Iraqi Women

Back home now and haven't posted in a while. I've been working with two women who are here in Canada from Baghdad. I met them last spring in Jordan and was tremendously impressed with them. They will be giving public talks in Toronto and Ottawa this week In Ottawa, they will be at the Ottawa Public Library at 6:30 pm on Wednesday Aug 23 and then they will be doing a panel at the Alternatives Journee d'etudes http://www.alternatives.ca/rubrique280.html?lang=en

This is the first time they have been out of Iraq since the 70's. One of them is seeing her brother here in Toronto for the first time in fifteen years. It is incredibly moving and sad at the same time. I guess this is my summer for realizing in so many ways how privileged we are living here in Canada and how easily we lose track of how most of the rest of the world has to live because of the wealth we have accumulated. I think the last time this reality was so stark for me was in the 60's. When I got back from Bolivia I stopped buying anything. My friend Aparna says that happens to her everytime she comes back after visiting her home in India. It doesn't last long. Today I broke my consumer boycott. It was a great sale.