Today we salute WOMEN for all they do to serve at home, at work, and in community.
Neighborhoods, communities, states, our country, and our world are better because of the time, energy, and love each of you pour into the work you do.
Today and every day we honor you!
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Veronica Cabrera, an experienced artist and mother of four teen-aged sons, is the founder and CEO of HTX ART, a creative enterprise that provides access to art in Houston’s underserved communities.
Cabrera, widely known as “Roni,” envisioned and created The Art Bus. She transformed an old school bus into a mobile art studio in a uniquely Houston experience that brings art into her community and neighborhoods across Harris County.
The brightly colored yellow bus, with its turquoise top and wheels, travels across the city from special community events to scheduled classes. The movable art center is the fulfillment of Cabrera’s vision to provide art across her community.
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Brenda Kirk is the founder and CEO of Vision Weavers Consulting, LLC. The firm provides consulting services to nonprofit and faith-based organizations with a focus on advocacy, leadership development, strategic planning, and capacity building. Since 2012, Brenda has been working with the Evangelical Immigration Table as a consultant mobilizing Churches across Texas. In 2013 she added the National Immigration Forum, and expanded the focus to include business and law enforcement. Bibles Badges and Business for Immigration Reform. Serving as a regional mobilizer for both organizations serving as the South-Central Regional Mobilizer, engaging communities to evaluate their thoughts and emotions about the immigration debate through a lenses of faith, economics, local and national security. Immigrant integration is an important process in helping new Americans reach their fullest potential, |
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Coordinator for Community and Civic Engagement |
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Chassidy Olainu-Alade is the Coordinator for Community and Civic Engagement in Fort Bend ISD. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Secondary Education from Louisiana State University, as well as a M.ED in Secondary Social Studies from Texas Southern University. During her education a major focus of her coursework and area of research has been African American Studies, History of American South, and Multicultural Education.
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Tina Schuler grew up in Wisconsin and the cold just didn’t suit her. She gladly accepted an athletic scholarship in gymnastics to Arizona State University where she was a 3-time All-American and competed in the NCAA championships all four years of her college career. She was also a 3-time Pac 10 floor champion, the first ASU gymnast to receive a perfect 10.0, a 2-time Pac10 All-Academic team member, and was inducted into ASU’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She received her Bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2015 from Tempe Diablos Excellence in Education and she is the author of the book “Bridge Builder”. She has been a classroom teacher for 3rd grade, 5th grade, and gifted resource. She also spent 4 years as a behavior coach building bridges with the most challenging behavior students and supporting the teachers.
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Coyletta Govan is a women’s empowerment advocate. She teaches, preaches and promotes biblical lifestyle changes that inspire sound integrity, uncompromising character and emerging possibilities. She believes her call in life is to help women discover the truth of God’s Word to live in their freedom. Her genuine passion, unique and animated approach to revealing truth has been instrumental in assisting many women move positively toward purposeful lives. Coyletta is a Certified Belief Therapist, Spiritual Life Coach and has earned a Masters and Bachelor’s Degrees in Community Organization and Leadership and is pursuing a doctoral degree in Christian Education.
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OH ALICE, I THINK YOU HAVE LOST YOUR MUCHNESS!
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY- MARCH 8 - RATE YOUR MUCHNESS
I have watched Alice In Wonderland numerous times because I am a grandmother to 7 girls and 3 boys. One of my favorite and imaginable lines is, “O Alice, I think you have lost your muchness, you were much, muchier.” Through the years, my muchness has been challenged and with each challenge, I am reminded of the following words: we all choose to know what we want to know about injustices in this world. These words have stayed with me as I believe them to be true. There were periods in my life where I was unaware of global injustice toward women. How about you? If you were to rate your "muchness" on a scale from one to ten #1 Not knowing much about Global Women and #10 knowing much about Global Women, how would you rate? Have you lost your muchness as a builder of God’s Kingdom? Do you believe your muchness matters? Have you ever been told you were too much? I have and each time I am told I am too much, I consider it a compliment! When you are told you are too much it usually means someone is offended yet listening.
