Monday Morning, Part 2

Brenda drives into Castries, getting us there just in time to board the bus which is sitting in front of the Ministry of Social Transformation Office. The bus will take us to Canaries. Although it’s not a great distance, the road is winding and the driver must honk to alert people coming from the opposite direction…I’m used to it now. We drive through Anse Le Rey and into Canneries. As we head up the road to our destination, we pass the best bread bakery on the island. Everyone begins shouting at the driver at the same time. The volume is high and the sounds are demanding. “Driver, you must stop here on the way back so we can buy bread”, and the driver nods. I don’t think he wants to argue with fourteen demanding women.

I like women’s conferences. I have been preparing material for this conference workshop for the past three weeks. I am here to facilitate a six hour workshop for representatives of the Associated Country Women of the World. They are holding a week long regional conference in Saint Lucia. Women leaders from many different countries are here to learn, reflect, and gain new insights and tools to create and build new visions for the future of their communities and themselves. I am here to deliver this information as a “train-the-trainer” exercise.

As I walk in the room, I see the television cameras being set up. There is a table in the front of the room with crafts for sale. Tables are arranged in a U-shape and Saint Lucia colored cloth is placed over the tables. There are dozens of extra chairs behind the U-shaped tables. The wall has a large banner on it announcing the organizations that made this conference possible. It also pictures the Saint Lucian Flag.

At the front of the room is a table filled with craft items for sale which some of women have brought with them.

I’ve been nervous because I didn’t know much about the audience, but after the bus ride I’m feeling quite confident. The women are leaders in their communities. They come with good ideas and skills and lots of passion. The World President, Dato Ursula Goh, comes from Malaysia. She gave me her card and invited me to look her up if I get to her part of the world. She explained that the organization has a membership of nine million and is located in seventy countries, including the United States. The annual world conference will be held in Arkansas next year.

In the end I spent the day with some fifty wonderful women. I developed the workshop to include video material, activities, a workbook and discussion. They learned how to strengthen and lead their organizations and I learned about this incredible fellowship of women which I intend to stay connected to. I hope they gained as much as I did from this day.