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Rural women from around the world welcomed to Canada The 23rd conference of the Associated Country Women of the World is coming to Hamilton BY JUNE FLATH Ontario Farmer staff R caching beyond language and culture, country women around the world are dis- covering that their individual lives are cemented together with common threads. This June, the 23rd triennial conference of the Associated Country Women of the World(ACWW) will take place at the Hamilton Convention Cen-- tre. It will bring together approx- imately 1000 women from over 30 countries. Established in 1933 Associat- ed Country Women remains the largest intemational organization of rural women and continues to offer mutual support, friendship and practical help to its members. ACWW is an umbrella organi- zation which has a world wide membership of over nine million representing 70 countries. Rais-- ing the standard of living and ed- ucation of women and their families through community de-- velopment projects and training remains their number one aim. Mary James, public relations director for the conference, says that of the 375 different societies that have membership with ACWW all consider home, fam- ily, education, nutrition and preparing women for leadership roles their main focus. The Fed- erated Women's Institutes of On- tario, who are members of the Association are hosting the up-- coming conference. A preconference workshop for delegates from developing coun-- tries will meet at Crieff Hills J une 4 --1 1. Topics ofdiscussion for these members will include conflict resolution, confidence building, motivation and empowerment, small business management, nutrition, first aid, and reflexology. They will also take a field trip to the First Nations reserve. The theme for the conference in this, the International Year of the Volunteer is "Volunteers Make Visions a Reality." Speak-- ers during the June 1 1-18 event will discuss how visions impact our changing world, rural com- munities, and volunteers, as well as how to make visions become a reality. While there will be elections, business meetings, and motiva-- tional speakers, James says it is simply a learning experience to be in the room talking to other women from other countries. "Their solutions can be very cre-- ative." Saturday, June 16 is Friendship Day and pzuticipants will be treat-- ed to a mystery bus tour of the Hamilton--Wentworth area. a barbecue, entertainment and a public quilt auction. Twelve quilts and nine cushions made up of 369 blocks will be auctioned off at 7 pm. at the Country Heritage Park, at Milton. The blocks, which were made by members in nine different countries. were first en-- tered into an International Quilt block competition then stitched into quilts. The winning bidders will not only take home a one of a kind quilt they will also receive a leg-- end providing information about the blocks. their country of origin and their creator. RESOLI'TIUNS to be discussed touch on a variety of global issues. A group in the US. has proposed education for parents on how to oversee and Hazel Higgins works on a quilt from the International Quilt competition limit their children's use of the in-- temet plus work towards gov- ernment policies to protect children from exploitation. Groups in the Netherlands would like the ACWW to urge govemments and the United Na- tions to work towards the elimi-- nation of trafficking of women and girls for prostitution, forced marriages and/ or forced labour. Denmark requested urging governments to implement children's rights. and Norway recommended member organi-- zations encourage the UN and govemments to acknowledge the value of unpaid work. There was a request from groups in the United States, for educational programs to increase the understanding of enhanced foods and technologies. as well as a five-year moratorium on the commercial growing and import of genetically engineered foods from the Women's Institutes of England. Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Western Canada. Finland, and the European Area Conference 'onference co-chairs are, front left, Arthena Hecker and Christine Reabum, with conference co- rdinator Barbara Eastman-Lewin. In the back row are others involved in the conference, from ft, Joan Playle, program chair, Winnifred Mann, treasurer, Glenna Smith, pre-conference work- op chair, Anne Dyas, secretary, Katharine Garwood, reception chair, Jane Baynton, tours chair, ary Janes, public relations director, Pat Ozsvari, registration chair and Donna Russett, displays (1 sales chair - ONTARIO FARMER 0 Tuesday, May 1, 2001 submitted resolutions regarding the prevention and treatment of malaria, recognition of the fi-- nancial value of full--time work done at home. and education pro-- grams to prepare today's young for partnership, parenthood and family life. As well as address global is-- sues this organization supports grass roots projects either finan-- cially or with equipment, train-- ing. or livestock. In the past three years Canadian members have raised over $5,000 to support a campaign to prevent Iodine defi-- ciency disorders in Ghana. They have also helped to fund two dif-- ferent projects in the Tweyambe village in Uganda. They purchased 100 milking goats and two males in order to provide a dependable supply of milk and meat for AIDS orphans. To the same end they helped establish a piggery. ARTHENA HM 'KliR. co- chair of the Ontario co--ordinat-- ing committee for the conference, says young men in African vil-- lages lose all stature in a com- munity if they have no father. The pigs and goats increased their stature because they owned live-- stock, and by learning to care for them they acquired a trade. This in turn meant they would be able to give something back to their community. "They get to eat and they get stature." Another grassroots project that stands out in Heckesz mind is the give a cow project. In one African village rural organimtion leaders trained two women to care for a bred cow. They became joint owners of this animal then once it calved they passed on the calf and trained two more women in the village to care for their new property. Again, by owning livestock the women's stature in the commu-- nity was increased, plus the cow provided milk and money. There have also been projects involving milling machines, rabbits, and community kitchens. Arthena Hecker first became involved with Women's 23 years ago and is the past president of Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario. The potential for per- sonal growth kept her on the In- stitute's roll all these years, along with the fellowship and the op- portunity " to make a difference in my community." A community whose bound- aries continued to expand the more involved she became. At her first conference in South Africa she learned that women's concerns world wide centred around water, and good food for their families. In spite of the hours of prepa-- ration that goes into organizing the convention, she is looking for-- ward to the event, "It provides an opportunity to meet women from all over the world." Mary James is attracted to the global impact as well. Her first triennial conference was in Kansas City in 1989. Meeting people and hearing their stories left an impression she will never forget. "That was the best 10 days of my life." She says she came away knowing. "Yes we come from dif- ferent cultures, but homes, fami- ly. and education are concerns of women around the world, and yes we can provide help." For more information on the upcoming Associated Country Women of the World trien- nial conference June 1 1--18, call the Feder-- ated Women's Institute of On-- tario at their Guelph office. 5 19-836--3078.