Women in action, making a difference at CFUW event
Posted Mar 11, 2010 By Amy Hogue
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EMC Events - Women from around the region gathered in the Perth Lions Hall on March 7, as part of a celebration in honour of International Women's Day. The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), in partnership with both the Lioness Club of Perth and the Perth & District Rotary Club hosted the celebration, entitled Women in Action, Making a Difference. 
in partnership with both the Lioness Club of Perth, and the Perth & District Rotary Club, hosted a celebration in honour of International Women's Day March 7, entitled 'Women in Action, Making a Difference' and featuring speakers Flora MacDonald, left, and Melissa Ekdon-Delorme.
Guest speakers Melissa Ekdom-Delorme and the Honourable Flora MacDonald were featured at the event, as well as informational booths representing local associations where "Women are making a difference." Among the organizations with booths at the event were the Girl Guides, who will be celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, the Rotary Club, Lanark County Grannies, and others.
Guest speaker Delorme was pleased to be asked to speak at such an important event. "I feel pretty honoured they feel I have something to speak about and contribute."
Delorme spoke to the assembled guests about how her life's path was changed following a St. John Catholic High School trip to Cuernavaca in 2003. Delorme said the trip "opened her eyes to the global situation," and was so monumental it shifted her previous career focus from Interior Design to Global Development.
Following the Cuernavaca trip, and then another to El Salvador, Delorme went on to study Global Development and Spanish at Queen's University. After graduating in 2008, Delorme volunteered with Oxfam Canada, which led to her current work as a consultant for the Policy Action Group on Emergency Response (PAGER) and for the Humanitarian Unit of Oxfam Canada.
Delorme's work has recently been centered around the relief efforts in Haiti, and she went on to explain how her work with PAGER is particularly important from a woman's perspective. "Women are differentially and disproportionately affected during an emergency."
Delorme stated that the most important lesson she could impart to future generations of women who also would like to make a difference in the world is to "never give up, and take advantage of every opportunity, no matter how small."
MacDonald, the second guest speaker at the Women's Day Celebration, needed no introduction. Besides her illustrious political career, which includes serving as MP for Kingston and the Islands for 16 years as well as holding three cabinet positions, MacDonald is also well known for her humanitarian work in Afghanistan, and has dedicated her life in the fostering of international understanding and development.
"People say to me why do you go to Afghanistan?" MacDonald said with a smile.
MacDonald explained that she had always been intrigued by Afghanistan, mainly due to letters which her father, who was stationed in the Khyber Pass, had sent home from that country. In his letters, he described the landscape and the people, and Macdonald decided at that time that, "if I ever have the opportunity to go there, I would." Following Sept. 11, 2001, which brought more attention to that part of the world, MacDonald was given the opportunity to fulfill her goal. Since then, she has traveled 11 times to Afghanistan.
"I see it in a different way than a lot of people," MacDonald stated.
MacDonald explained that although Afghanistan is half the size of Ontario, it has a population equivalent to that of all of Canada. "There are a lot of tribal differences and a lot of tribal conflict between peoples in Afghanistan," she said, "Even today Afghanistan is third poorest in world, they have literally nothing except what they are able to create or do themselves."
MacDonald founded and leads a nongovernmental organization (NGO) called Future Generations Canada (FGC), which is instrumental in its work in Afghanistan. The name was chosen because "that's what we work for, is the future generations."
Future Generations has been responsible for a multitude of success stories in Afghanistan. They have accomplished such miracles as road improvements, created hothouses to enable local people to grow green vegetables, provided solar panels for electricity, encouraged the creation of national parks in Afghanistan, and planted trees to create a continual source of fuel for Afghans.
"There are good stories of things going on in Afghanistan that we seldom hear about," MacDonald commented.
MacDonald has spent a lot of time working in Afghanistan over the past nine years. "I'm around this part of the world so much that I get to be known, and they say 'Oh, she's here again,'" MacDonald laughed.
Her 12th trip to Afghanistan is planned for May of this year.
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