Multimedia storytelling empowers individuals and organizations; When used correctly it can inspire entire movements, bring communities together, raise awareness about social justice issues and give nonprofits a vital tool to amplify their message.
It’s for these very reasons and due to the overwhelming response for our social documentary internships that Stirring the Fire would like to announce our new multimedia workshops. STF workshops will serve to help nonprofits that work to promote gender equality, to tell their story and give them online strategies to get that story in front of the audience they need to reach.
The workshops will differ from the internships in that there will be formal production and post production training. Our founder Phil Borges explains briefly, “more and more nonprofits need multimedia, so I’ve decided to do these multimedia workshops to provide formal training in storytelling, film, photography, audio, editing, post production, and distribution.”
Our next workshop will be July 13-22nd in San Diego working with Foundation for Women, an organization that changes lives through microcredit finance, and by encouraging entrepreneurship as the solution to eliminating poverty. We will be documenting their US microcredit programs, but focusing on their San Diego loan groups. Apply here!
Kathleen Milliken (Schmidt) is by any accounts a strong woman. When you meet her she is vivacious, full of energy and drive. What you wouldn’t necessarily guess is that she is a survivor of domestic violence until she tells you with passion and pride what she has accomplished since leaving the relationship 15 years ago; since taking her life back. During her 6 years of marriage to an extremely abusive man, she narrowly escaped with her life. She has written about this experience in her book, Escaping the Glass Cage; a Story of Survival and Empowerment from Domestic Violence.
Kathleen's Autobiography
According to UN Women, 1 in 3 women around the world will be abused in their lifetime. The statistics differ from country to country but domestic violence is a universal phenomenon that does not discriminate between race, education, religion, class or sexual orientation. For too many women around the world this is their reality, perpetuated by cultural norms that condone violence against women.
But there can be a way out and hope for a new life, as Kathleen shows us. Besides having a blog-talk radio show, working full time and creating empowerment workshops for survivors, Kathleen is preparing to climb Mt. Rainier (14,411 ft. or 4,392 meters) in September. She will be climbing this summer to raise awareness about domestic violence and encourage others to take their own steps toward empowerment. This project is “Climb for Empowerment” and truly embodies her own path to freedom. She explains, “It is by choice, to take one step after another. My dream is to show the world that if I can make a new life, so can you, one step at a time. I know how hard it is to rebuild a life. It takes a lot of courage to start over, learn how to live again and grow through the pain. So this climb is a symbol of that growth.”
Kathleen on Mt. Rainier Summer of 2011
Inspired by this idea, I wanted to find out more about it and asked her the following questions:
How did you get the idea to climb Rainier to raise awareness? I’ve seen many organizations climbing Mt. Rainier for many different and important causes, but none for domestic violence awareness. So, I thought, why not me?
Are there currently any other survivors joining you? At this moment, I’m a one woman show. But what has been so fun is being contacted by so many women from all around the world with their support; wanting to do their own version of “Climb” to support their local women’s shelter.
What motivates you to engage in the rigorous training day in day out? I remember how hard it was to leave my abuser and start over. It is a one-day-at-a-time process, or as I like to say, one step at a time. This is what helps me keep going. I keep pictures up around my home with Mt. Rainier and to me, it’s more than just getting to the top, it is the journey. I call my training hikes, climbing stairs and lots of time on the treadmill my “Zen time”. It is a chance for me to be in nature (or watch something inspiring on a DVD if training at home). I often think of John Muir, naturalist and activist who was an early climber of Mt. Rainier. He once said, “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. ”
Not a quitter, Kathleen explains her previous summit attempt in 2011. On my first climb I only made it to high camp at 11,200 feet but was unable to summit due to altitude sickness. It burns in my heart to go at it again. Just as it takes several tries for many men and women to leave their abuser, it is taking me more than once to go at the summit. So this time I know how to train harder and have a better understanding on how my body works not only with the equipment, but how exhausting it is to climb. Whether I make it to the top isn’t the most important part (although I’d love to have that experience!); I want to create a movement for others to say, “Hey, if she can do it, so can I!” I’m climbing to empower survivors of domestic violence and abuse….one step at a time.
