Violence, displacement or exclusion: Some of the participants of the Mission 21 women's conference have experienced them firsthand, others deal with them in their daily work. Women and men from all over the world sat in the Grossratssaal in Aarau on June 13. At the women's conference, they combined their personal stories with a lot of expertise - and with the goal of supporting women in difficult circumstances.
What this support could look like was explored in five workshops, led by international experts. For example, Suzan Mark, head of the women's ministry of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, a partner of Mission 21.
"Everything was like erased"
Together with South African peace activist Fatima Swartz, Suzan Mark conducted a workshop on trauma work. Both women have experienced traumatic situations themselves and both have made it their mission to help traumatized people.
Suzan Mark described how she had to flee after being attacked by the terrorist militia Boko Haram. "All I had left were the clothes I was wearing, I had to leave everything else behind," she said. "Everything I had built in my life was like wiped out." She learned to acknowledge her trauma as such, to live with it and overcome it. And she studied the methods used to help traumatized people. Today, she works with women in Nigeria who have had to flee Boko Haram.
"Shimmy from solution to solution"
The other workshops also dealt with flight, displacement and migration. Work was done on titles such as "Ethics of Care", "Refugee women get space" and "Empowerment of female migrant workers". Religious fundamentalism was also a topic.
In her welcoming speech, Mission 21 Director Claudia Bandixen called on those present to "not shimmy from problem to problem, but from solution to solution" with regard to migration and dealing with strangers. The reports at the women's conference were proof that many women and men in Mission 21's partner countries do this in their daily work - even under the most difficult conditions.
Text: Miriam Glass
â–º Other events within the framework of the Mission 21 synod
