| A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
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| WOMEN |
Fourth International Conference on Women NGO Forum |
Carolyn Ward gives us a brief insight into her diary during the
'Beijing Experience'. |
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Day one -- The omens are good
The omens are good. Three people have offered to take me to the airport and considering
I have about 95kgs excess luggage, that’s useful. I manage to get the excess through at no
charge and find a spare five seats to be my bed on the plane. All seems fine.
Maybe the stories of acres of tents supported by hundreds of tonnes of mud in the extreme
heat of the China sun are just some media joke or something. Maybe Beijing is going to
be easier than India. That would be nice.
As I found the gate for boarding, I saw hundreds of my sisters from the great country of
India, parked on the floor. Some were sleeping while others chatted excitedly. Traveling
companions. Until now it’d been just me and my luggage and my God.
They call us to board. The bright colors of saris bustle together. Almond eyes with
centuries of stories shining through, and smiles which make me realize that our natural
state is indeed happiness. They start to chant. The vibrations are very powerful,
very emotional. They begin to sing. A mark of sisterhood, of hopes for a better world.
Touchdown. Beijing airport. Excitement ripples. Doors open. Steamy heat.
Chinese greet us. Responding smiles....unsure. Boxes bursting at the edges,
varieties of bags, crates large and small, rolls of plastic, paper and
unidentifiable stuff heave their way up and lunge onto the conveyor belt.
I’m collected. I register for the Forum. So easy.
Day Three -- Today we go to Huairo
Today we go to Huairou. (pronounced `hwhy Row’). Huariou is where the NGO
Forum is being held. We take a taxi, three of us and 100kgs of printed matter.
When we arrive at the outskirts of the town the police won’t let the taxi in.
This is when we start to realize the barrier of language. God is on our side.
A minibus -- with a pass – comes to the rescue.
It is only a day and a half until the Forum starts and nothing is set up.
Forty thousand people are about to descend on this township and it’s still
under construction. The map we receive is tenuous at best in its relationship
to the actual site. Three of our actual party are staying at Huariou – somewhere!
No information stand, no English speaking people, no UN representatives….the next
10 days should be interesting.
Amidst the craziness, we feel God is looking after us. We find our party.
One member, Susanna, speaks fluent Mandarin and has managed to secure the assistance
of a very sweet and helpful Chinese local with a mini-van on call almost 24 hours
a day. He’s decided we’re his long lost family.
He finds us a taxi that won’t cheat us, and we return to Beijing – the
city which threatens to halt oxygen supply to any and every part of your body.
Most of the rooms of the delegates have been hijacked – well not ours.
Some poor Swedes finding themselves suddenly without accommodation joined
us at midnight. But there is benefit in everything that happens. We find
ourselves with a suite for the head of our delegation as a replacement.
Confusion becomes a theme, but the Chinese are very sweet and want to help,
but are most often constrained by seemingly meaningless rules of control.
Day Four -- Glimpses of the grace and royalty of ancient China
All the members of our delegation have arrived from their various countries
and it’s a lovely reunion. Today we stay in Beijing. The opening ceremony
of the NGO Forum is spectacular. A treat for the heart and the spirit.
We see glimpses of the grace and royalty of ancient China through the choreography
and vibrant color of thousands of young people with fantastic costumes and meticulous
coordination. The vibration in the stadium is one of electric vision and hope.
For a short time, we believe that this huge task of changing the world is actually possible.
Day Five -- Hundreds of thousands
Day 1 of the Forum. There are hundreds of thousands, it’s hard to tell,
of buses traveling from Beijing to Huairou. So much internal power and
external strength is needed to deal with even the simple tasks of finding
out who to talk to, how to get a map of the town, how to find our exhibition
booth….Imagine this multiplied by tens of thousands of women coping with
the extreme security, poor signs, no maps, unfinished buildings, half
ploughed clay fields with tents and flimsy nylon booths, limited translators,
no access to Beijing until night, a shortage of taxis and miles to walk
between the activity areas.
People are tired, really tired and frustrated…but not disillusioned.
We’re here for causes that are greater than our exhaustion.
Today we have our Leadership Seminar. We began with an hour or so of
participative workshops where we explored the efficacy of leadership,
of working with the identity of the soul playing the role of a woman
in lieu of the identity of ‘women’.
After the workshop, Senator Shahani from the Philippines shared her
experience of being a leader and using the power of spirituality and
spiritual values to support that leadership. Dadi Janki
then arrived
to share her story of how spiritual power and the identity of being a
child of God have made her leadership possible. These personal perspectives
moved and motivated the audience to discover more about spiritual identity.
Day Seven to Twelve -- Demonstrations
There have been demonstrations and street theaters, large puppets
and men and women on stilts, fantastic colors and designs of the
clothing of the many different nationalities. One day we saw an
impromptu and highly supported protest against the yellow and red
fast food tent with placards – Go home Ronald!!
There are literally thousands of activities that one could attend
in addition to the numerous tents displaying stores and wares
and issues and causes. Workshops abound. The Islamic women
are highly mobilized. Human rights is big, as are strategies
and the role of the media in uplifting the image of women. Aids is
important, patriarchy is opposed by almost all, sexuality is popular,
be it lesbian or heterosexual, peace is a theme - yet it is surprising
how much peacelessness there is.
Day Thirteen -- The women look exhausted
The women look exhausted. Some are working hard to sport a
smile others say they wouldn’t have missed it for anything but
are ready to go home.
It seems that much of the Forum was about connecting. Many of the
special times people talk about are the personal connections, the
chance meetings. These were the sustaining moments.
Whilst the gathering was pushed to the limits on both physical and
emotional levels, the feeling of growing solidarity, of understanding
the support will be a powerful memory to mark Beijing`95’.
Everyone was busy saying what policies and laws and structures should be
implemented to bring abut equality, development and peace, but even
amongst the gathering itself there was intolerance and rejection of
marginalized groups. There was a lack of environmental awareness and
little inner peace.
The whole event made me realize that it doesn’t matter a jot if we change
the laws, if we women can’t change our personal laws of action.
I still believe though that women will play a significant role in
establishing a new world order. And maybe it won'’ be tens of thousands
of women, maybe it will be a handful. I think it was Margaret Mead
who said. " A small group of people can change the world. In fact, that’s
all that ever has."
Carolyn Ward is a consultant and writer based in Sydney, Australia |
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©2004 BKWSU |