To learn more about and support Kathleen’s climb, visit www.kathleenmschmidt.com and click on “Climb for Empowerment”. There are ways they can support the climb, for example: purchasing “Embracelets of Hope (a small percentage will be supporting the climb itself, the rest will be going towards Girl Child Network Worldwide and The Pixel Project). The same applies for “Climb for Empowerment” T-Shirts. Any purchases are tax deductible.
Kathleen concludes with this inspirational message that we all can take strength from - I truly believe that all healing and empowerment begins from within. And for us to have peace in our world, we must first have peace within our homes, within ourselves. If you can find that spark, that driving force that pulls you in the direction of doing something bigger than you, listen to it. We each have a voice, we each can make a difference in the world, and it all starts with us.
Stirring the Fire is excited to announce that our founder Phil Borges will be a guest speaker next month at the ChickChat Half the Sky: Changemakers event. This will be an inspirational evening that brings women and girls together to empower and uplift each other through the stories of local non-profits who are true Changemakers in the local community and world at large.
The event will take place Thursday, May 17th from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the:
Uptown Hideaway 817 5th Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98109
Tickets for this event can be purchased online at:
The inspiration for this event came after reading the book, “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity Worldwide” – a life-changing read that highlights brave womens’ personal stories of oppression and triumph, from around the world.
The distinguished Changemakers comprising the speaker panel include:
*Ayni Education International - builds schools for girls in Afghanistan
*YouthCare’s Bridge Program – provides shelter and recovery for sex trafficked youth
*StirringTheFire.org - a global movement, led by local documentary filmmaker and photograher, Phil Borges, to raise awareness about the issues facing women and girls
Each will present TED style, having 15 minutes to enlighten you about their mission, successes, challenges and what you can do to become a Changemaker too!
The following local non-profits will also have informational tables at the event:
*Street Yoga
*Crooked Trails
*Richard’s Rwanda
*SOLD the Movie & Movement
*Washington Engage
*Ignite
*YWCA
Also included in the evening are:
*Wine from: Loredona, Irony, Chocolate Shop, Confectioner’s and Sofia Coppola
*Dry Soda
*Cupcakes
*Great door prizes & giveaways
How can YouTube Artists and Fans collectively work together to make the world a better place?
Music for Pixels is a new campaign that was recently launched on April 1st 2012 by the Pixel Project, and is the first social media-based music campaign to have YouTube artistes raise awareness about Violence Against Women through music video PSAs. This campaign will also help generate funds for the cause via digital music downloads and introduce global audiences to some of most inspiring and newest YouTube artists to hit the digital main-stage.
“The campaign will run on an ongoing basis and The Pixel Project aims to announce a new artiste every month as the campaign grows in momentum. During their ‘Artiste of the Month’ stint, participating YouTube artistes will contribute a music video PSA featuring them performing an uplifting and empowering cover or original song to encourage hope and courage in survivors while inspiring men, women and youth to work together to end violence against women in whatever capacity they can, wherever they are in the world.
If you’re an inspiring musician, or even just love singing out loud in the car, submit your own music video cover of The Rose to the Pixel Project for their YouTube Cover Carnival! But hurry, the deadline for submission is April 13th.
Not quit ready for center stage? The Pixel Project is also looking for volunteers to help out with their Music for Pixels Street Team! Help connect your friends, family, and community to this campaign and spread awareness about Violence against Women, its fun, easy, and rewarding.
Editor’s Note: Stirring the Fire’s 2011 Grant Recipient shares with us what she took away from her experience volunteering with Sure 24 in Kenya. You can read all of Emily’s posts here.
After nearly two months of being back in the United States, I still find my heart and mind dwelling on the girls I met in Kenya. My experience living with the girls has seeped in to different aspects of my life. In classes, talking about development in the ‘third world’ takes on a whole new meaning after walking alongside the girls and seeing the struggles they face. On a broader scale, it has increased my awareness of inequality and made me consider the ways in which the global disparity of wealth is perpetuated. Though this was my second trip to Kenya, I came away with different lessons and was prompted to contemplate new questions.
