Walking Together Serving Justice and Peace

Left to right: Ruth Phillips, WDP Barbados/WDPIC, Patricia Newell Pennant, WDP Jamaica, Cornelia Trommer-Klimpke, WDP Germany, Fanya Burford-Berry, WDP USA, Rev. Gloria Nohemy Ulloa Alvarado WCC President for Latin America & the Caribbean

The World Council of Churches invited the World Day of Prayer to participate in the Global Consultation commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women which took place in Kingston, Jamaica from October 2nd to 6th 2018. Four (4) WDP representatives were part of 73 participants and presenters from 45 denominations from all the continents.

The consultation was about gender justice. The focus was on celebrating our gifts, visiting the wounds and developing a vision to end gender injustice.*
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We’d like to share with you some stories that touched our hearts:
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• The experiences of rape and violence were similar all over the world.
• EVE for life: A program to help teenage mothers and girls who were raped and infected with HIV. These girls show remarkable bravery because they are able to disclose their HIV status and struggles on life. At the same time they mentor younger mothers who are also HIV positive.
• Our Brazilian sisters told us that there were about 502 women in Brazil suffering from some sort of domestic violence every hour.
• Heiwe, a native of Japan whose name means peace, emotionally shared with us the impression a Korean “Comfort Woman” made on him when she shared her story with him. 
  
  

​The spiritual life of the Global Consultation was formed by common prayers and bible studies in the morning and a symbolic ritual in the evening. A basket (or baskets) and cloth were the main symbolic elements of the spiritual life. The baskets became the “liturgical center” or “symbolic center” of the Consultation carried throughout the whole spiritual life of the Global Consultation. The basket was presented from the early stage of construction up to its completion by participants using pieces of cloth that were distributed during the session. These pieces of cloth were tied together and weaved around the half-finished basket to become the finished basket. We were asked to remember and pray for persons we knew were abused.

On Thursday, we went to the Nelson Mandela Park to make public our statement for a life free of violence. We joined WCC in renewing the call for the Thursdays in Black Campaign. A campaign that raises awareness by wearing black – as the color of women’s resilience, agency and personal efforts to resist rape and gender based violence.

In conclusion, the WDP representatives participated in every session and made the WDP movement known. We showed up and showed out. 

*For WCC press releases on the Consultation, visit their website here. 

Article and pictures by:
Fanya Burford-Berry, WDP USA
Patricia Newell Pennant, WDP Jamaica
Ruth Phillips, WDP Barbados & WDPIC Caribbean & North America Regional Representative
Cornelia Trommer-Klimpke, WDP Germany