Travel with me through time and allow yourself to focus on the women whose shoulders you stand on and pause to honor the excruciatingly hard work these women endured in order to accomplish achievements. I hope it’s too much!
The women of my recent past, 600 years, originated from Austria, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia. These women migrated to hunt for food, fought border wars, cultivated the earth, and sculpted their homes with mud and sticks. Their “muchness” caused them to survive! History describes these women as savages, gypsies, and restless tribals. I describe them as stunning. These women endured the Black Death (bubonic plague), which swallowed up one-third of their population in the 14th century. In the 15th century, Martin Luther’s call for church reform divided the European states along religious lines as the Protestant Reformation took hold. In 1525, political, religious, and social tensions led to violence called the Peasants’ War killing 100,000. The Thirty Years War (30 years!) from 1618-1648 left one-third of that population dead and the survivors sick and starving. By 1856, my great, great, great grandmothers were all worn down by war and economic hardship so, they risked a treacherous 84-day voyage in search of freedom, land, and a new life. They all entered America through Castle Garden. Rosaleje migrated from Austria. Anna migrated from Denmark. Antonette migrated from Czechoslovakia. All three of these international great, great, great grandmothers were consumed with hunger, thirst, and disease.
In 1900, my great, great grandmothers, Elsie, Mary, and Grace migrated to Tennessee, North Dakota, and Arizona. These 3 sturdy women suffered deeply the losses of babies, children, and other family members to scarlet fever, cholera, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diphtheria. In 1918, the H1N1 flu killed between 50 to 100 million people. My great, great grandmothers lived to see the 19th amendment added to the U.S. Constitution in 1920 and got to vote!
History doesn't seem so distant as poverty, hunger, disease, gender equality, immigration, and violence still linger. On March 8, of every year, we at Mission World observe International Women’s Day. We usually plan a women’s empowerment conference in north Haiti, but this year Covid19 has squelched our plans and halted our travel.
Let's go back to the beginning where I asked you to rate your muchness. If you haven't rated yourself yet please do it now. Write your number here ___ #1 Not much and #10 very much (Let's check-in same time next year to see if our rating has improved.) I am rating myself a 6 but my goal is to be an 8! If you desire to increase your "muchness", becoming informed is necessary. Look at the first six of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: No More Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health & Wellbeing, Quality Education, Gender Equality, and Clean Water and Sanitation. Now here’s the data: 786 million people lack clean water. 2 billion people lack access to sanitation. Every 2 minutes a child dies from a water-related disease. The third leading cause of child death is diarrhea. 137 women are killed by a member of their family every day. Globally, 35 percent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner. Less than 40% of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort. As people of God seeking first the Kingdom of God here on earth, we need to be too much! We need much more intentionality toward reaching these goals because it requires all of us!
Poverty is broken relationships with God, with self, with others, and with creation. When a woman works to mend her view of herself with the truth of who she is in Christ, she is fighting poverty. When a woman is given education and training, she can work to provide food for her children. When a woman is taught about the importance of hygiene and how to get clean water, her family becomes healthier, and she teaches another generation to do the same. When a woman holds in her heart who she is in Christ, she becomes a new creature and that changes everything. These goals are accomplished by giving people access to tools so they can solve their own dilemmas.
Mission World:
- Empowers women with access to food and clean water so that she has energy to lift her head, play with her children, walk them to school, jump rope, make a fire and cook a meal.
- Gives young girls access to education and training. Education can increase her earnings by 15-25%.
- Teaches she has hope in Christ; she is a warrior, strong, enough, confident, valued, precious, transformed, and chosen by God
- Provides access to micro-loans for her business,
- Advocates for her against injustice, such as locks on her doors for protection.
- Pushes her to participate in her community to fight for justice.
International Women’s Day is about all of us because the earth is the Lord’s and everyone in it! I believe the UN SDGs are achievable and in sync with building the Kingdom of God here on earth. Every morning many global women are eating injustice for breakfast. I challenge you to be hungry and thirsty for justice daily. Justice for global women of the world.
Let’s Be Too Much as we work to build the Kingdom of God!
Janet Dorrell
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