Come celebrate International Women's Day with us on Thursday, March 8! Join Susan Davis and BRAC USA for a breakfast discussion at the Asia Society, followed by a march across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The day begins at 8am with a breakfast panel discussion at the Asia Society moderated by David Bornstein of The New York Times. Susan Davis of BRAC, Ann Miles of The MasterCard Foundation, and Jeroo Billimoria of ChildFinance, Aflatoun, and Child Helpline International will discuss integrated, innovative approaches to microfinance, health, education and gender equality, and how these Asia-born antipoverty solutions are now being scaled up in Africa. The program also features a presentation by Zoe Timms of Women’s Education Project.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Where: Asia Society, 725 Park Ave., New York, NY

When: Thursday, March 8th, 8am – 10am

Friends of BRAC can take advantage of a members' discount in online ticket purchases ($10) by using the code “asia725” or by calling the box office (212-517-ASIA, M-F, 1-5pm) and stating that they are BRAC members.

At 11am we'll reconvene at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn to begin a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Plaza in Manhattan, part of an international campaign to unite for peace and women's equality worldwide. Inspiring music and special guest speakers, including Zainab Salbi of Women for Women International, will join on both sides of the bridge. Bring your banners in support of peace, and click here to register.

We hope to see at both events!

To symbolize our commitment to the creation of Beloved Community, Amahoro Women are founding sponsors of the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation

To commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by leading a collaborative funding, design, and construction process in the creation of a memorial to honor his national and international contributions to world peace through non-violent social change.

I was asked to write for this blog by Liz. She was my former teacher so it’s strange to call her by her first name even now that I’m adult. I could write an entire entry on how positively she’s affected my life but I will save that for another time. This is my first entry so perhaps it’s natural to give some indication about what I plan to blog about here, although I’m certain it’s subject to change. After not seeing or speaking to her for 10 years, I found her on facebook and soon set up to meet and catch up on each other’s lives. She had known me, possibly better than my own parents, between the ages of about 7 to 13.  While we were talking, I mentioned my interest in writing and she told me that she could still vividly recall my handwriting (the days before everything was typed on computers) and the content of my work. She discussed ‘What Better Looks Like’ and asked me if I was interested in writing for the blog. Without hesitation, I told her I absolutely was but after a few days of over thinking I became unsure. Would what I write live up to what she expected? Would it be good enough? What is there to even write about? All those same questions had killed countless past inclinations of mine to put my incessant thoughts to paper. But here I am at my computer typing, formulating and organizing my feelings and reflections into sentences someone might relate to and be touched by. For me, that is my ultimate ‘better’. I’ve kept a diary since about age 10 but missed a few years here and there in high school and college unfortunately. I’ve always felt that no matter what was happening, through my darkest and most chaotic times, I could write and attempt to sort it all out. At the very least, I was able to exorcize the thoughts plaguing my mind and lock them away in a journal under my mattress. It didn’t guarantee things would get better but at the very least, something productive came from it all. I’ve asked Liz not to credit my work here because I plan to use this as an open diary to share with the world, as a way to stop hiding my art, my battles and my triumphs. This is what better looks like. I believe that if I dig through my past and evaluate my present, I will find the lessons and break the patterns to positively impact my future. It is my hope that my writing will speak to others and help them do the same. I don’t intend to have a pity party for myself but instead be open and honest. I know that we are never given more challenges in life than we are able to overcome and learn from. That is what I intend to do here. In this world, there are only forces. We judge them as being good or bad but they are not inherently so. We cannot control them but we are able to control our reaction to them and that is far more powerful.

If you get the opportunity to do something for someone, no matter if it's a stranger, no matter how small, do it!! Your small actions can turn out to be a huge blessing for someone else. If your heart is telling you to compliment someone or help an elderly person out, know that God has put that on your heart. It's not always for us to know the results of our actions, but God always knows. That's faith.

On May 19th, we attended a Pay It Forward Conference at C.W. Post.  We tabled, along with groups such as Heifer International and Habitat for Humanity.  We were adjacent to a group of girls who started the organization One>None.

One is Greater than None is a non-profit organization created  by eight teen girls.  Their goal is to inspire individuals to believe that any contribution, no matter how small, has value.  I was inspired by the work of these dynamic young women.  For me, they are the embodiment of What Better Looks Like. 

Please check out their great work, and support them in any way you can.