The Year of the Girl

Рід Родина Нарід Народ Народні Народити Народження Рождество Рідне

Protect the little ones!  Ensure their future!  These are the thoughts of billions of mothers world-wide, in the light of the recent violent acts directed at children.  We all pray for the peace of the world!

And millions of Ukrainian women worldwide are, everyday, protecting the Ukrainian family, protecting the global Ukrainian community.  There are a million ways Ukrainian mothers ensure their children's survival, and none more powerful than the everyday lessons of our ancestral life.  Foods of survival, symbols of hope, dreams for the future.  Diversity of course, but with in this diversity, a common hope for peace, dignity and honor.

But with the care and conviction with which women care for their families, they themselves sometimes fall through the cracks.  Women continue to be vulnerable members of society, some circumstancially trapped in poverty, in risky "employment", in lives that serve other priorities than their own.  The World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations Світова Федерація Українських Жіночих Організацій  has for 65 years joined forces to address these and other concerns.  Speaking with one powerful voice, WFUWO СФУЖО is a Non Governmental Organization with consultative status addressing the United Nations on issues such as Human Trafficking, the Holodomor, and cultural/linguistic rights.  As you may already recognize, there has been much international movement on these issues over the course of these last 65 years of WFUWO service!

This year has been declared The Year of the Girl by the United Nations, with a focus on meeting her needs, her place in society and opportunities for education. This is our time!

It is time to be bold and proactive initiating programs and activities that help women in their pivotal role in family life, her opportunities for education and healthcare, her relationships with peers, her opportunities in public life, her religious and human rights freedoms.

Ukrainian women everywhere have the tools to help Ukrainian girls everywhere!  It's the little things, and the powerful messages we know are embedded that can change the world.  Family - this is what all Ukrainian culture and traditions is all about - dignity, truth, wisdom, and above all, survival.  Can we collectively move this issue from "survival" to "thrive"?  The future depends upon us.

For more information about the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organization go to  www.wfuwo.org/about.html

The newly elected President is Order of Canada recipient + Orysia Sushko - also former President of the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada.