FAWCO Region 3 Conference in Bordeaux, 16-18 October
This
year’s Region 3 conference (France and Spain) was held in a city that
does not have a FAWCO club, but was organized by AAWE Paris, with
on-site help from Lucy Laederich, who now lives in Bordeaux. Many of us
would like to see a Bordeaux club join FAWCO, which was part of the
idea of having a conference in that city. Seven members of AWG
attended, which was slightly more than 10% of our membership, a great
showing. Marie Hacot flew in from the north of France to join us. It
was the first FAWCO experience for our president, one of our
vice-presidents, and a former treasurer, and I hope it won’t be the
last. Just in case everyone doesn’t know it, I’ll mention that our own
KimM is Region 3 coordinator, and she took over from LindaL, so you can
see how involved AWG is in FAWCO. During the full day of meetings on Saturday,
the name AWG-LR was mentioned a couple of times, in connection with the
number of projects we have nominated which have won Development Grants,
and with the donations we have made to Target Programs and Disaster
Relief Funds. We can be very proud to be known as The Small but Mighty
Club in the South of France.
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| AWGLR's group included Maggie, Kim, Orla, Mary-Catherine, (Cerese, Linda, Peggy & Marie H from Lille (not pictured) |
After
welcoming words from Pamela Combastet, President of AAWE, Lucy
Laederich, and Kim, the meeting started with a report by Monica Jubayli,
President of FAWCO. She spoke of the new task force to re-brand FAWCO,
and asked the question, “What does FAWCO mean to you?” She mentioned
the founder, Caroline Curtis Brown, and her efforts to bring together a
group of enlightened women striving for world peace. At the time, it
was just Americans in Europe getting together to promote peace, but it
soon encompassed Americans worldwide, and the efforts of overseas
Americans to pass their nationality on to their children, and to obtain
the right to vote, even without a US residence. Philanthropy was later
added to FAWCO activities, and FAWCO clubs are now international. FAWCO
is an amazing group of American and International women living overseas
and working together to make a better world.
Leslie
Collingridge, V-P for Member Clubs, noted that there are two other
branches connected with FAWCO: The FAWCO Foundation, which is the
philanthropic arm, and FAUSA, which is the alumni branch, an association
of former FAWCO club members who have returned to the US. Leslie
mentioned the four “pillars” of FAWCO: global issues, US issues, member
club support, and philanthropy. She reminded us that FAWCO is an NGO
with consultative status at the UN, accredited since 1997, and spoke of
FAWCO’s activities with ECOSOC, UN Women, sustainable development goals,
the High Commission on Refugees, and CEDAW (Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – which has not
yet been ratified by the US). Leslie told us about the Global Issues
Task Force, citing its four areas of focus (education, environment,
health and human rights), and about the Target Programs. The first
Target Program, Wells for Clean Water in Cambodia, raised more than
$165,000. The current Target Program, Free the Girls, which addresses
human rights for women (another of the UN Millennium Goals), has already
raised over $118,000 and expects to fully fund the project by March
2016. Leslie spoke also of the FAWCO Youth Program, which includes
Cultural Volunteers, UN Youth Representatives, and Youth Ambassadors.
Julia Goldsby (who visited AWG last March) was the first FAWCO Youth
Ambassador.
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| Kim gives the group a presentation, with Nan's quilt displayed behind her |
Leslie
showed us a very interesting and informative video that she produced,
entitled FAWCO in a Nutshell. (The video is now available on YouTube,
and I highly recommend taking 13 and a half minutes to watch it.
Patti
Meek, President of The FAWCO Foundation referred to The Foundation as
being “your projects, your passion, your foundation.” She said that
Region 3 has raised more than $126,000. (Sorry, but I didn’t write down
since when.) The NEEED program in Burkina Faso (yes, there are 3 E’s)
has provided 38 scholarships since its inception in 2010. It was noted
that AWG-LR has nominated 5 projects which have won Development Grants
(Punjabi Hospital for Maternal Health in India, SOMA Home for Girls in
India, Monimala in India, Scholarship Fund for Girls in the Philippines,
and Water for Mentawai in Indonesia). Nominations for the 2016 DG’s
are due by January 8.
