameful place in a dark closet to the full, cleansing light of the sun. And honorable people are horrified. And abusers are punished. Thus the balance of power shifts to the righteous, and wrongs are addressed. All because Betty Makoni stood up and found a small way, which blossomed into a big way, to make a difference.
Sponsored by the west coast chapter of women@sun, Paola Gianturco
spoke at Sun last Friday to about 50 rapt audience members about Betty
Makoni and a dozen other women who have, through their own efforts,
shifted the balance between good and evil. Her book, Women Who
Light the Dark, is a powerful testament to women who, under the most
distressing circumstances, find the power within themselves to make a
difference. It's a beautiful book as well, containing powerful
photographs from around the world, taken by Paola who is both a
journalist and a photographer.
Friday was a day of inspiration for me. It started by learning
that Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless crusade
against global warming, and it ended by hearing Paola speak.
 L-to-R: Susan Miller, Stans Kleijnen, Paola Gianturco, and yours truly. |
 Paola signing a book for me. |
If you want to help women like Betty Makoni make a difference, there are a couple ways to get involved. You can buy the book, Women Who Light the Dark - Paola is donating all of her royalties to the Women's Global Fund. Or, you can donate directly to the Women's Global Fund itself, and help empower women to help themselves, and in the process, help others.
Change a life, change a world. Save a life, save a world...
“Everyone should regard himself and the whole world as evenly poised between good and guilt. If he commits a sin, he tilts the balance of his fate and that of the world to guilt, causing destruction. If he performs a good deed, he shifts the balance of his fate and that of the world to good, bringing salvation and deliverance.” (Maimonides)
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Oct 15 2007, 10:26:32 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
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