15th Annual International Women's Day Celebration

Keynote presenter: Leymah Gbowee, Founder & Director, Women Peace & Security Network - Africa

We are pretty pleased with our first IWD sponsorship!

Inspired by the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, The Advocates for Human Rights and the University of MN Women's Human Rights Program have continued "to build on the extraordinary spirit and energy of the conference by bringing together the world community living in Minnesota, USA, to celebrate International Women's Day." The keynote presentation was given by Leymah Gbowee, Founder and Director, Women Peace and Security Network-Africa. The event included music, performances, workshops, organizational display tables, film screenings, visual arts exhibit, arts and crafts vendors, and the keynote presentation.

Rita on the ready to get the word out

It was a long day but we were lucky to have our fabulous and hard-working volunteers (Laaitu and Elizabeth). It was exciting to see some familiar faces and meet new ones. Our goal was to join in the celebration of women everywhere and get the word out about AWC.

Get the word out we did! Overall, people were generally interested in the AWC Concept. We spoke with African college students, professional African women, people who, for one reason or another, wanted to connect with African women/community. Also, people who work with African immigrants and refugees were excited to add AWC to their resource list for women who may be interested.

Laaitu Sabiya tells the AWC story to event attendee

It was also great to meet other vendors. I had a great conversation with one particular vendor who was of Indian descent with organizational mission similar to AWC's. It felt great to not only swap stories but also share experiences that she could relate to and found helpful. It never ceases to amaze me how we (women) have more in common than we realize sometimes.

L-R: Wokie Freeman, Leymah Gbowee, Rita Apaloo

The keynote speaker, Leymah Gbowee, was the icing on the cake--just awesome! Leymah spoke on the topic, “Rebuilding a failed state one woman at a time.” The stories she told about the role ordinary Liberian women played in bringing about peace in Liberia, electing the first female president in Africa and strides in continuing to stay engaged in the processes of democracy and community building were no short of amazing. She talked about how when regular efforts to register women to vote failed because the women had become disillusioned after being let down by the political process so many times before, Leymah's organization took on the challenge of mobilizing thousands of women in a record-breaking period of time, which eventually led to the election of President Sirleaf.

Do you know how they convinced the women to register to vote? They took the time to talk to each woman one on one; sometimes it meant assisting with washing laundry, handing her ingredients while she cooked, burping a baby, accompanying her to the market, etc. Whatever it took to ensure the woman understood how important her vote was and why they needed it. She said that in the past, when a peace agreement was signed, the women came out in the streets, took off their scarfs and wraps and danced with joy. Once the celebration was done, they would go back home to do the cooking and raising children but now they understand that they need to get involved and be a part of rebuilding and keeping the peace.
Inspire. Act. Change!--the theme of IWD 2010. I have to say that I was truly inspired by the event.

Wokie Johnson stopped by to say hi.

To leave you with Leymah Gbowee's advice, get involved--do something to make a change in your community.

It was an honor to be included in the Liberian Women's Roundtable private luncheon with Leymah Gbowee

At AWC, we plan to keep on building relationships one woman at a time!