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IFCAPS organizes a day-long camp for South Asian women
WSN Network
On
Dec 19th 2009,
a one day women’s retreat was held in
Arlington Heights sponsored by IFCAPS. This was the first workshop
of its kind and the goal was simple – to develop lasting resources
for south Asian women. The theme chosen for this day long workshop
was communication.
The day was divided into two parts. The morning session was
dedicated to team building exercises while the afternoon session was
presentation on serious topics impacting women.
After registration at
8:30,
the participants contemplated on inspiring quotes over a cup of tea
and continental breakfast. Surrounded by inspirational quotes like
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results” – Einstein was a great beginning for a productive
day.
The fun exercises to see how well we work together were a huge hit.
Under instructions of the organizer all the participants had to line
up on straight log according to their date of birth (month and date)
without speaking. Just using the hand signs, quickly everyone had
lined up much to the amazement of every one. With the empowerment
of knowing how well everyone could work together, the next activity
was an easy one. How well we listen was evident by the exercise
where the group was made to replicate a model made with Legos. The
test was only one person of the group had actually seen the original
model.
While these activities were uplifting and fun, they revealed how
much of a difference there was in communication between each age
group that was there. And this point was important, before
understanding and being able to communicate the issues that were
brought up in this forum, it was necessary to understand the
difference in the way each generation communicated. How could the
American born teens understand the Indian born mothers and
grandmothers? How could the conservative elders understand the more
liberal youth? Although these questions were discussed, the workshop
did an excellent job at bridging the age gap, because women were in
fact able to engage productively in discussing the raised issues as
well as understand one another despite their age.
Sessions after lunch were divided into two presentations. The first
presentation was given by Deep Kaur Battu, an MA in Psychology and a
Ph.D. candidate gave a presentation about the impact of addiction on
women. She spoke at length regarding the signs of addiction and the
consequences. The room was engaged and listened to the statistics
relating to the numbers of women that actually do have this problem
in our community. The second session was on a sensitive topic of
female feticide. The presenter Karamjit Kaur started the session
with a clip from the movie called “Akhiayan Taras Ganiyan”.
The story involved a village in
Punjab
and how in a quest to have a son, a mother is forced to have many
abortions because she was carrying a female fetus and how finally
she takes the courage to give birth to her daughter. Watching the
move not a single eye was dry. With tears in the eye, all present
were determined to have these kinds of workshops on a regular
basis. The group had a long discussion of how this behavior is a
deeper symptom of the low place given to women by our society. There
were many who were shocked to hear that women in
North America not just India were also aborting female fetus’.
The day was designed to focus on creating resources primarily for
South Asian women, important issues were discussed forming the
foundation for progress and change, two things of which have been
lacking specifically in our community. The subjects that were
discussed at this first ever Women's Empowerment Workshop were ones
largely ignored by our community. Issues such as sexual and domestic
abuse, drug abuse, and mental health problems were presented by
educated speakers to the young and the old. The message was strong
and uplifting and definitely felt by all women who attended. "Having
this workshop itself" said one participant "already has created one
resource for women struggling with any of these issues." And the
thought was strongly shared by all who were there. The Forum however
was not a place to seek therapy, but a place to spread education, to
start talking about these difficult issues, and to create a link
between all ages of women.
The IFCAPS Women’s Empowerment Workshop was definitely a success.
The group plans on meeting regularly to find ways create resources
for South Asian Women.
13
January 2010
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