One of the challenges I wrestled with during my trip was seeing well-intended assistance become harmful at times. The amount of foreign money that is put in to charity work in Kenya has the unfortunate side effect of creating an environment susceptible to corruption. I heard stories from different adults about how many ‘children’s homes’ do not actually care for children. Stories ranged from outright scams to selling off a few donations here and there rather than give them to the children.
For me, this was eye-opening and heartbreaking. Another woman from Sure 24 told me about the dependency syndrome that she has seen aid create over the years. She said that some micro-finance projects she had witnessed failed because of this dependency mindset. Another issue I noticed was the prevalence of corporal punishment in schools. Though I knew it was common practice, and many of the kids actually affirmed it as a good form of discipline, it twisted my gut. Would sponsors in the west feel as good about sending a child to school if they knew that child was beat at school? But then again the child was still receiving an education, so perhaps it comes down to picking battles. Again, I was struck with the complex consequences that foreign assistance can have.
Coming home, I wasn’t sure how to talk about this dissonance that I experienced. It was much easier to talk about the beautiful children I met, the stories they told me, and day-to-day life. The questions about the inequitable distribution of wealth and the complexity of foreign assistance in addressing this problem still distracted me. After a few weeks back, I was able to attend a lecture by Mary B. Anderson entitled “The Listening Project: How Recipients Judge International Assistance.” Through this project, her team has interviewed over 6,000 individuals in 15 countries over four years in order to investigate what recipients expected out of aid, and what they actually received. It was a nice reminder that I wasn’t the only one asking these questions.
She reflected on her findings and spoke about the dependency on aid that commonly develops, despite the fact that recipients did not anticipate nor desire this outcome. She attributed some of this to the business-model that aid agencies have adapted to, where pressure is placed on growing your program, rather than create programs where you will no longer be needed and therefore shrink your size. Anderson said that one of the most remarkable parts of her findings was that the overwhelmingly similar responses she heard from dissatisfied aid recipients regardless of the country they were from or the type of assistance they received. She noted only one exception to this rule: Women’s programs.She said that through her research she had found that women’s programs did enhance local appreciation more than any other type of aid.
Anderson’s lecture showed me the important role of taking a critical look at how international assistance is delivered and gave me hope. Anderson has been working in the aid community for fifty years. She sees the flaws and yet still believes it is something worth investing her entire career in. In concluding her lecture, Anderson spoke about the role that relationships play in international development. She explained that the new paradigm of aid should start with respectful collegial engagement in order to share perspectives and solve problems.
This helped me to see more of the beauty of my time in Kenya. I am so grateful for the relationships I was able to build with the girls there. Learning about the issues they have faced and what still lies ahead has inspired and challenged me. Most importantly, it has created a thirst in me for more: more learning, more understanding and more equality.
Editor’s Note: Guest Contributor, Eve Aronson is a freelance journalist and analyst. As a correspondent for IHA (Ihlas) News Agency, Eve covers the intimate and true story of a woman who was able to overcome and escape the world of sex trafficking. Today’s blog will conclude a two-part post. Feature interviews will include the President of Free the Slaves, and the Executive Director and CEO of The Polaris Project.Eve currently works at the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at the Polaris Project in Washington D.C. and can be reached at: evearonson.iha[at]gmail.com.
cont.- Shamere is a U.S. citizen but many women who are trafficked into the country are not. Sources indicate that every year, an estimated 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. from abroad. Salsbury recalls meeting with women who had escaped from their traffickers but found themselves without money to travel or legal documents to remain in the U.S. “I can think of clients who, three or four years ago, were in my office and we could hardly get through a meeting without them crying because they felt like their life was over,” she says.
