Tags
advancing women's rights, Barbara Glickstein, civil society, Project Kesher, Russia, Russia and Ukraine, Ukraine, women's rights
This post is by Barbara Glickstein, Project Kesher Board member.
I don’t speak Ukrainian or Russian but many of the Project Kesher women in the countries we are in speak some English. They love the opportunity to speak with English-speaking visitors. I usually clumsily attempt to say a few words in their home language – they are always most kind and encouraging.
From my travels to Russia and Ukraine with Project Kesher I learned to properly say the name of the Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv. It’s not two syllables, Ki-ev, but just one.
And as I’ve learned from them about their history, their culture, their passions, our shared goals in life I’ve evolved to identify as a feminist global citizen and women’s rights activist.
Here’s what else I know.
Research shows that in societies where women are safe, where there’s progress in women’s employment, health, and education – these societies are more prosperous and more stable.
Throughout the world that there are huge problems, and people doing amazing things on the ground — but those people and their actions rarely get reported. Especially what the women in those societies are doing to solve problems and advance their lives and their communities.
Come and travel with Project Kesher this May. Travel safely to Russia and Ukraine with Project Kesher and engage in conversations with women from the regions you are reading about in newspapers and ask them what’s going on and how they’re contributing to building civil society in Russia and Ukraine.
Meeting women from these areas will teach you that the way you look at the world (perhaps through the lens of mass media) is not the way everybody does.
Traveling with and getting to know the emerging women leaders of Project Kesher, women you would never ordinarily meet, can be as rewarding as the travel itself.
Project Kesher on the M.O.V.E. 