Meet Jackie Ogega and come to listen to her story on March 16. at the UNCSW Info below

Jackie Ogega, Ph.D, has over 20 years of experience in managing international development projects on women’s empowerment, child safeguarding, protection, education, training and policy development. She is the co-founder and president of Mpanzi empowering women and girls (www.mpanzi.org ). Jackie has worked for various humanitarian organizations including World Learning, Catholic Relief Services, Religions for Peace, Caritas and the University of Nairobi. She has over 30 years’ of experience living and/or working in a developing country, and has travelled to over 34 countries. A survivor of violence, jackie uses her personal narrative as a lens for her work. Jackie has a doctorate in peace research, a masters in gender and development studies, a bachelors in education and various advanced training. ​

Meet Paula Nesbitt and come to listen to her story on March 16. at the UNCSW Info below

Paula believes that, "In mutual conversation across contexts, women have the potential to rethink prevailing economic models and implement others that are relational, mutually supportive, and sustainable."

We hope to have that kind of conversation on March 16, please join us. 

Paula Nesbitt

Maria and I sat in the sand, talking in our limited Spanish--a second language for both of us. The experience would soon transform my scholarship and worldview. I had gone to Mexico for some rest, but was bored with the resort life. Nearby, an indigenous group from the mountainous region to the southeast had its headquarters for beach vending, and I wandered over to learn more. Several said that I needed to talk with Maria, whom they respected as smart and wise.

A few years younger than me, Maria wanted to know about my education and what I did. She had wanted an education but never went to school, because at age five she had to care for her younger siblings when her mother died. I was an assistant professor with a Harvard PhD in sociology and an Episcopal priest. But when she heard that I was single and had no children, she was deeply saddened on my behalf. We sat together as equals, realizing how much we needed to learn from our varying contexts about how differently women are empowered or not.

Since then, through global feminist movements I’ve sought a way forward in my university teaching and scholarship, past the dominance-marginalization and identity-politics discourses to those that seek to understand one another’s differences and find places of common ground for mutual support. As part of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council Committee on the Status of Women, 2009-15, we collaborated on resolutions cutting across culture and status, such as maternal health, violence against women and fighting human trafficking, as well as empowerment for both lay and clergywomen. Researching the Anglican Communion’s indaba process during that time, I encountered how empowering cross-cultural women’s constituency groups can be, and the varied ways they’ve sought to improve the status of women. In mutual conversation across contexts, women have the potential to rethink prevailing economic models and implement others that are relational, mutually supportive, and sustainable.

Meet Caroline Herewini. Come listen to her story on March 16 at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. For more event information see the card below.

Tena koutou katoa, Ko Whakapunaki te Maunga Ko Waiau te Awa Ko Takitimu te Waka Ko Whetum Ko Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Kahungungu, Ngati Pahauwera, Nga Puhi-nui-tonu, Ngai Tuhoe nga Iwi Ko Kararaina Herewini taku ingoa

Caroline Herewini is the Kaiwhakahaere (Chief Executive) of Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge based in Porirua, Wellington New Zealand.  She is passionate about the Human Rights of ALL women, children, their families & whanau to lead violence free lives.

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Based in Porirua City; Caroline has been the driving force behind the establishment and on-going operation of Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge Charitable Trust. – An Indigenous (people of the land) service underpinned by “Te Tiriti o Waitangi” (The Treaty of Waitangi) Principles; obligations, roles and responsibilities in regards to Protection, Participation & Partnership, in reference to All women, children, families visitors/guests in our land.

We, provide prevention, early intervention, crisis intervention, immediate response  and post crisis intervention services and support to All Women, Maori women and their whanau who are affected by domestic violence, physical, psychological, financial, sexual violence, intimate partner violence, gender based violence, violence against women and girls in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Caroline has spent the last 18 years working tirelessly on the ground for Women’s Refuge in New Zealand and has presented at National and International events including Mexico, Washington DC, Canada and Australia in regards to “Impacts of Domestic Violence and Indigenous Rituals of Engagement’. Caroline has attended Three Pacific Watch New Zealand delegations to the United Nations Convention Status of Women in 2013, 2014 & 2015, is a member of The Every woman, Everywhere Coalition; works globally to advance a grassroots-driven international treaty to end all forms of violence, & is a delegate & founding member of International Network to End Violence Against Women and girls (INEVAW).  This network aims to build voice, create space and ensure representation of women from particularly developing countries and to use this to advocate for the full eradication of all forms of gender based violence.  Caroline is a Human’s Rights & Social Justice Adocate and remains committed to ending all forms of Violence Against Women & Children in Aotearoa, New Zealand. 

Ti hei Maui ora!

Meet Dana Dakin and come to listen to her story on March 16. at the UNCSW Info below

My work straight out of college (Scripps, 1964) was in the financial field and in 1976 I formed my own firm, the first creative agency to focus on packaging institutional money management firms.  Over thirty years, we were associated with some of the great launches in the business.

During this time I met a woman who at age 60 on a trek in Nepal was stunned by the deep poverty and decided to return the next year to help.  I did pro-bono marketing for her and the seed was planted to follow suit.