One of Salbury’s jobs at the Tahirih Justice Center is to facilitate cooperation of these victims with law enforcement to show that they were trafficked and could subsequently be granted visas to remain in the U.S. and get their feet on the ground. “The T-visa is a way for trafficking victims to gain immigration status,” she explains. “It is a 4-year temporary visa that provides work authorizations and access to certain benefits.” The visa, says Salsbury, enables trafficking victims to sponsor certain family members to come to the U.S. and provides the foundation for permanent residency.
But sex trafficking victims, she notes, are often hesitant to divulge any information about their traffickers that might jeopardize their own personal safety. “In so many of these cases there’s such a fear of law enforcement and so the visa is a way to say you’re going to be protected, it’s OK to come forward,” she says.
Akosiwa, 12; was sold by her father and worked in servitude for eight years, but returned and enrolled in a program to help educate girls who have been trafficked.
“It took a very long time to gather the courage to report what had happened to law enforcement, but then there was a slow recovery process and I think gaining lawful immigration status had a huge role in that,” she continues. “All of a sudden, that fear of deportation, that fear that you’re going to be sent to any country in the world,
maybe not even your own country, is gone.”
In the U.S., the Polaris Project runs a national hotline* for victims of human trafficking that is active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and accommodates 170 different languages. Since its launch in 2002, the hotline has received 1,500 calls directly from victims of human trafficking and sent over 1,900 tips to law enforcement nationwide. The hotline is also accessible internationally- according to Myles, approximately nine percent of calls are from trafficking victims abroad.
Outside of the U.S., Bales highlights the role of international laws in combating sex trafficking. “They create that framework and especially that expectation that governments should live up to their own promises.” He cites the Palermo Protocols, which were adopted in 2000 by the United Nations, and require participating countries to adhere to the specific anti-trafficking policies established by the convention, as an example.
Bales stresses the importance of ensuring that laws are enforced. One way to do that, he says with a grin, is to “hit traffickers in the pocketbook. “There are some places where men who are caught driving their car and trying to pick up women to use for sex will have their car confiscated. I think that’s a great idea. Make it hard, make it tough and make it so that it’s a risky business they really don’t want to be involved in,” he says confidently.
Myles asserts that the problem with current anti-trafficking laws in most countries is that sex workers are often criminalized, while their traffickers often get off scot-free and are even glorified. “In many countries, the brunt of police force has really fallen on the person selling sex, usually the women or girl in prostitution,” he says, then poses the question, “Is that really the smartest way to be policing the sex trade, and is that really getting desired result, which is reducing the sex trade over time?”
According to Myles, the answer to that question is no. He asserts that whatever type of enforcement is used must not target sex workers but should be applied to pimps, johns, taxi drivers and all others complicit in trafficking.
Bales also address the act of glorifying pimps, noting that anti-trafficking initiatives need to promote a change in mentality. “We have men in every culture in the world who think it’s ok to buy sex and to exploit women in that way, and until that mindset changes, we’re going to have a hard time dealing with that part of slavery,” he says candidly.
To Bales, and many other experts, educating young boys about sex trafficking is crucial to preventing future generations of traffickers. “If you begin to build school curricula aimed at boys from the age of 12 that say, you have to understand that that could be someone just like your sister, that could be someone just like your mother, that is treating someone in a way that you would never want to be treated yourself,” he says. “You have to get over this notion that being a guy makes you so special that you can use people like that. If you get it through the heads of guys who are 12 and 13 and 14 years old, it’s going to stick for most of them.”
Bales’ insight comes from years of traveling the world and talking to women and girls who have been trafficked for sex. Working with another researcher, Bales recalls visiting brothels in rural Thailand with his female colleague. The two had managed to convince the local pimp that they were purchasing a young teenage girl for sex. “When we would leave the brothel, my colleague would begin to speak Thai and say, ‘Little sister, this isn’t what you think, we don’t want to have sex with you, we just want to talk,’” he recalled.
According to Bales, every girl requested to go to a temple and pray that she would not contract HIV/AIDS. “We would go and pray with them and then we’d go for a meal and have long conversations and they would open their hearts to us and it would break our hearts and it would break their hearts,” he continued.
The girls that Bales and his colleague interviewed had built a hard shell of resistance against the brutality and the day-to-day rape that they were facing. “What they told us about their lives of random violence, brutality, torture as well as the daily rape by ten to fifteen men in these brothels just shocked and changed the way I saw the world.”
Rachel, 34; Escaped the sex industry, earned her Masters degree and founded GEMS, an organization in the U.S. to end sexual exploitation of children.
Experts from all fields relating to human trafficking agree that contemporary slavery is a global problem. “It’s actually very striking because the women come from all over the world,” notes Salsbury, “but the fact patterns are very similar.”
Bales suggests using anti-human trafficking initiatives as a tool to transcend conflicts that arise from regional instability. He cites the ongoing tensions between Turkey and Armenia as an example of this potential: “What’s so important to think about, particularly in Turkey, is that those countries with whom there have been, in the past, serious disagreements like Armenia are in fact suffering exactly the same exploitation of slavery and trafficking that Turkish women are suffering,” he points out.
“If women in Armenia and women in Turkey actually talked [sex trafficking issues] over and helped each other, and think how to keep Armenian women from being assaulted in Turkey and how to keep Turkish women from being assaulted in Armenia or the UAE,” he continued,” you could begin to have a breakthrough on a common, crucial, heartfelt issue.”
To put it bluntly, Bales contends, “It’s time to let the past be the past and save the lives of young girls and young women no matter what country they come from.”
*Hotline phone number (for US and International victims): 1-888-373-7888
Editor’s Note: Guest Contributor, Eve Aronson is a freelance journalist and analyst. As a correspondent for IHA (Ihlas) News Agency, Eve covers the intimate and true story of a woman who was able to overcome and escape the world of sex trafficking. Today’s blog will begin a two-part post. Feature interviews will include the President of Free the Slaves, and the Executive Director and CEO of The Polaris Project.Eve currently works at the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at the Polaris Project in Washington D.C. and can be reached at: evearonson.iha[at]gmail.com.
WASHINGTON (IHA)- In 2005, D.C. area resident Shamere McKenzie was scrambling to find ways to pay for college. She was relieved when she met a man who offered to front her the money to finish her coursework . But for the next year and six months, Shamere would not attend classes. Instead, she would be brutally enslaved by her supposed benefactor as his sex worker.
In addition to being raped by her trafficker and his clients, Shamere described how she was forced to help traffic other young girls, and the consequences of challenging her trafficker’s demands. “I was being forced to drive these other girls around. When I told him I didn’t want to drive, he would put a gun to my head,” she said calmly. “On one occasion he put a gun in my mouth and pulled the trigger. Luckily that gun was unloaded.”
The man that turned out to be Shamere’s trafficker began as a persistent courter. But it didn’t take long for him to become manipulating and abusive. Bradley Myles, Executive Director and CEO of Polaris Project, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that combats human trafficking, notes that this sudden, intentional character reversal is typical among traffickers. “We’re seeing pimps posing as someone who can be a benefactor, someone who can get [women] out of a tough situation. [The pimps] fake some sort of romantic interest for a few weeks before they turn on the person.”
Akhi, 32; Regained her freedom from a brothel in Bangladesh and created an organization to advocate for sex worker's rights
Through psychological manipulation and physical degradation, Shamere’s trafficker was able to take complete control of her, both physically and psychologically. “When a man tells you he will kill you, and when he beats you the point where you think you are going to pull your last breath, you believe that that man will in fact kill you,” she says assertively. “When a man tells you if you leave, he will kill your family, you’re going to want to do whatever it takes to protect your family.” In Shamere’s case, this meant staying with her trafficker, regardless of the risks and dangers involved in her work.
Experts have offered a variety of explanations that attempt to pinpoint how traffickers are able to methodically abuse women and girls with such a lack of remorse. For Shamere, the explanation is simple: “When you think about someone who would beat someone in such a way that they’re close to death, just for going out there to sell their own bodies, to make money,” she explains, “And while they’re in such danger on the streets, [their trafficker] is at home sleeping, not even protecting these girls that they promised to protect. They’re just sick in the head, to say it plain and straight,” she says conclusively.
