International Women's Day
So yesterday (March 8) was International Women's Day. Working for an NGO that is focused on the empowerment of women, makes it a bit of a big deal. And rightfully so - I'm all for the empowerment of women. You go girl!
I had the privilege of meeting a very special woman this morning. Through work, I got an invitation to have a meeting with Malalai Joya. She is a young courageous woman who is a member of the National Assembly in Afghanistan. She speaks out radically against injustice and in favour of women's rights and continues to pay the price for speaking out. She has survivied a number of assassination attempts and her home has been bombed. I have tremendous amount of respect for her. Read a short bio about her at: http://www.unifem.org.au/iwd/Default.html
She shared her thoughts on issues of concern currently in Afghanistan: including security, and access to education for women. It sort of makes me wonder sometimes what the world would be like if women ran it.
So it was a pretty cool meeting. I felt a bit awkward and out of place being one of two men in the room. There were about 10 of us in the private dining room of Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition. (And on a side note, I'm really hoping that he wins the next election at the end of this year. I think Australia is desperate for change.) Too bad, Kevin wasn't there. That'd been cool. He had one of his senior advisors taking notes and asking questions on how the Australian government could better serve the people of Afghanistan.
Anyway, it was a real privilege being there.
Ya know, through work, my interest in politics has really grown. Hmmm... I wonder if I'll get involved with politics when I get home to Canada. It'd suck to have to move to Ottawa though... ;)
Last weekend, I was in Sydney, which was rockin! I finally made it to the iconic Bondi Beach. It was really cool! I had a great time spending the day at the beach with some friends. As much as I love all the road trips, I am looking forward to my weekend here in Canberra. Don't get me wrong - it's not going to be a quiet weekend, but it'll good to be at home for once. I'm going to my first Rugby game tonight. Should be another great Aussie experience.
Catch y'all later.
I had the privilege of meeting a very special woman this morning. Through work, I got an invitation to have a meeting with Malalai Joya. She is a young courageous woman who is a member of the National Assembly in Afghanistan. She speaks out radically against injustice and in favour of women's rights and continues to pay the price for speaking out. She has survivied a number of assassination attempts and her home has been bombed. I have tremendous amount of respect for her. Read a short bio about her at: http://www.unifem.org.au/iwd/Default.html
She shared her thoughts on issues of concern currently in Afghanistan: including security, and access to education for women. It sort of makes me wonder sometimes what the world would be like if women ran it.
So it was a pretty cool meeting. I felt a bit awkward and out of place being one of two men in the room. There were about 10 of us in the private dining room of Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition. (And on a side note, I'm really hoping that he wins the next election at the end of this year. I think Australia is desperate for change.) Too bad, Kevin wasn't there. That'd been cool. He had one of his senior advisors taking notes and asking questions on how the Australian government could better serve the people of Afghanistan.
Anyway, it was a real privilege being there.
Ya know, through work, my interest in politics has really grown. Hmmm... I wonder if I'll get involved with politics when I get home to Canada. It'd suck to have to move to Ottawa though... ;)
Last weekend, I was in Sydney, which was rockin! I finally made it to the iconic Bondi Beach. It was really cool! I had a great time spending the day at the beach with some friends. As much as I love all the road trips, I am looking forward to my weekend here in Canberra. Don't get me wrong - it's not going to be a quiet weekend, but it'll good to be at home for once. I'm going to my first Rugby game tonight. Should be another great Aussie experience.
Catch y'all later.
posted by John A @ 5:12 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:35 AM,
Joe Moderate said…
Two thoughts:
(1) Ottawa is a hell of a lot closer to Chicago than Vancouver, which is a good thing in my book!
(2) growing interest in politics? I suggest reading one of Burke's blogs--it has become a liberal vs. conservative firestorm over the last two months. Might be interesting for you to read.
Miss you, John!
At 7:48 AM,
Anonymous said…
haha. CanadianJohn already reads my blog and regularly sends me emails telling me how ungodly conservative I am :)
John that woman sounds amazing. I would love to hear her sometime. Its funny you said "It sort of makes me wonder sometimes what the world would be like if women ran it."
I was sitting here thinking to myself "What would the world be like if islam ran it???"
Scary thought. Surely after hearing that woman speak you can agree with me. It is not Christianity which has supressed her or attempted to kill her. Nor is it the west. In those two cases women thrive. It is the degrading of women found in Islam!
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