Patti made a bid for donations for the live auction to be held at the
Interim Meeting in Frankfurt in March. Perhaps someone would like to
donate a free stay in her home, or could arrange for a local hotel to
offer a free stay…. The theme of the IM in Frankfurt will be “Wind
Beneath our Wings – Birds of a Feather Flock Together.”
Next
to give a report was Sallie Chaballier, V-P for communications. She
said that FAWCO gives us an avenue to become involved, and mentioned
FAWCO’s representation at UN meetings in New York, Geneva, Vienna and
Athens. She talked about the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals, and
although I was only able to copy 7 of them from the power point
projection, you can easily find all of them (with their cute logos) on
the internet. FAWCO is currently addressing #5 – gender equality.
Johannna
Dishongh, V-P for committees and Target Project coordinator, explained
that part of the goal of the current Target Project, Free the Girls, is
to teach marketable skills to the women who have been rescued from
prostitution. The idea is NOT for them to be selling bras for the rest
of their lives. The bras are only a start. We are helping to break the
cycle. Thanks to the project, 100% of the children of these women are
now in school. Johanna said that there are three 30-minute
documentaries on CNN, and you can contact her if you are interested. target@fawco.org
She said that Free the Girls received about 12,900 bras per month, and
more than 690,000 have already been collected. Of course, it costs
money to send the bras to the women who will sell them, so donations of
cash as well as bras are greatly appreciated. Not all the bras are sent
to Africa and El Salvador though. About 3000 have been given to local
shelters in the US this past year…. because the women in Africa and El
Salvador don’t want large white bras!
Lucy
Laederich, US Liaison, spoke about US taxes and banking laws, and
replied to a question that she thinks that non-Americans probably don’t
have to file the FBAR (FinCen). She says more information is yet to
come regarding Medicare Part B, and dealing with it. This relates to
people who return to the US without having paid into Medicare. Lucy
said that there are 8.7 million Americans abroad, excluding military and
diplomatic personnel, which puts us on a level with the 25th
state population-wise. She urged everyone to write to her
congressional representative, starting with the line, “I am an overseas
voter from your constituency” and recommended that we also visit our
legislators’ local (district) offices.
There were two representatives from Frankfurt, which is the club hosting the Interim Meeting from March 11 to 13,
and we were told that the Lufthansa Training and Conference Center,
where the conference will be held, is about 30 km from Frankfurt. There
will be free shuttles from the airport and from the train station to
the hotel. The cost of a double room at the hotel will be approximately
110€. The early bird registration fee is 270€ until December 15.
After that the full registration fee will be 300€.
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| Maggie with copies of Season for sale |
There
were also three guest speakers. Lorraine Koonce Farahmand is a British
solicitor and New York lawyer who lectures on gender law and human
rights. Hela Soula is American, born in Boston to Egyptian parents.
She is the owner of Bordeaux Walking Tours, and spoke about the history
of Bordeaux and its “terroir,” and what makes the wines of Bordeaux
special. Her website is http://www.bordeauxwalkingtours.com/
She recommended the book Wine and War. Jane Mobille, a member of AAWE,
is a Professional Certified Life, Career and Executive Coach and gave a
workshop on leadership.
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| Not the quilt - but a teatowel from Fortnum & Mason |
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| Nan with the quilt |
Deborah
Lillian, AAWE FAWCO Rep who organized the conference, announced that
700 raffle tickets had been sold for the quilt made by Nan de
Laubadere. The first ticket drawn was that of Peggy Rigaud, but
unfortunately (for her, not for me, because I probably would have had to
carry the quilt back to Montpellier) the prizes were drawn in
descending order.
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| In Bordeaux - a great place for a conference |
Dinner on Saturday night was at a restaurant on the opposite bank of the Gironde. There had also been a wine and tapas evening on Friday, and on Sunday
morning there were walking tours of Bordeaux, so the weekend combined
fun and information. My FAWCO Fever continues, and I’ll close with a
quote:
Each one of us can make a difference. Together we make change.
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