Whatever trips I missed after my back surgery last year, I packed into six hectic and exciting weeks this year. After visiting grantees in Croatia, Bosnia, and Macedonia, I went to Georgia for a gathering of women’s funds funding women’s groups in Eastern Europe, my first board meeting of Urgent Action Fund in Malaysia and squeezed in a pleasure trip to Jordan with my partner, Kerry.
I approached the trip with some trepidation. My recovery from my surgery, which I expected to be a matter of months, took over a year. In planning this trip, I knew my biggest challenge would be navigating the stairs and cobblestone streets in ancient cities and towns. My physical therapist recommended that I practice going up and down stairs before I left and that did the trick. I didn’t encounter a stair I couldn’t climb.
The reward was seeing old friends again, and what a sweet experience it was to be greeted so warmly and treated with such kindness. My joy in being there, however, was tempered by seeing how tired they were—and with good reason. Some of these activists have been working on the same issues for the past 20 years, and they’re worn out. I often think it’s a miracle that these women choose to continue doing this work. And even more miraculous that they do it with such creativity and caring.
Heart & Hand has addressed activists’ fatigue and burnout in the past, but this trip clinched for me the need to do more and on a larger scale. Encouraging activists to take care of themselves by meditating and practicing yoga is good, but not enough. They also need time to relax, think, and restore their bodies, minds, and spirits. Heart & Hand shares these concerns with Urgent Action Fund and Global Fund for Women. Hopefully we’ll be able to brainstorm ways to sustain women’s activism and, later, engage international activists to work with us in implementing the best ideas.
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