{"id":4648,"date":"2011-08-10T15:02:56","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T22:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2014-05-14T15:31:25","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T22:31:25","slug":"the-ffw-all-liberian-womens-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/10\/the-ffw-all-liberian-womens-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"The FFW All Liberian Women\u2019s Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of Foundation for Women<\/a> (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. A longtime supporter of Phil and his work, Kevin Castner is traveling with him and reporting back to us from the field.<\/em> They are also, along with the WTYSL<\/a> team, helping young women leaders attending a “Women’s Leadership Conference” put on by FFW make a movie for their community. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be no prosperity or development if there is no peace.\u201d
\nLiberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

President Sirleaf Speaking<\/p><\/div>\n

The summit is done and it was a big success.\u00a0 Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was present and addressed the audience, and the Vice President Joseph Boakai made the closing remarks.\u00a0 Minister for Gender Development Vabah K. Gayflor also spoke.\u00a0 The U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was in the room and lent her weight and opinions to the discussion.\u00a0 Mayors, senators and other notables were also seen and heard from.\u00a0 The highlight for me was manning a camera during a private interview President Sirleaf granted to our own Martha Daniels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phil prepping Martha for her interview with the President<\/p><\/div>\n

Just as importantly, women from all over Liberia attended and heard each other\u2019s voices, raised questions, cheered each other and their progress so far, and suggested courses of action.\u00a0 Some of these women are uneducated and illiterate.\u00a0 Some have traveled for days to be here.\u00a0 All of them are leaders in their communities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Title Page of Summit Agenda<\/p><\/div>\n

We got picked up at 6:30am and arrived at City Hall at 7:00.\u00a0 We spent the next two hours setting up (college blue books and bic pens at every place setting) and then holding our breath to see how many people would show up.\u00a0 All our girls were there, even more resplendent than the previous day.\u00a0 I was really worried when the room had only 50 or so people at 9:00.\u00a0 I asked Ann Lovell how many people had RSVP\u2019d.\u00a0 She replied succinctly, \u2018zero\u2019.\u00a0 She explained that nobody RSVP\u2019s in Liberia.\u00a0 You send out invites, word gets around and you cross your fingers.\u00a0 Strange doings to most westerners, but standard procedure in Liberia \u2013 know as Liberian time or TIA (This Is Africa).\u00a0 However it all works and our hall is full by 9:30.\u00a0 The President has yet to show up, but at 9:45 she is in the house too and we get started.<\/p>\n

The first speaker is Minister of Gender and Development Vabah K. Gayflor.\u00a0 She talks to the women about \u2018coming together\u2019, \u2018working together\u2019, and finally \u2018staying together\u2019; for her, the latter stage equates with success.\u00a0 I find a clear political message here – staying together means re-electing President Sirleaf (after two weeks in Liberia I share that opinion wholeheartedly).<\/p>\n

After Minister Gayflor, U.S. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield takes the podium.\u00a0 Among her messages are that Liberia needs more education and fewer young mothers, \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be having babies when they are still babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

FFW Young Woman Leader, Hawa Sesay, Speaking<\/p><\/div>\n

Next up is President Sirleaf.\u00a0 She speaks slowly and distinctly, making precisely the same points about early pregnancy and education.\u00a0 She also says, \u201cWe need to stop the violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are 28 other candidates running for President.\u00a0 All of them are men.\u00a0 They all seem to be saying not enough has been done, and that therefore Liberia needs change at the top.\u00a0 The counter argument is that 6 years of peace is a huge improvement, coupled with the forgiveness (organized by the Sirleaf Administration) of almost 100% of the outstanding external debt.\u00a0 That couldn\u2019t happen overnight, but it is done.\u00a0 If the women can \u2018stay together\u2019 they can build on these accomplishments, not just rest on their laurels.\u00a0 For Liberia\u2019s sake I hope they get the chance.<\/p>\n

The moment the President is done we get the word from her wonderful Protocol Officer that she will make time to do an interview with Martha.\u00a0 This was up in the air to the last minute.\u00a0 We grab all our equipment, Alicia, Philippa and Moses and get as fast as we can to a small private room to set up.\u00a0 It takes the President 15 minutes to get to us as she has a receiving line of women to greet every step of the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Martha Interviews President Sirleaf<\/p><\/div>\n

And then, Martha takes center stage and interviews the President of her country!\u00a0 It\u2019s a wonderful, exciting opportunity for her (me, too) and Martha handles her end extremely well.\u00a0 Four of us have camera\u2019s boring in, and Martha sits knee to knee with her hero.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also got a security contingent and a couple of unknown camera guys in the room, but essentially it is our deal.\u00a0 Which thankfully goes very smoothly.\u00a0 After 5 minutes the President is hustled out of the room.\u00a0 But not, surprisingly, out of my life!<\/p>\n

We will spend the rest of the day, until 5pm, back in the big room.\u00a0 The two hour delayed breakfast put off the overall schedule and we never do complete everything, but the idea to get many women\u2019s organizations together in one room and talk about how to work together, share resources, lose some of the individual \u2018territoriality\u2019 that makes them often fight instead of furthering their many common goals, has been planted.\u00a0 Late in the day Deborah tells the audience that a second summit is already being scheduled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Phil and I Wearing Shirts From the President Sirleaf<\/p><\/div>\n

So, from really grand to small and personal.\u00a0 At 2pm Minister Gayflor walks over to me and says \u2018President Sirleaf has bought you and your assistant shirts\u2019.\u00a0 I joke about the mix up but say thanks.\u00a0 The Minister leaves, but at 3 p.m. she\u2019s back with a big plastic bag and inside are two beautiful native shirts.\u00a0 Thank you, President Sirleaf!<\/p>\n

Just before 4:30 V.P. Boakai shows up.\u00a0 He reads a statement to the women, saying \u201cWe are not doing you a favor but giving you your rightful places as partners.\u201d\u00a0 He thanks the Foundation For Women and other major contributors to the Summit.\u00a0 Later he reads, \u201cThis is not a campaign against men….\u201d, and perhaps that is true, but it certainly is a campaign against male dominance.\u00a0 The women of Mama Liberia have earned the chance to run things.\u00a0 They can\u2019t do any worse.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Native Dance Troop<\/p><\/div>\n

The Summit ends a little after 5 p.m. with the same dance troupe that entertained us twice before at Kendeja.\u00a0 When things are well and truly winding up, and all the big equipment is safely stored in the vans, we meet with the girls in front of City Hall for a group photo and hugs.\u00a0 Sadly, Veronica and Emily have to begin their long journeys home and we won\u2019t see them again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Our Last Group Shot<\/p><\/div>\n

While Phil Borges<\/a> and WTYSL<\/a> work on the post-production for all the media they have collected I will fill you in on our past site visit to the Rock Crushers.\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of Foundation for Women (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. A longtime supporter of Phil and his work, Kevin Castner is traveling with him and reporting back to us from the field…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[136,137,215,273,216],"class_list":["post-4648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-documentary-training","tag-foundation-for-women","tag-from-the-field","tag-kevin-castner","tag-leadership","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nThe FFW All Liberian Women\u2019s Summit - Phil Borges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/10\/the-ffw-all-liberian-womens-summit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The FFW All Liberian Women\u2019s Summit - Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of Foundation for Women (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. 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