On June 20th, people in countries around the world celebrate world refugee day.  It is an opportunity to build awareness and to encourage interest in helping refugees on all continents.  We recognize the strength, courage and contributions of refugees.

“But for the grace of God, there go I.”  Often the only difference between a refugee and ourself is where we were born.  It has nothing to do with education, age and capability.  We were simply blessed to be born in a part of the world where we are safe.

In Geneva, Switzerland where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is located the famous “Jet d’Eau” water fountain will be blue on June 20.  This is in recognition of the contributions made to our world by refugees such as Albert Einstein, Madeleine Albright, Marc Chagall, Dalai Lama, and Peter Carl Fabergé and for the hope of today’s refugees as the UNHCR continues its important work.

• Become aware of what refugee status means.
• Research the UNHCR to better understand the work that it is doing.
• Contribute funds to your local organization working with refugees or through the site of the UNHCR
• Volunteer time working with refugees in your community to teach the local language and to help them adapt and integrate.
• Count your blessings.

Bonnie Announcements, Holidays Albert Einstein, Dalai Lama, Geneva, Madeleine Albright, Marc Chagall, Switzerland, UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, World Refugee Day

Happy Mother’s Day!

Most countries have a special day to celebrate mothers.  Mother’s Day is a wonderful occasion for traditions:  children make little gifts and cards in school; bouquets of flowers are gathered; poems are written; mother’s chores are done by others so she can rest…  There are multiple ways to make a mother feel special.  Why not try one of the following?

• Make a picture album with photos of you and your mother and grandmother.
• Create a book of Memories with Mom.  Fill each page with a special memory.
• Sprinkle her home with notes of love.  Put notes in places where she is sure to find them: refrigerator, medicine cabinet, pillow on her bed,…  On each note write something that you love about her.  This can be fun to do with your children for their grandmother.
• If your mother is no longer alive, adopt a mother for the day.
• Reach out to women who have touched your life and remind them of what they mean to you and that you love them.

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World Penguin Day coincides with the annual northward migration of penguins which happens on or around April 25th.  It is believed that they migrate north to have more daylight since they cannot see well and the light is essential for finding food.

Penguins do not fly. Rather, they walk or waddle and slide.  They are amusing to watch as they parade around in their black and white tuxedos.  This is a great exercise for your age esteem since the they are bound to provoke your laughter. and laughter is healthy for both mind and body.  You will probably need to got to the zoo to watch them.  Unless, of course, you  live in Antarctica, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, the Falkland Islands, or the Galapagos Islands where they are found.

Bonnie Holidays age-esteem, laughter, migration, penguins, world penguin day

This year’s World Health Day is focused on making cities healthier.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) states, « There are solutions.  Urban planning can promote healthy behaviours and safety through investment in active transport, designing areas to promote physical activity and passing regulatory controls on tobacco and food safety. Improving urban living conditions in the areas of housing, water and sanitation will go a long way to mitigating health risks.  Building inclusive cities that are accessible and age-friendly will benefit all urban residents.

Such actions do not necessarily require additional funding, but commitment to redirect resources to priority interventions, thereby achieving greater efficiency. »

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Happy Easter

May the glory of this day bring you peace, hope and joy throughout the year.

Bonnie Holidays Easter, hope, joy, peace

Easter offers an enjoyable opportunity for inter-generational fun.  Why not gather the grandchildren or neighbors for an egg painting party?  Even a two year old can dye and color eggs.  All ages can participate – toddlers, teens, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents.   You may begin an annual tradition!

• Make baskets to offer to friends.  The baskets that berries and fruit or potatoes come in can be decorated with ribbon and grass and filled with eggs.
• Decorate a branch or small tree with eggs.
• Organize an Easter egg hunt in a yard or the neighborhood park.
• Run races where each person must run with an egg in a spoon.
• Have an egg roll, where you are on all fours and push the egg with your nose.

Most important is to enjoy!  This is a wonderful way to share your age-esteem.

Bonnie Across-generations, Entertainment & Fun, Holidays age-esteem, all ages, Easter eggs, egg painting party, egg roll, inter-generational

World Day for Water – March 22

Our daily lives depend on and are shaped by water. Without the water that surrounds us – the humidity of the air, water from rushing rivers and the kitchen tap – our lives would be impossible.  Eighty percent of our bodies are formed of water, and two thirds of the planet’s surface is covered by water.   Water is our life.

