-
P a r t n e r P r o -
j e c t U p d a t e s
3
B a r b a r a
S m i t h
M e m o r i a l
4
F i n a n c i a l
R e p o r t
4
3 5 t h
A n n i v e r s a r y
5
M o r e P a r t n e r
P r o j e c t s
5
A n n u a l
C a l e n d a r
6
Café Gratitude is also
committed to sustain-
ability in all its aspects.
Also, since it's an urban
restaurant, I get to
serve people from all
walks of life, and some-
times from other parts
of the world.
Anna Lisa: Though you
are brand-new to the
A nna Lisa: Tina,
we're de-
lighted to have
you on the GWP steer-
ing committee, because you
bring not only a commitment
to the values of GWP
(simplicity, equality, women's
empowerment), but also be-
cause you live these values
out in your daily life with
compassion, enthusiasm,
and creativity. What excites
you about participating in
the leadership of GWP?
T ina: Being asked to be
on the committee was
a great honor. I'm de-
lighted to be working so
closely with other inspiring
leaders in the Church of the
Brethren, namely you and
the other committee mem-
bers. I am also glad to be
learning more about the
work of the women whose
projects we support. In
my day-to-day living, I
sometimes feel out of
touch with the global
community, so I'm
grateful to make some
connections there.
Anna Lisa: You grace
the tables of sustain-
ability-conscious diners
in the Bay Area in your
day job. How does your
work with GWP comple-
ment your work with
Café Gratitude?
Tina: GWP is about em-
powerment – specifi-
cally of women. Café
Gratitude empowers all
people to create the life
they want to live. We do
that by inviting people
to be grateful and to
choose an abundant
out look on l i fe .
I n t e r v i e w w i t h T i n a R i e m a n , n e w G W P m e
m b e r
E x p l o r i n g w o m e n ’ s l i v e s i n C h i l e , b y E
m i l y
F rom the end of August until mid-December of 2012, I had the
amazing privi-
lege of studying abroad in
Valparaíso, Chile, to start off
my junior year of college.
Valparaíso is a vibrant city,
with colorful houses lining
the hills, beautiful views of
the ocean,
and crea-
tive mu-
rals and graffiti covering
the streets. I loved explor-
ing each day, finding new
favorite places, foods, and
people!
During the last month
of my program, each stu-
dent was required to do an
independent study project,
all in Spanish, on a topic
of his or her choice. For
my project, I interviewed
middle class women
about how they feel that
menstruation is viewed
in Chilean society.
My research focused
specifically on the dis-
courses that the women
used to talk about
their bodies, their experi-
ences at menarche, and
h o w
t h e y
a n a n n u a l n e w s l e t t e r o f G l o b a l W o m e n ’
s P r o j e c t
2 0 1 3
G l o b a l i n k s
I n s i d e t h i s i s s u e :
Tina Rieman started her term at our September meeting in
Minneapolis.
G W P S t e e r i n g
C o m m i t t e e :
Anna Lisa Gross,
Minneapolis, MN
Kim Hill Smith,
Minneapolis, MN
Emily Matteson,
Modesto, CA
Tina Rieman,
El Cerrito, CA
Emily explores the
landscapes and cul-
tures of Chile.
Continued on page 2
Continued on page 5
-
A s Tina said during her in-terview with Anna Lisa, the Luxury
Tax is a self-
imposed “tax,” which is a way
of reminding ourselves of our
luxuries and sharing some of
our abundant wealth with oth-
ers. She gives 25¢ per shower
to GWP. What could you give?
Could you spare 10¢ for each
use of the electric garage door
opener, 50¢ for every time you
start your car, 75¢ per load of
laundry washed or dried in a
machine, $1 for each time you
buy pet food, $2 for every book
steering committee, you have
years of experience with the val-
ues and vision of GWP, including
through the work of your par-
ents, Louie and Phil Rieman.
Your mom even served on the
GWP steering committee her-
self. Are your parents present to
you in this work?
Tina: Yes, they are very present
to me. I was generally aware of
GWP as I grew up, but it wasn't
until my mom served on the
committee (2003-2006) that I
really learned more about what
GWP does. My parents lived in
Sudan and worked for peace
there for many years, so it's neat
to be connected to their African
sisters and brothers there. Not
only does it connect me to my
parents, but it also connects me
to my Brethren roots, which is
neat. (There is no Church of the
Brethren congregation where I
live, so I'm a member of the First
Mennonite Church of San Fran-
cisco.)
Anna Lisa: What have you been
surprised to learn about GWP?
