International Women's Day

 Have you heard of the International Women's Day?? I had not either until my arrival in this Spanish speaking Carribean country. The Dia Internacional de la Mujer is widely celebrated here. There was even a page in the kindergarten textbook dedicated to this day.  Last week the teachers started brainstorming about how to celebrate this day with the kids at school. We soon realized that we had a valuable opportunity to instill in these precious hearts and minds the value of women as a baby step towards prevention of family violence.

Violence against women is a sad reality of life across the world.  All too often, violence against women can be an accepted part of society in lower income, less resourced communities.  I didn't know that domestic violence was not a crime in the Dominican Republic until after 1997. With such a recent change in the law there are very limited records of the magnitude of this problem. One limited study of family violence in a Dominican community revealed that over 90% of women aged 15 - 49 reported being victims of domestic violence. Click here for more on this issue.

Today we celebrated the Dia Internacional de la Mujer in our morning chapel by discussing the positive things that we can do with our hands. We want to plant seeds at an early age that the girls and women in our lives are precious, esteemed, loved gifts from God. We determined that our hands are not for hitting, thumping, slapping, killing, fighting. No with our hands we will.......

Yes, we will use our hands to do good. And above all, we will use our hands to worship the Lord.

Our new memory verse:

Salmos 63: 3-4

Con mis labios te alabaré; toda mi vida te bendeciré,y a ti levantaré mis MANOS en oración.

Psalms 63: 3 - 4
My lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.