Water is a basic nutrient that is also important for our age-esteem.  It is basic to our level of energy.   Healthy levels of hydration in our body influence how we feel about ourselves.  It is recommended that we drink 1.6 liters or quarts of water per day to maintain healthy levels of hydration, something that is not easy in many parts of the world.

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The theme for this year’s  international day, held on March 21, is Empowering Youth to Fight Racism.

A key to eliminating our own discrimination is to feel good about ourselves.  We need to feel secure and confident in ourselves as we are today in order to accept others who are different due to race, religion, culture, age, gender…  AgeEsteem is a key factor to accepting others for who they are and respecting differences.    To empower youth is also to instill age-esteem in their lives.

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As we honor women of the world, I am grateful to the

• Women of previous generations who have opened possibilities and opportunities for me.
• Women who are models of what we can aspire to be, have and do.
• Women who have blazed trails and opened the access to new opportunities  for all women.
• Women who have encouraged, supported and prodded us to take initiative.
• Women who have created space for us to speak up and to speak out, to have a voice that is heard.
• Women who have stepped aside so a younger woman could leave her own prints.
• Women who taught us the importance of our own thoughts and contributions.
• Women of all ages who continue to light the way with age-esteem.

Bonnie Holidays age-esteem, all ages, International Women's Day, models, opportunities

Since I am attending the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations with the World YWCA it seems appropriate to share this message.

Happy International Women’s Day,

Bonnie

World YWCA Statement on International Women’s Day
March 8, 2010

Empowering Communities to end poverty and violence against women by 2015

“Some young women understand that violence against women is unacceptable, but many others are financially reliant on the men who abuse them.” This revealing comment was just one of many heard from women and young women participants of the World YWCA Regional Training Institutes held in 2009 on ‘Women Creating a Safe World’.

With women representing 70 percent of the world’s poor (UNIFEM 2008), poverty has a female face and renders them more vulnerable to violence. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime (UNIFEM 2008). Violence against women is a global human rights violation and women and girls are susceptible to abuse and violence at every stage of their lives; enhancing their risk of plunging further into poverty.

The impact of violence is devastating for not only women and girls, but also communities in general. It encompasses but is not limited to, physical, sexual and physiological violence, including battering, sexual abuse, dowry-related violence, marital rape, trafficking in women and forced prostitution, labour migration, female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practises.

Women may bear the brunt of globalisation’s drawbacks and violence; however they are also the world’s greatest untapped resource for turning the tide on economic justice. Research has shown women are more likely to repay loans in full and on time than men. It is established evidence that giving a woman access to primary education will ensure her entire family receives better health care and nutrition. This indicates that providing equal access to education, credit, property and employment for women will ensure economic justice and sustainability for all.

While the World YWCA makes its own contributions through programmes on VAW, SRHR and HIV, development, literacy and gender inequality, the movement continues to call for accountability and commitment towards actions that invest in women and girls.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be achieved without ensuring commitments contained in the Convention of Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) are also fulfilled. The BPFA can and should be used as a yardstick for evaluating the MDGs and the attainment of gender equality. Together with CEDAW and other international instruments, the goals represent a wider human rights obligation on which YWCAs can call governments to account.

Empowering communities to end poverty and violence against women by 2015 requires a global mobilisation like no other, and it calls upon all sectors to partner with governments to achieve these targets. Everybody has a duty to promote the economic empowerment of women that remove communities and countries from cycles of poverty and violence.

The World YWCA understands that a genuinely Christian perspective is against all forms of violence against women. We can no longer live in a world where women and girls remain in violent relationships to avoid a life of poverty.

We will continue to empower women and young women to end poverty and violence, thus creating a safe world for all.

The World YWCA is a global network of women and young women leading social and economic change in 125 countries. It advocates for peace, justice, human rights and care of the environment, and has been at the forefront of raising the status of women for over a century. The World YWCA develops women’s leadership to find local solutions to the global inequalities women face. Each year, it reaches more than 25 million women and girls through work in over 22,000 communities.

Bonnie Announcements, Holidays Commission on the Status of Women, International Women's Day, Millennium Development Goals, UNIFEM, United Nations, WorldYWCA