Tina: I am surprised by the large
impact of such a small group of
globally aware people. GWP (the
committee and its supporters)
has such a big heart and such a
small budget. It amazes me what
we do with just donations, mostly
from individuals. The projects we
support seem to do so much with
what some of us would consider
so little.
Anna Lisa: I know you have been
a faithful donor to GWP, particu-
larly through the Luxury Tax. Can
you tell us about your Luxury Tax
experience?
Tina: In the spring of 2003 I trav-
elled with my mom to her first
meeting as a part of the GWP
steering committee in Elgin and
visited friends while they had
their meeting. There was a GWP
presentation at Highland Ave-
nue CoB, and it was there that I
learned about the Luxury Tax.
(Based on the fact that we have
so many luxuries that many of
the people of the world don't
have, we self-impose a tax on
one of those luxuries and do-
nate that money to GWP.)
Thanks to that presentation, I
decided to
tax myself
25¢ per
shower for
the luxury of
having run-
ning water. I
had recently
gone on a
c a m p i n g
trip, and
s h o w e r s
were hard to
come by. Not every campground
had showers, and if they did,
they weren't always free. One
time I had to pay 25¢ for 5 min-
utes of water. I confess that it
felt unfair, in the moment, to be
charged for such a basic thing
as a shower, but I eventually de-
cided it was worth it, so I put my
quarter in.
The conversation at that GWP
presentation reminded me of
what a luxury running water is.
So, I began to put a quarter in a
jar every time I showered. It's
now almost ten years later, and
I'm still doing my shower tax!
Every time I write a check to
GWP, I'm aware of how grateful I
am for the luxury of running wa-
ter.
or maga-
zine you
read, or
$25 for
e v e r y
time you
travel by
plane?
What are your ideas? What
do you consider a luxury? And
how could you share some of
that luxury with others? We
invite you to be creative and
generous.
I n t e r v i e w w i t h T i n a , c o n t i n u e d
L u x u r y Ta x
“The projects
we support
seem to do so
much with
what some of
us would
consider so
little.”
Each of your small gifts add up to
huge changes in women’s lives
around the world.
Page 2 G l o b a l i n k s
-
L i f e i s E x p e n s i v e
P a r t n e r P r o j e c t
U p d a t e s
Page 3 G l o b a l i n k s
genocide. The majority of
the population is com-
posed of widows and or-
phans, many of whom
are living with HIV/AIDS.
GWP funds will help pur-
chase land, tools, and
seed so the members of
the association can grow
their own food, selling
the overflow at market.
W hile having another baby, caring for or-phans, and
recovering
from a car accident, Esper-
ance Nyirandayisenga con-
tinues to lead the Life is
Expensive (Association
Ubuzima Burahenda). This
project is located in an
area of Rwanda which was
badly affected by the 1994
I n June 2012, Lizz Schallert, MSW and Development As-sistant
for On Earth Peace, joined
Wabash, Indiana’s Growing
Grounds as a volunteer beginning
an eight-week trauma healing
support group at the jail. Ten to
thirteen women inmates partici-
pated in the weekly class, each
need to address domestic violence
at the jail sprang out of the Par-
ticipant Intake Assessment that
Growing Grounds administered in
2009-2010 (funded by GWP). Of
the 63 women surveyed at the jail,
40% said they have experienced
physical abuse or neglect. These
classes are a way for Growing
Grounds to address this need.
F or the past nine years, GWP has partnered with SITEAW, Inc., a
program dedicated to keeping girls in school and supporting women
in starting their
own small businesses, while working to bring an end to
several long-held east African tribal traditions which are
oppressive and life-threatening to them. These traditions
include female genital mutilation, sanctioned physical
and sexual abuse, the premature marriage of young girls
in exchange for large dowries, and the inheriting of
women.
Sister Stella Sabina, our dear friend and contact person
for SITEAW, asked us to share the following with you,
our readers and supporters:
We are very grateful for all the love and generosity
extended to our girls. This being a circumcision year, the
threat level was high. The joy we have now is that our
girls in the program are safe and our representatives in
Uganda have also been able to talk to many parents
about the dangers
of circumcision
and premature
marriage. All the
paren t s they
talked to spared
their girls from
circumcision. That is a
score on our side; it helps us to buy time and think
of ways to help the young girls we have not been
able to sponsor in school due to lack of funds.
Two of the girls we have in school sat for their
Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). We hope we
will be able to continue pushing them forward to
high school.
We are asking for more prayers so that the Good
Lord may help us to find the funds to continue
sponsoring the girls we already have in school.
We have not been able to raise enough money to
start building SITEAW Center in Uganda, a place
we hope will be a refuge for the girls and to enable
us to offer youth programs, counseling, young
women skill programs and to coordinate both local
and International volunteers. It is an urgent need;
I sleep on my knees asking God to open this door.
We at GWP are inspired and heartened by Sister
Stella, a woman who has tirelessly devoted her life
to improving the welfare of our sisters in Uganda.
Sister Stella (right) in Uganda
S h i f t i n g I d e a s T h r o u g h E d u c a t i o n f o r
A f r i c a n W o m e n
M o r e p r o j e c t
u p d a t e s o n p a g e 5 !
bringing unique encounters with
domestic and/or partner violence.
Lizz incorporates undoing oppres-
sion resources into her trauma heal-
ing work to bridge the gap between
societal/cultural violence and per-
sonal violence.
She started another eight-week
group this November and intends to
continue her classes in 2013. The
G r o w i n g G r o u n d s
-
work of GWP in an unprecedented
way.
We are grate-
ful for the life
of Barbara and
the invaluable
c o n t r ib u t io n
she made to
GWP and to
w o m e n
throughout the
world. Her gra-
cious and gen-
erous spirit will not be forgotten.
G WP’s work is 100% donation and volunteer-based. The GWP
Steering Committee wishes to thank all of you who have faithfully
supported our
partner projects as well as our educational efforts
through your generous donations to GWP over the
past year. With your continued support, we are able to
carry out our mission of working to alleviate poverty,
oppression and injustice endured by women through-
out the world.
Summary of GWP finances from January 1, 2012
through November 30, 2012:
$10,220.06 Balance on January 1, 2012
$12,045.76 2012 Donations as of November 30
$22,265.82 Funds for GWP Work in 2012
- $ 7,500.00 Grants to Support 5 Partner Projects
- $ 2,424.43 Educational Expenses
-$ 2,383.60 Travel Expenses
the country to educate people
about the work and mission of
GWP. With slides in hand from
their travels to Costa Rica and
Bangladesh, Barbara and Bill
shared of their experiences and
educated others about what they
had learned about the connec-
tions between poverty and op-
pression and wealth and privilege
and their impact on women
around the world. They met with
84 congregations throughout
their year-long tour, strengthening
and expanding support for the
A s Globalinks was go-ing to press last year, we learned of the
death of
one of our global sisters,
Barbara Anna Roller
Smith, to whom we wanted
to pay tribute and honor in
this year's edition.
Global Women's Project
celebrates the life, work
and memory of Barbara
Anna Roller Smith, for-
merly of North Manches-
ter, IN. Barbara was a life-
long member of the
Church of the Brethren
who dedicated herself to
her family, her church, her
local community and to the
world.
In 1987-1988, Barbara
and her husband, Bill, vol-
unteered a year of their
lives to travel throughout
2 0 1 2 F i n a n c i a l R e p o r t
C e l e b r a t i n g B a r b a r a A n n a R o l l e r S m i t
h
Barbara and Bill
shared their
experiences and
educated others
about what they
had learned about
the connections
between poverty
and oppression.
Barbara racks up hours and miles tell-
ing the GWP story.
January 15, 1918 ~ December 22, 2011
Page 4 G l o b a l i n k s
12
3
1
2
3
1=Partner Projects
2=Educational Expenses
3=Travel Expenses
-
2 013 marks 35 y e a r s s i n c e Ruthann Knechel
Johansen delivered
her speech, Giving
Birth to a New
World—the impetus
for what has become
Global Women's Pro-
ject. Throughout this
year, we will reflect
on the work of GWP
and celebrate the
many women who
have carried the vi-
sion Ruthann chal-
lenged us to pursue.
Please join us in our
celebration as we
share information
through our monthly
Global e-Links as well
as stop by our booth
at the Church of the
Brethren Annual Con-
ference in Charlotte,
NC, June 29-July 3.
menstruation.
Through art
and theater
incorporating
i n d i gen o u s
t r a d i t i o n s
about menstruation and
the moon, her project educates girls and
celebrate their bodies. Her passion for aid-
ing all women in rediscovering themselves
and taking pride in being a woman re-
minded me of GWP and our goals of em-
powerment with women around the world.
Though my research occurred in Chile, I
know that similar results have been found
in many countries around the world, in-
cluding the United States. In the days
ahead, I encourage you to think about the
women in your life and around the world,
and about the importance of conversations
about menstruation and women’s repro-
ductive health.
