Through the Eyes of a Woman

As I have done during the last several years, I have posted and planned news and photos on Facebook for #OrangeTheWorld hoping to make an impact to change the world. I have surfed the internet looking for information on violence against women for the sixteen days of activism. I have found more than enough. There is too much violence and abuse of all kinds against women in this world of ours. This year’s emphasis is on femicide, but there are many more forms. Rape, FGM (female genital mutilation, forced child marriage, psychological abuse, partnership abuse, sex trafficking,  are only a few. Many organizations raise their voices to stop violence and abuse and the foremost is UN WOMEN. This is an umbrella joining together all the actions of the United Nations that deal with topics about women, strongly supported by General Secretary Antonio Gutérres. The Adventist enditnow® campaign started in 2009 as a joint program of the Women’s Ministries Department and ADRA, and it has now been

Although women now have the same rights as men before the law, their everyday lives are still marked by inequality. For centuries, men have ruled over women as if they were property. With your possessions, you can do as you please. This has had a devastating impact on women. UN Secretary-General António Guterres puts it this way, "Sexual violence against women and girls has its roots in centuries of male domination. Let's not forget that the gender inequalities that fuel rape culture are essentially a matter of power imbalance." As long as women are seen as inferior, they suffer under the power of men. This power imbalance exists in all aspects of life, but it becomes especially noticeable when we are dealing with violence against women. Those of us who have not experienced violence ourselves may not consider it important. Perhaps some statistics from Germany will help to show how widespread violence against women is [1] : ·         In 2019, 115,000 women in Germany exper

Twenty years ago, when I was visiting my sister in Alberta, Canada, we experienced a rare family reunion. I had come from Germany and my mother came from Sweden. Then our cousin and her daughter came from Bazil as well. As our family has spread around the world, such opportunities come seldom if ever. It was summer, but summer in Canada can involve some surprises. We visited the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park, but the icy wind soon led us to take refuge in the Visitors‘ Centre so that our Brazilian ladies could warm up their bare toes. And that is where we saw a lovely patchwork quilt, made up of individual squares sewn by different women, showing aspects of their lives. Mum instantly had an inspiration. Why couldn’t we sew a family quilt? If we each stitched a square and got our daughters to join in the project we could create a family heirloom that could rotate around the globe. In the end, to only one to take up the project was Mum, who made four squares. The others

While all eyes are turned to the UN Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow, I miss an official statement from my church on the agenda being discussed there. World leaders are trying to find a way to reduce global warming to 1.5 degrees so that life on this planet is not extinguished. The major churches are participating in the discussion. Everyone is aware of the urgency. Now action is required, not just words. I would have liked to hear at least some words from my church leadership, which seems to be saying goodbye to the world at the moment. The imminent end of the world at Christ's return is being preached, but the preparation for it seems to be limited only to doctrinal proclamation. If the world will be destroyed by fire at Christ's return anyway, to be recreated by God, it is no longer so important to many believers to save this old world, even though God gave humans the task of taking care of creation. While I was pondering whether I had missed something, an article was publish