March 8

Is...

International Women's Day

(The woman on the left is my friend; we call her "Mama Saida". Infected and abandoned by her husband, she is now raising three children on her own while living with HIV.)

Today is a day for the international community to acknowledge the great accomplishments of women around the world.

Today is also a day to consider the great challenges facing women in this day and age, and what our global community must do in order to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Did you know?

A woman dies every minute from complications related to pregnancy and delivery. 99% of these deaths occur in the developing world.

60% percent of the adults living with HIV/AIDS in sub Saharan African are women.

Children of uneducated mothers have the highest risk of dying while in their childhood.

Roughly 100 to 140 million women in the world today have suffered female genital mutilation.

Today...

I am thankful for Jane, who oversees a women's vocational project in northern Uganda. Jane told me her story of how she ran for her life when the rebel army attacked her village. Today she radiates joy and hope as she helps women learn how to sew and introduces them to the love of Christ.

I am thankful for Eunice, in Mozambique. She helps coordinate programs for women in her area where they learn about how to nourish their families physically and spiritually and how to read and write. The women are also taught income generating skills in order to help their families financially.

I am thankful for mothers like Mariza, also in Mozambique, who work hard every day to make sure that their children go to school, have enough to eat, and grow up healthy.

"...I've seen it around the world, in the poorest countries and in countries riven with conflict...It is women who are key to breaking out of poverty, breaking out of stagnation...It's women who can contribute to achieving real security--not bombs and bullets and repressive governments."

Queen Noor of Jordan