Today I adventured beyond the Armenian Convention Center! So far, every parallel event I have attended has been at this venue, but today I walked in the opposite direction from Grand Central Station to find my way to 4 W 43rd Street. I was set to spend my morning here before heading off to meet with the CEO of a prominent Canadian women organization (I have not specified who because I forgot to run it past them if it was ok if I used their name!) before heading into the afternoon sessions. At this point, I did not realize how quickly my jet lag would catch up with me today...
In my first session we learned about the Progressive Integration of Immigrant Women into Diverse Societies at 8:30 in the morning with the Rainbow Foundation. It was a beautiful venue- above ground and with natural light beaming in! and...what. a. fabulous. session.
Women from all different cultural backgrounds, religions, and jobs coming together to discuss how to to find commonalities and to view hybrid identities as a beautiful whole not only made up of components parts but as legitimate and meaningful in their own right. This positive and uplifting session was followed by the incredibly powerful stories of what women can do when they set themselves to something, even when they have nothing! Migrant Women in Sweden and Gambian Women Invest in Local Initiatives hosted by the National Federation of International Immigrant Women's Association was story after story of listening to the needs of women and communities and then delivering on that- and not what they thought was needed, but what was required in the opinion of the rural community with which they were working. I have later identified that I am so grateful to so many speakers for bringing this way of working to the forefront of their discussions and reminding their audiences that the way to best support a community is by letting the community lead. The second session was also an absolute delight, and upon its conclusion I headed into the sunny but cold New York afternoon for my meeting.
On a completely crushing note: at some point after the morning sessions, I lost my grandmothers broach today. She had it made when she first moved to Colombia from Canada... a beautiful gold maple leaf (representing Canada of course) with a green sapphire in the center (representing Colombia).
I looked everywhere.
I called every lost-and-found.
Nothing.
I arrived at my meeting while trying to wipe away a few runaway tears, and although I am still so disappointed, my meeting did a lot to lift my spirits. What was supposed to be a 1 hour meeting ran so long that we ended up attending a session together - it was a lighthearted session and many young delegates were present!
Absolutely exhausted from the incredible amount of information I have taken in from the last few days, the stress from loosing the broach, coupled with the less than 3 hours a night of sleep I have been able to get since I arrived, I walked around the UN to explore long enough to find the Security Council Chambers-it was finally time to leave. It's going to be an early night for me!
In my first session we learned about the Progressive Integration of Immigrant Women into Diverse Societies at 8:30 in the morning with the Rainbow Foundation. It was a beautiful venue- above ground and with natural light beaming in! and...what. a. fabulous. session.
Women from all different cultural backgrounds, religions, and jobs coming together to discuss how to to find commonalities and to view hybrid identities as a beautiful whole not only made up of components parts but as legitimate and meaningful in their own right. This positive and uplifting session was followed by the incredibly powerful stories of what women can do when they set themselves to something, even when they have nothing! Migrant Women in Sweden and Gambian Women Invest in Local Initiatives hosted by the National Federation of International Immigrant Women's Association was story after story of listening to the needs of women and communities and then delivering on that- and not what they thought was needed, but what was required in the opinion of the rural community with which they were working. I have later identified that I am so grateful to so many speakers for bringing this way of working to the forefront of their discussions and reminding their audiences that the way to best support a community is by letting the community lead. The second session was also an absolute delight, and upon its conclusion I headed into the sunny but cold New York afternoon for my meeting.
On a completely crushing note: at some point after the morning sessions, I lost my grandmothers broach today. She had it made when she first moved to Colombia from Canada... a beautiful gold maple leaf (representing Canada of course) with a green sapphire in the center (representing Colombia).
I looked everywhere.
I called every lost-and-found.
Nothing.
I arrived at my meeting while trying to wipe away a few runaway tears, and although I am still so disappointed, my meeting did a lot to lift my spirits. What was supposed to be a 1 hour meeting ran so long that we ended up attending a session together - it was a lighthearted session and many young delegates were present!
Absolutely exhausted from the incredible amount of information I have taken in from the last few days, the stress from loosing the broach, coupled with the less than 3 hours a night of sleep I have been able to get since I arrived, I walked around the UN to explore long enough to find the Security Council Chambers-it was finally time to leave. It's going to be an early night for me!
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