make a difference

PeaceXPeace is a growing international organization that connects women across cultures for friendship, support, and action for peace. Our global community of women is building a more balanced, peaceful world where our lives, stories, and voices are valued and honored. Circles communicate directly in the safe environment of an online Global Network to form supportive friendships that educate, mentor, and empower each other. By sharing expertise, women are encouraged to deepen their passion and commitment and take action for sustainable peace.

You can choose to be part of a Circle, sharing and learning about women from other places, or engage through other Peace X Peace programs as a member without being in a direct match. You can also make an important contribution by donating or volunteering. Some members return to The Women’s Global Roundtable, Voice X Voice, Story X Story, Page X Page, our PeaceTimes newsletter, and other programs many times before they commit to a match. They read, listen, and contribute to inspiring interviews, stories, and conference calls that tap the wisdom and experience of women in Afghanistan, Brazil, South Africa, India, and dozens of other countries.

Because women must claim their power and fulfill their potential as leaders and peacebuilders alongside men, we recommend that the majority of members in a Peace X Peace Circle be women and that women take the lead. Men are welcomed as members of Peace X Peace and encouraged to participate in women-led Circles within the Global Network, where they can bring their own abilities to nurture, listen, and work as part of a group of equals.

I just joined the group after a long time of wanting to get around to it and I’m so glad to have finally filled out my profile! I’m really looking forward to connecting to other women around the world and helping build sustainable peace!

This is my photo message to Ratan Tata, CEO of Tata Steel, which is planning to build a port on the Dhamra coast of Orissa, India. This part of the coast is however the last nesting ground of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. Mr. Tata promised to reconsider the port location if there was evidence of turtle activity, but despite this proof having been submitted, plans are yet to change.

If you’d like to read more about the issue, please go to Why Save Turtles? and you can also download a placard to use for your own photo message to Tata Steel!

Then there’s spreading awareness of the plight of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa. I have already sent my letter to Ratan Tata, CEO of Tata Industries – you should too! Even better, upload your photo with a placard like this one to the Greenpeace India website!

Other projects include a NGO for proactive dissemination of public policy for Indian citizens, which is still nascent right now. Also, as part of my internship at the JTCDM, TISS I’m hoping to work on some of the research projects we have going on presently.

All in all, I’m glad I have finally got off my ass and am working on some of the concerns I want to help :)

While I have been donating generously to world hunger through Free Rice and Free Flour, I have been working on a few projects that will hopefully see the light of day soon…
Banaa is the Sudan Educational Empowerment Network and works at enabling the opportunity for promising Sudanese students to come to the US (and hopefully, India too) and do their undergraduate studies and then return to Sudan in order to help create long lasting peace in the region. Why Sudan?
Here’s the Detailed Project Description. Since this is basically a popular campaign, what it needs is faculty & students who want to help create possibilities for Sudanese scholars. You don’t have to create a Banaa group on campus – any group that would like to do some sort of social outreach can do this!

e v e – t e a s i n g ?

Blank – that which is not allowed meaning, form or articulation.
Noise – that which heightens, builds itself.

‘Eve Teasing’ in India is considered a joke or prank.
Blank Noise is a public and participatory arts project that seeks to explore street dynamics and recognize ‘eve teasing’ as street sexual harassment or violence.

Do you accept it because you expect it?

Check out http://blog.blanknoise.org/ for more info.

NEVER ASK FOR IT: Blank Noise Street Action – Calling all Action Heroes

Action Hero n. a woman who has dealt with street sexual harassment by confronting it. Her final response might have been to choose to ignore the harassment, but she will have chosen to do so, not failed to notice it.

And you can be an Action Hero by participating in our all-India street intervention ‘I Never Ask For It’, on 8 March 2008 in your city between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

The Blank Noise street action challenges you to be an Action Hero. Participants are requested to come wearing a garment they wore when they were sexually harassed. By doing so, they are actively taking a stand that reads ‘I never ask for it’. The only other requirement is – be yourself.

Public safety is every citizen’s concern, and men are welcome too.

Location per city will be shared on the blog shortly. Sign up at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com with your city name mentioned in the subject line!

If you would like to help out with raising funds for the SNEHA Center for Vulnerable Women & Children, please consider spreading the word of this event! Doesn’t matter if you don’t live in India – you can still let others know!

Also, you are welcome to donate by either attending the performances or donating time and/or money to the cause in your area! Please check out the site www.vday.org for more info and how to help out in your local area.

Until the Violence Stops!

This is what I imagine my own six-word memoir to encompass – in the end, I hope that it will be re-written to say, ” I have made a real difference.”

And I have already started this year – by getting ready to participate in the (so far) ONLY campus production at Mumbai (India) of the Vagina Monologues in ALL of South Asia in 2008!
And now, I’d like to invite YOU to join me and many others in working to make this a success!

What: V-Day at Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS) 2008, a fund-raiser benefit production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues

Where: Convention Centre, Naoroji Campus (New Campus), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS),Deonar, Chembur, Mumbai – 400 088

When: Saturday March 1st at 6:45 p.m. and Sunday March 2nd at 6:45 p.m.

Admission: Minimum contribution of 50 Rupees for students and 150 Rupees for others.

Contact: Mithika (9970017130) or Karuna (9820589960)

Goal: To raise awareness to stop violence against women and girls and funds for our beneficiaries – SNEHA, Centre for Vulnerable Women and Children (CVWC)

Sponsored by: Tata Institute of Social Sciences Centre for Women’s Studies

About V-Day:
V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues.
2008 marks V-Day’s 10 year anniversary and with it V-Day has introduced two new events, V-Day’s A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writings on Violence Against Women and Girls, and the V-Day documentary Until The Violence Stops.
In 2007, more than 3000 V-Day events took place in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq.
The ‘V’ in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.
http://www.vday.org

What is a V-Day Campaign?

A V-Day Campaign is a catalyst for mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls. By creating this global community, V-Day strives to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects one in three women in the US and around the world.