Peace Salon: Kenyan Women on the Frontlines

A special evening Peace Salon Deep Democracy: how Kenyan women are contributing to regional stability in Africa This fundraising event will draw attention to the peacebuilding efforts of women in Kenya, and the role of Kenya in the region’s overall security. When: Thursday, April 17th 6:00-8:00pm Where: 1125 11th Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Who: Mercy Chidi, Peace X Peace Global Liaison and Ripples International President; Karambu Ringera, Peace X Peace member, 2007 candidate for Kenya’s parliament, founder and president of International Peace Initiative. Why: To raise awareness and funds to support the actions of women in Kenya and around the world who are connecting for peace. How: Contact Molly Mayfield Barbee – molly@peacexpeace.org. Mercy Chidi, Peace X Peace Global Liaison in Meru Kenya, and president of Ripples International, will be the featured speaker. Peace X Peace has been actively developing participation from Kenya since 2005, and from that time members have increasingly engaged in civil society. “It is my hope that many more persons will see that peace goes hand in hand with good governance, accountability and justice,” says Chidi, noting that citizen-based democracy is an essential component of sustainable peace. Along with financial equity, restorative justice, access to education, health care, and communication, Peace X Peace fosters deep democracy - offering members a platform for communication and networks of support, as well as resources for becoming informed about related issues. Learn more at www.peacexpeace.org. Karambu Ringera, a 2007 candidate for the Kenyan Parliament, calls herself a peace, healing, and reconciliation activist involved in promoting community based organizing that empowers grassroots people, especially women and children challenged by disease, violence, and poverty. The founder and president of International Peace Initiative, Ringera works with grassroots women, who she says have taught her that poverty is not about lack of money, or absence of violence and disease—sources of merely physical pain. Rather, the greatest suffering related to poverty, disease and violence results from lack of access to information - ignorance - a lack of knowledge to successfully utilize what local resources are available to create a better life. “Helplessness leads to hopelessness!” she adds. “Working with women involved in grassroots organizing, I have learned that education needed to survive and thrive and build a life of security and personal integrity is available wherever one is, if one is open to it. However, one needs to find a path that leads to the light! A way out of hopelessness.”