international women's day

It's been a busy several days, and I'm a little behind in posting. Saturday, Brad and Leslie Rose and Bob Alexander arrived from California, and we had a fantastic weekend with Baraka and her family! I'll post some photos in the next entry.

The day before they arrived, however, World Relief celebrated International Women's Day at our weekly chapel service.



Technically, IWD is on March 8th (Saturday), but the women went all out at our office, a day early. They decorated the chapel beautifully, planned the morning's ceremonial singing and dancing, and even made pretty proverbs-laden bookmarks with verses (...a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised....) to distribute. Every woman on the staff participated, including housekeeping (this is Colette, who is so kind to me and often brings me tea on the days that I work at the WR office):



Joie Claire, who capably runs HR here at HQs, is the one who made sure that I had appropriate attire and could participate in the festivities! I had a great time, especially dancing (thanks, Joie Claire!). I wish I could remember the Kinyarwandan name of this formal dress, but I can't (I've gotta find someone to write it down for me...lots of u's and a's). Below is a photo of a small group of us during the celebration (Louise, Chantal, Sarah, and me, L to R...Louise works in Child Development, Chantal works in HIV/AIDS programs, and Sarah is Director of Programs):



If you've never heard of International Women's Day, go to: http://www.internationalwomensday.com (where else, right?). The Americans I spoke to on Friday had never heard of IWD (myself included), but apparently it has been widely celebrated here in Rwanda for a couple of decades. Victor confirmed on Saturday that at least some countries in central Europe celebrate it every year as well. I learned from the website that IWD began in Copenhagen in 1911. Who knew? And where has the US branch of Hallmark been all these years, missing out on another potentially windfall-greeting-card-selling opportunity??

The joke is, of course, that there is this one day set aside for women....and the other 364 belong to the men.... :)