WILPF

I am a member of the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom. This month the newsletter has a great article on how Linus Pauling, and his wife, Ava Helen Pauling, made such a difference, and helped get the Atmospheric Test Ban treaty of 1963 signed. But also, women all over the country helped by bringing up the issue, having local parties to educate other women about the potential harmful effects of radioactive fallout on children and other humans, and putting together a Women's Strike for Peace. There is also a great article about childrens' books which get the Jane Addams award for violence prevention. This is a deeply conscious way of making people realize that the prevention of violence demands that we keep teaching ways to promote conflict resolution skills, and ways to work toward constructing peace by reducing prejudice and other sources of potential conflict. You can access the toolkit for these books by going to www.janeaddamspeace.org. Click on "about children's book awards" and then click on "building Wilpf". I firmly believe that only when mothers across the country and the world begin to demand peace and safety and better diplomatic solutions will we finally make headway against the culture of perpetuating violence and weapons.
I also deplore the news that the Iraq war has obliterated what was previously one of the best health care systems in the middle east. Besides the loss of clean water and electricity, and all hospital equipment, and medical personnel who fled the country as their lives were endangered, the escalation of PTSD has made increasing demands; and 70% of the victims of violence die because of inadequate resources at the hospitals.
We can do better in helping the world to become a better place. We need to continue to push our government to help build infrastructural support, and peace-making activities.
There is also an article about Rwanda. I am very interested in Rwanda, because Paul Farmer MD and his organization, Partners in Health, have made a commitment to try to build a whole national infrastructure of health care with them, following the model he used in Haiti. One of the crucial issues in any poor country is water, Getting a safe water supply for drinking, and making sure the waste is safely disposed of are the first basic and very important issues of public health. It will be very interesting to see how Rwanda does, with the NGO support; and WILPF is very interested in helping secure local and safe water supply.
I encourage you to join WILPF!