According to Myles, pimps see sex trafficking as an opportunity to make a lot of money at very low risk. This perspective in turn fuels their trade. “[Pimps] feel like society is not going to crack down on them,” he says. “They feel like pimping out women is not going to be a priority for law enforcement, they think it’s a lower priority crime.”
Myles says that stories like Shamere’s are all too common, particularly among vulnerable women and girls in desperate situations. “What we’re seeing as a common thread is the concept of vulnerability, “he says. “Traffickers tend to pray on that vulnerability, and they tend to realize that it’s easier to spend their time recruiting people who have these risk factors.”
It is these vulnerabilities, continues Myles, that eliminate the need for pimps to prevent their victims, like Shamere, from running away. “The pimps are saying, ‘What a great deal. I get to recruit all these vulnerable women and girls and I get to tap into all these men who are willing to buy sex and not get caught doing it.’”
Dr. Kevin Bales, author and President of Free the Slaves, sister organization to Anti-Slavery International, estimates that there are currently 27 million people enslaved worldwide. He notes that while many believe that the initial apprehension of women and girls for trafficking requires violence or force, poverty and destitution lead the majority to “walk into slavery.”
“You don’t have to kidnap them. You don’t have to hit them on the head and drag them away because there is a great surplus of people who are very economically desperate,” he states. “If you are an unscrupulous slave trader, a trafficker, you can just go to someone and say ‘you know, I’ve got a good job for you, maybe a chance of education. All you have to do is come with me and everything will be great.’” Bales notes that, not surprisingly, many women and girls are enticed by such offers and often do not realize their trafficker’s true intentions until it’s too late.
Shamere attempted to run away from her trafficker three times. In each instance, phone calls threatening to kill her family brought Shamere back to her trafficker. “My family was near me and [my trafficker] knew exactly where they were,” she explains. “Once you go with this man and you are under the force, the fear and the manipulation really keep you there. After running away three times from her trafficker, Shamere finally developed the courage to run away for a fourth time. “And that fourth time is when I came back home to my family,” she says.
Shamere’s testimony to law enforcement about her enslavement led to the prosecution of her trafficker. He was placed on trial and is currently serving a 290-month sentence.
But not all women and girls who are trafficked for sex survive the ordeal. Shamere cites stories that she has heard about other women and girls who were unfortunate enough to fall victim to the sex industry. “Not every girl has an opportunity to make it out of that life,” she explains. “Some girls are beaten to death. Some girls are killed because they’re testifying against their trafficker. Some girls are killed just for being disobedient.”
Aklima, 23; Was a bonded sex worker in Bangladesh until she was able to buy back her freedom.
Shamere cites a particularly gruesome story of a young girl who, after attempting to run away from her trafficker, was forced to watch as another woman was brutally murdered to show the consequences of attempting escape. It is the threat of acts of violence like these, says Shamere, that allow traffickers to exert complete control over the bodies and minds of their slaves.
According to Shamere, the paralysis and fear that traffickers instill in their sex workers make it very difficult for the public to recognize victims. Sex trafficking is a “hidden crime,” she says, and individuals must be vigilant about spotting victims and reporting traffickers to the police. “[Sex trafficking] happens right in our neighborhoods, and we don’t recognize these red flags. We walk past victims every day,” she says, sternly. “And we don’t realize that [enslavement] is happening because we don’t know the red flags.”
Shamere cites lack of identification and victims lowering their heads or their traffickers speaking for them as behaviors that may indicate a trafficking situation.
Jessica Salsbury, Senior Immigration Staff Attorney at the Tahirih Justice Center in Virginia, agrees with Shamere that public awareness is critical to combating human trafficking. “So many times the victims are able to leave because of ordinary people who have their eyes open and listen and who are able and willing to reach out,” says Salsbury, who works on behalf of immigrant women and girls that have fled gender-based violence.
