Greetings in the depth of summer to all of you —

It was great to hear that many stopped by the Global Women’s Project booth at Annual Conference to talk, exchange ideas, and take a peace crane or a tea bag home as a reminder of our global sisters. 

Maybe the song “We Shall Be Known” is familiar to you. It’s an affirmation of the kind of connections– with partners and with you– that are central to GWP.

We Shall Be Known by MaMuse – Folk Award Winner – UKSC 2021

(We shall be known by the company we keep, by the ones who circle round to tend these fires.

We shall be known by the ones who sow and reap the seeds of change alive from deep within the Earth…)

Thanks so much for coming by the booth, and for the company you keep with GWP and our partners!

A note of apology: 

Among you are a number who have given money to the work of GWP. Over the past months, you may not have received acknowledgement of those gifts. Our intent and practice has been to send written thanks to anyone who makes a financial contribution, but we’ve been unable to consistently do that recently because of challenges in reporting experienced in Elgin.

You may be aware that, because of a ransomware attack there in December, staff has been doing ongoing hard work to recover data and rebuild protections. That is gradually happening. We trust that when complete, it should ultimately allow us to accurately acknowledge the contributions received.  

In the meantime, we are sorry that you may not have gotten thanks directly from us. Please know that we are deeply grateful to each of you for any financial gifts you’ve given GWP. Your support makes it possible  to continue to send the grants to partners that sustain them! 

In coming versions of our monthly eLinks, we hope to offer a current note from or about one of our partner projects. We received this from Cultural Academy for Peace in Kerala, India, with thanks for their annual grant:

“…our endeavours here continue to go well, though the times are anything but peaceful. Political chaos persists, coupled with various natural calamities. The tensions between India and Pakistan following the recent attacks and the subsequent escalation have had a grave effect on us. Moreover, incidents of domestic communal conflicts surge everyday. It has created a very insecure and fragile environment where we can’t tell if or when anything will happen.

We are also disturbed about the political climate in the US, Europe and the Middle East, and how common civilians are being affected by that. It seems things are escalating drastically. War and other situations grow more volatile day by day. There is a general unrest in the collective consciousness of the world, and we have been praying for a change for the better, for this battle of arms to end, and for peace to prevail. It seems the UN peacekeeping bodies, other peace treaties, and organisations are reaching nowhere unfortunately. Amidst all of this, your continued support and collaboration with us remain vital to the success of our shared mission towards gender justice and peace. It gives us strength and encouragement to know that we are not alone in this work.”  (From Beena Sebastian)

Warm wishes to you in the fires you tend and the seeds you sow and reap!

Kim McDowell, GWP Steering Committee