Friday, October 22, 2010

Convergence of CODEPINK women

Gaza boys pulling barbed wire

Codepink women braved blustery weather on a spectacular fall day to converge last weekend, share their stories, and witness the amazing work women are doing all over the world.

Ridgely Fuller was our hostess and she shared photos from Gaza and the West Bank. Here we see Palestinian boys using large rubber straps to pull back the barbed wire that Israel's government uses to keep them from their agricultural lands. (Apparently these IDF soldiers did not have scissors or anything to cut the rubber bands with in this photo.) On her trip in August she worked with children suffering from PTSD using an innovative therapy that combines physical movement with brain patterning. Ridgely has been traveling around New England giving talks about facts on the ground in Palestine, and had just shared the podium with Noam Chomsky last week. We all appreciated hearing from her.

Here are more photos from our day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepinkalert/sets/72157625181173394/

Mariam Raqib gave a compelling presentation and news of the growth of her Afghanistan Samsortya tree project (link here).  Successful drilling of a well means that five drought resistant, fast-growing species of trees are being nurtured, including the “magic” tree Moringa oleifera, whose leaves can be food for both animals and people, supporting lactation. Samsortya is a community project thriving on cooperation between agricultural workers in Surkhrud, Afghanistan,  and organizers and fundraisers in the New England region. It will soon receive another donation of seeds from the New Forests Project World Seed Program.


This convergence was only possible because of the organizing energy of Cat Erdman, and the time and energy shared by all the wonderful women who came.

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