Salsbury and her colleagues help victims access justice through legal, public policy and education channels. “It’s just so critical that we continue to [reach out] because trafficking is such a hidden problem in some respects but in other respects, it’s all around us and we just need to be looking for it.”
Most problems in Cambodia, including sex trafficking, corruption, and human rights abuses may be blamed on poverty and the destruction of social and physical infrastructure stemming from the country’s tragic past, namely, the Khmer Rouge and the use of Cambodia as turf for Cold War adversaries.
Lumana, a non-profit organization based out of Seattle, reduces poverty and increase opportunity for individuals in rural Africa through microfinance, savings services, and business education. Currently focusing on the Volta Region of Ghana, Lumana acts as a partner when facilitating healthy, prosperous and economically resilient communities.
Lumana’s fellows program gives volunteers the opportunity to make a difference when aiding in current and future program development. US Fellows offer integral office and fundraising support at Lumana’s Seattle headquarters while International Fellows work on the ground in Ghana expanding their microfinance operations.
Michael shares with us more about ways to get involved with Lumana, what makes their fellow’s program unique and the impact their volunteers have.
Today, International Women’s Day, concludes our “Inspire Changemakers” campaign. A huge thanks to all of our guest bloggers for sharing with us these wonderful non-profits empowering women and girls. We hope you learned about a volunteer opportunity that matches your interests and inspires you to be a changemaker!
Editor’s Note: Stirring the Fire supporter Danielle Prince breaks down who we are and why we do what we do for Gender Across Borders International Women’s Day Blog Campaign. Thanks Danielle!
To both points raised by Gender Across Borders for this year’s theme of International Women’s Day “Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures” Stirring the Fire is an answer.
Based out of Washington State, USA, Stirring the Fire (STF) is an innovative and powerful movement towards global gender equality that both targets and connects young people to global opportunities to work towards girls’ and women’s empowerment. Stirring the Fire is also an advocacy-oriented project providing numerous and invaluable ways for college-age women and men to become involved with the global community to work with, and for, girls around the world.
Multimedia piece about Stirring the Fire
The foundation from which STF operates is the unwavering belief that empowering women and girls is the answer to peace, stability and poverty alleviation around the world. STF leverages students on college campuses through education and motivates them to get involved. By inspiring the millennial generation to contribute towards gender equality, the impact is profound and multidimensional: helping women and girls achieve social and economic justice worldwide, consequently growing the global and social conscience of America.
How does this work? The Student Advocacy program gives students the training and tools to raise awareness about gender-based issues and encourage activism on their campuses. To show their fellow students the ways they can make a difference locally and globally STF student chapters hold campus events such as round table discussions, films, marches, and speaking events.
Additionally, the STF website is a treasure trove of resources and education. Founder and social documentary photographer Phil Borges has illustrated through short videos several issues (health, education, leadership, violence against women, trafficking) in which women and girls around the world face discrimination, hardship and unequal representation. The social media is accompanied by facts and figures of such impact that it is hard to walk away untouched by the call to action.
Multimedia piece to raise awareness about human trafficking
Once ignited, students are able to choose from an array of different options on the website to tailor their engagement to meet their academic and personal needs. This could look like volunteering at a local field office close to home, creating social media for an organization, or creating a trip to a developing country to pursue an internship on the ground. By having this much flexibility, more students will be able to participate, encouraging young people to step outside their comfort zone and have profound, perspective-changing experiences. From a broadened perspective, these students will return better educated, informed and motivated to continue to raising awareness in their own communities. It is, in essence, the butterfly effect.
STF has been deliberate and purposeful to create a database of NGOs and non-profits around the world working specifically on issues affecting women and girls. It is one of the most expansive databases of its kind. All organizations listed, no matter how small, have opportunities for volunteers or interns. From Confident Children out of Conflict in Juba, South Sudan that works with orphaned girls on the streets, to Cross Cultural Solutions based out of the US offering volunteer opportunities in several countries on girls’ education and empowerment, the student will find an appropriate match.