One day, in my late 50s, after resettling to New Hampshire from my home state California, the idea came whole: go to Africa, find a village and start a microlending program.  In 2003, three months after my 60^th birthday, with a handful of contacts, I flew to the capital of Ghana, checked into a hotel and the next morning called my top prospect.  He answered, “We’ve been waiting for you – we have a village. We’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

That was the beginning of WomensTrust.  My founding role ended nine years later in 2012 with a dedicated staff of local people on the ground in Pokuase and a capable board of directors in the U.S. The mission had expanded to include education for girls, a program that continues today with our top scholarship students going all the way to college.  

In international development terms, we were a model for “going bottom up” and today I’m assembling lessons learned for others to follow as they put their own stake in the ground. We are growing in numbers, motivated by passion to do something personally to make our world more equitable, more safe and more connected.  It is not difficult to make the case for the work we do.

Dana Dakin     danadakin.com   |   dd@danadakin.com

Founder, WomensTrust.org

Director, Dakin Partners LLC

Purpose Prize Fellow 2008

Please join us in New York City on March 16.

Currency of the Heart means spending your personal energy doing good without receiving payment. The five women named below will spend their personal currency of the heart as panelists at the 60th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

The event is sponsored by Women’s Perspective and Anglican Women’s Empowerment.

Over the next few weeks we will hi-light the work of each one of these women in a blog post.

Lin Zhou shares her skills as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistant

Currency of the Heart as expressed in the volunteer activity of an international graduate student from China who helped our CT senior population file their income tax returns.

Lin Zhou, born in China, educated in China and the US, has recently joined KPMG LLP, in the Stamford as a Tax Associate. After her graduation from Fairfield University with an MS in Accounting, she volunteered with Women's Perspective as Social Media Coordinator. She will continue in this capacity, hopefully for a long time.  Lin has a helping habit, a generous heart and a cheerful spirit.  She wrote the piece below describing her volunteer job as income tax preparer for seniors in Bridgeport.

My VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Experience

VITA is an IRS-sponsored program operated by local volunteers to provide free, confidential, and secure preparation and filing of Federal and State income taxes for taxpayers who qualify.

My story with VITA started in my senior year at college. It was also the second year after I transferred to the U.S. Hoping to have a better understanding of individual tax and wanting to be involved in some volunteer work, I signed up for the VITA program.

My job as a volunteer included greeting clients, helping them file their tax returns, reviewing tax returns prepared by other volunteers, and explaining finalized numbers to the clients. The volunteer experience changes with each VITA site as the target client group varies. I worked at two sites: one had a lot of senior clients and some low income families; the other site was mainly for international clients including international students, scholars, and immigrants. It was interesting to work with people from different backgrounds. I met all kinds of people. For example, some people are talkative. They shared their stories with me.

Some people are quiet. They came to me and just answered the questions I asked, without saying one more word. Although I majored in accounting and had good grades, I was confused about the tax system because I was from a country with a totally different system.  The VITA experience helped me gain real life tax experience. There were many Aha moments, when I assisted my clients with their tax returns. It was very exciting when those Aha moments happened.  The feeling was just like that after conceptual trainings, when a student driver starts and drives a car by himself/herself.

The most valuable aspect of the volunteer work is that I can make a difference for people with my knowledge. There was a time when a lady who came to me with her tax return, was very surprised with the results.

After having calculated and finalized all the numbers I told her she could get couple of dollars refund from IRS. She stared at me for seconds and started to weep. I thought she expected more refunds like many other clients, which happened all the time. Because people always want more money back. I explained to her that the numbers were finalized, so there should be no errors. But I’m happy to go through the tax return again with her. She stopped crying and explained that her own business bankrupted that year and she thought that she still needed to pay hundreds of dollars as in previous years. She said, "I am too happy to cry."

In my past two-year VITA experience, I met many people like her. I did not know what happened in
their life, but I did know that they needed my help. So, after I moved from Colorado to Connecticut to pursue my Master’s degree, I contacted the VITA site coordinator here and continued to volunteer again this year.

Rosemary Williams launched Currency of the Heart to inspire readers to “pay it forward” from the heart’s most precious currency. We’d love to hear from you! To share your story or to request permission to republish this blog post, please email rosemary@womensperspective.org.

'In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we faii this time, it will be a failure of the imagination and then she placed the world in my hands.'

- “Imagining World” by Brian Andreas

Hello Everyone,

This blog is about entry points. Where and when does currency of the heart energy enter our world? In the video below, Lucia Aschettino from Connecticut found an entry point for her "currency of the heart" by becoming a mentor to Beatrice Migaliza, from Kenya.

Currently Beatrice is a third year undergraduate student pursuing Computer Science at Ashesi University College in Ghana. She will graduate in 2016 with a Bachelors in Science degree. 

Beatrice Migaliza - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ooTAEkha48

Mentoring opportunities can be found here. www.globalgivebackcircle.org/

Please visit the Global Give Back website. Perhaps you will find an entry point for your heart energy.

Or you might send us your story . We would like to highlight many examples of currency of the heart.

Rosemary Williams launched Currency of the Heart to inspire readers to “pay it forward” from the heart’s most precious currency. We’d love to hear from you! To share your story or to request permission to republish this blog post, please email rosemary@womensperspective.org.