Sunday, November 13, 2011

NH Women's Caucus

This entry doesn't have anything to do directly with my volunteer trip to Guatemala, but I was lucky enough to attend "What Women Want Now: the New Hampshire Women's Caucus" yesterday and learned a lot that is relevant to women in my community and abroad. The caucus was the first women's caucus in NH and took place at Colby Sawyer.

The conference aimed to identify the issues most critical to women and equip participants with resources that help them improve women's status locally and globally. Specifically we focused on educating women about the issues most important to them in the following areas: the economy, health and health care and global women's issues. What I took away from this conference is that there is still a long way for women to go in terms of achieving equality in America and even more so abroad, but that there is a lot we can do to make a difference.

The key note speaker was Sheryl WuDunn, co-author of New York Times best-selling book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" (which many of you can expect for Christmas!!). She gave an incredibly moving key note speech in which she discusses why sex trafficking, gender-based violence among other abuses make women's rights the greatest moral issue of the 21st century. Take 20 minutes to watch it - it's very empowering.



Expect entries about some of the big issues we discussed over the next few weeks.


Friday, November 4, 2011

Update!

My friend Haley booked a flight to come with me to Guatemala yesterday! She will be with me from the 8th to the 16th. While I'm at the clinic in the mornings, Haley will spend a week volunteering in Antigua too. One of my friends at at Dartmouth spent last summer volunteering at Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro, which is an orphanage for malnourished children with cerebral palsy. Haley's very involved in with Special Olympics and excited to work with children with special needs.

I'm excited to have company! We're already planning volcano hikes if we have spare time. Can't wait!!!

And fundraising note: already up to $570! That's over a third of my goal.