International Women’s Day provides us a moment to reflect on past accomplishments as well as focus on future goals. Consider Stirring the Fire as part of the solution as we move forward with stronger collective efforts to engage girls in positive ways by bringing more young women and men into the movement.
20 women sit in a circle on the ground. The hot sun shines down on their faces as they laugh and tell stories. Babies cling to their backs, wrapped in colorful cloths, as these women work. Their hands move in an intentional and flowing rhythm as the yellow reed slides through their fingers. The rounded sides start to form as the baskets take shape. Each woman contours her basket differently, some short and fat, others long and slim, but either way all are being created with dedication and hard work. Colored fabrics are woven in for extra flair and visual appeal and the baskets are almost ready. These women aren’t just weaving baskets, they’re weaving their life.
Mufindi Orphans, Inc. is a non-profit organization, registered in the United States and set up to raise funds to combat the HIV-AIDS epidemic and resulting orphans dilemma in Tanzania. The MOI has been
raising funds since 2005 for these purposes and has granted funds to projects in Tanzania that have shown the ability to accomplish these objectives. To date the majority of MOI grants have been awarded to the Mufindi Highlands Orphans Project. This is a local response to the global problem of HIV-AIDS and children.
The project addresses the needs of those living with and surviving HIV-AIDS in parts of the Mufindi District of Tanzania, a remote area that receives very little government support despite being one of the more prevalent areas in the country in terms of HIV rate. The Project is focused on a cluster of villages, most of them near Igoda village, in the south central Highlands. All projects have been incredibly successful but one has had remarkable results in the area of woman empowerment, and basket weaving.
The whole project started with one amazing Tanzanian woman named Sila. At the time she was living with her husband and kids in a small village in the Mufindi Region. One day she went to get tested
for HIV and was found to be positive. She was immediately kicked onto the streets by her husband, the man that gave her HIV. She had no income, resulting in her children not being able to attend school and
no house for them to live in. Desperate and determined to pick herself back up and get her children back in the classroom, Sila worked hard with the local NGO finding a market for her baskets, and improving the quality of her trade.
Sila started selling her baskets to the NGO, and gradually was able to gain a steady income. Now she has built a new house for herself and her family, all of her kids are continuing their schooling, and she has started to teach other women from similar backgrounds these skills that enable them to get out of poverty.
Fast forward a few years and now the basket weaving project has sky rocketed with success. More than 150 women in the surrounding villages now weave baskets which are sold in markets all around Tanzania and soon in New York. The money made goes directly to the women, all of whom are HIV positive or are taking care of HIV orphans. But to these women making baskets isn’t just about making money. The baskets represent community, empowerment, and change. The basket weavers all get together in their villages on the weekends and weave for hours. They exchange stories about the week and also critique and give feedback about baskets in progress.
It isn’t about who’s basket is better, but rather about a community who is working towards a common goal. Creating baskets empowers the women who have led rough lives filled with abuse, astigmatism, death, and struggle. They leave that all behind with each basket they complete, taking measurable steps towards a brighter future. With the money they earn the women send their children to school, open small shops, and build houses for their families. By turning a local tradition of basket weaving into an engine for change, Sila created a revolution. She proved that when all odds were stacked against her that she could come out on top. She didn’t let HIV or men slow her down and now over 150 women feel that same sense of empowerment.
Each basket is hand made by a woman, and each woman has a unique story of strength. If you would like to get involved in any aspect of the Mufindi Orphans Project please contact Jenny Peck at peckJenny@gmail.com. Volunteer placements are available in Tanzania in a range of topics and specialties. Volunteers can live in the village with host families and should be open minded, dedicated and ready for a life changing experience.
Most problems in Cambodia, including sex trafficking, corruption, and human rights abuses may be blamed on poverty and the destruction of social and physical infrastructure stemming from the country’s tragic past, namely, the Khmer Rouge and the use of Cambodia as turf for Cold War adversaries.