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.

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.

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.

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.

International Women’s Day is a day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.  Next year, 2011, will mark the 100th anniversary of this celebration.   In some countries like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, it is a national holiday.

Source: Earth Calendar

Today is the International Women of Color Day.  For more information on the significance and origin of this special day, visit
http://www.womenofcolorday.com/htdocs/origins.htm

Source: Earth Calendar

With so many AgeEsteemers in multiple countries around the world, it seems appropriate to feature international holidays.  Holiday does not necessarily mean time off from work and businesses closed.  It simply means a day that has been deemed as a special day internationally.

With gratitude to the Earth Calendar which has compiled information on special days around the world.

For information concerning World Thinking Day visit  http://www.worldthinkingday.org/en/about

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Love yourself,

And others will too!

Sharing love enhances our age-esteem.

A tradition I have tried to keep over the years is to personally create the Valentine’s cards I send.  They usually are collages with hearts, feathers and papers of varying textures.  Each is a unique labor of love.  I send them through the post in an old fashioned handwritten, stamped envelope.

A year ago I declared a Valentine’s Day each week.  Once a year seems much too limiting for this positive expression of caring.

I caught this idea from Shirley Pollock who made it her job to send a note to someone each day.  Sometimes it was a thank you.  Other times she simply said she was thinking about you or hoped you were feeling better.  She expressed praise for something you had done or reminded you of one of your qualities that she admired.  Her notes were treasured by those who received them.  She made every day a Valentine’s Day!

My original goal was to send at least one special note each week. Over past months this has grown.  I now write several cards each week to let others know how special they are to me.   I find is that  focusing on relationships in this way makes positives excel and negatives disappear.

Why not make every day a Valentine’s Day and fill your heart with love?

What a wonderful invention Valentine’s Day is!

It nudges us with encouragement  to express love.  On the 14th of February we step out of our regular routine to remind friends and family that we love them.  They are important to us.

Lacy cards with poems, bouquets of red roses, candies that say Be My Valentine, and heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates are just some of the ways we express our feelings to tell  people they’re special.

Letting others know that you are thinking of them and that you care is healthy for your AgeEsteem.  You focus on

• People who you love of all ages
• The blessings of friends and family
• Reaching out to others
• Renewing and strengthening contacts
• Creating or finding the right message
• Celebrating happiness