M o t h e r - a n d -daughter pair Monita and Roshni Rai
coordinate this project in
Nepal, empowering
women and building sus-
tainable communities
through job-skill sharing:
computer and literacy,
hair design, beadwork
and pillow-making are
their hallmarks.
These women are not
only sharing skills that
help them send their
children to school, they
are cultivating self-worth
and a sense of pur-
pose—which they pass
down to their daughters
and sons.
G W P C e l e b r a t e s 3 5 Ye a r s !
Celebrate with us at Annual
Conference! See page 6 for a
full 2013 calendar.
T he sewing cooperative (partner project since 2010) is going
well. The tailor training program ac-
commodates women's schedules so they can learn
new skills at times that are convenient for them.
One woman says: "We are very grateful. This is the
best way of empowering us women who missed ac-
cess to formal education in order to get employ-
ment. With zero education, I am now able to learn
practical skills that I can earn a living peacefully
without much struggle because I will be my own em-
ployer. I love that! Thank you and God bless you
Page 5 G l o b a l i n k s
all."
Gladys Dommy Mananyu, our liaison, writes this:
"I also would like to extend my sincere gratitude to
our friends of Global Women's Project and New
Community Project for their innovative approach in
empowering women for positive change that I
could see in these resilient women despite unprof-
itable economic background in their respective
family lives. The gift of touching lives in God’s
E m i l y i n C h i l e , c o n t . W o m e n
E m p o w e r m e n t
S o u t h e r n S u d a n S e w i n g C o o p e r a t i v e
Public art in Chile
explained menstruation to their own
daughters. What I found was that
menstruation is a pretty taboo topic
there, and that the conversations that
do exist focus on the biological proc-
ess and don’t include a discussion of
emotions or personal stories. Many of
the women I interviewed didn’t feel
they could talk to their mothers about
their periods, but once they had chil-
dren of their own, they tried to make
it an open and positive topic of con-
versation. The women believed that
things were beginning to change in
Chile, but that there’s still a lot of
work to be done to make women
proud of their bodies and their natural
processes.
One of my favorite interviews was
with a woman who works with girls
and women of all ages to get to know
their bodies and to openly discuss
-
www.globalwomensproject.org
[email protected]
send that person a lovely card, letting them know
you have honored them with a gift to GWP.
Early July: Annual Conference GWP Tea Time.
Also stop by the booth for any new educational re-
sources for your family, congregation, or women’s
group, especially the Children’s Giving Project cur-
riculum.
Anytime/birthdays/holidays: To celebrate a spe-
cial day or the everyday, find beautiful cards with
photos from our partner projects at globalwomens
project.org and click on “gifts.”
And always: Global e-Links – Join our growing
community and connect with this monthly e
-newsletter. E-mail us at info
@globalwomensproject.org to get on our list. And
like us on Facebook!
Throughout the year, there are many ways to support
the work of GWP. Mark your calendars to participate
in the way that excites you!
January: Lenten Calendar time—find yours from
last year or order a free one. Our Lenten Calendar is a
daily spiritual tool to guide you through the season. E-
mail us at [email protected] and we’ll
send you a calendar (or multiples for your faith com-
munity/group) or to register for our daily Lenten cal-
endar e-mail. Lent begins on Feb. 13 this year.
April/May: Begin thinking of the women you would
like to honor on Mother’s Day through our Mother’s
Day Project. Donate in honor of someone and we will
C a l e n d a r o f 2 0 1 3 G W P E v e n t s
L i v i n g i n s o l i d a r i t y w i t h w o m e n
t h r o u g h o u t t h e w o r l d b y s u p p o r t i n g
g r a s s r o o t s p r o j e c t s t h a t a r e l e d b y
,
e m p o w e r , a n d b e n e f i t w o m e n a n d
t h e i r c o m m u n i t i e s
1451 Dundee Ave
Elgin IL 60120
Name
Address
Add me to the monthly Global e-Links list.
Send me a Lenten calendar by mail.
Send me the Lenten calendar one day at a time by email.
Add me to the annual paper Globalinks mailing list.
Contact me about memorializing a special woman through GWP.
Contact me about other ways I can connect with GWP. Email
Remove and return
Remove and keep
Print more newsletters from our website and fill a
2nd form out for your
church or women’s group!
S e n d y o u r c o n t a c t i n f o t o u s . . . a n d w e ’
l l s e n d G W P t o y o u !
Enclosed is my donation to continue the work of GWP!
R e t u r n t h i s f o r m a n d y o u r d o n a t i o n t o G
W P ’ s p a r t n e r p r o j e c t s i n t h e e n c l o s e d e n
v e l o p e !
