Home from South Africa

We all know that the HIV/AIDs is wrecking havoc in Africa. Yet we rarely hear the stories of the courage and capacity of women on the front lines of this panedemic.

Since I am involved in international development, I have witnessed both the intense and growing need on the ground, but I have also been priveledged to witness the courage of African women in caring for their own, walking for hours to care for those bedridden and alone, without family care. These women are washing and feeding those that the medical infrastructure will never reach, without pay or supplies. Sometimes even their family does not support their efforts, as stigmatization and their own families needs call them away.

I have asked these women "Why are you doing this?" and they say, "One human being can not allow another human being to suffer and die all alone, now can they?"
Or, "Caring for one another" is what defines us as human, "Umbuntu", is what the Zulu call this. Meeting these women, volunteer Home Based Care givers, inspires me, to reach out ever more to my global community and promote solutions.

This longing, to be part of solutions, is what draws me to Pulse Wire, our new meeting space. I am eager to connect with women grassroots leaders myself, but also to connect others I know to this community to unleash the wisdom, love and labor of women, to address the most pressing social and environmental problems in our world, together.