20 Years Together - A Celebration

A decade ago as a birthday gift I was told about a website full of women leaders, worldpulse.org. I discovered that this site has given us a global home together. That World Pulse holds an ongoing stream of news from powerful change makers, many thousands of us from 227 countries, determined to end all violence against women and girls, determined that this is possible, knowing we were born to do this work, unapologetically calling for peace, respect and an end to all of the violence, weaving ways to work together and to save our planet, our home and each other.

The sheer joy we are given being able to find each other through this site now lives with us every day. We now have our arms around each other, hearts deeply connected, weaving this giant global healing web, keeping safe and known this library of constant news and information, where our re-discovered herstory can be found, kept documented and available so that it can be  known and carried globally. We carry the discussions, the inspirations, the interweaving of our work through stories, photos, celebrations, intergenerational meetings, our sharing of information, witnessing and being part of a new freedom that we are determined will be woven into all communities. We are a global circle of 80,000 from 227 countries doing tremendous grassroots work everywhere. We continue to find each other, and to find ways to be working together. Our stories continue to be held in this global library, keeping safe the herstories so deeply hidden, and the documenting of what needs to change. Our brilliant staff, small in number continually create many ways for us all to meet together online in whatever groups we need. We meet as members. As ambassadors. As researchers. As news carriers. We are given the chance to meet globally in leadership circles with each other as we create a path forward together. We are given the chance to grow strong in a way that has never happened before. We celebrate our home together and our global sisterhood within, able now to build ever more ways to be working together and in close touch globally. It is a joy almost beyond imagining to be able to experience how profoundly precious this is, that we can take part in this global circle together, fierce, brilliant, courageous Change Makers, Ambassadors, Encouragers, who learn what needs to be done and keep these stories known, keeping safe these traditions that we were told were not real. I cherish the safekeeping of our knowledge and the chance to be working together.

Let us celebrate that we are so many, from most of the countries of this world, celebrating this day by writing stories to each other, holding meetings on WhatsApp and Zoom, continuing to weave our way forward for a world with no violence.

We hold onto the knowledge that our herstorians have dedicated their lives to gather and store, sharing information that we have been told has never existed, that our communities locally and globally have not always been this way, and in some places are not this way, that this global society we have been working for for all these years continues to grow, creating an end to all of the violence. We are targeted as women and girls because we are considered radical and selfish to be speaking so directly about these particular forms of violence. We are promised it will end. We carry many years of broken promises. 

But today is a day of celebration. Twenty years of work have brought us together through World Pulse. Never throughout time have we had this globally. We celebrate that our paths have crossed and are now interwoven together. We celebrate the women and girls that we hold in our arms, now able to heal. We celebrate the powerful voices of our sisters. We will not stop working for a world in which every woman and girl is free, in which all of the violence toward everyone is ended, a world in which together we heal the violence against our beloved planet Earth. A world with no poverty. A world in which we end all of the wars. Today and always may we celebrate with joy that we have found each other and that we are able to be in this Circle together now. May we continue to make possible the tremendous work being done. May we be recognized within the UN. May we be respected within our communities. May we continue to find ways to be working together. May we celebrate this milestone of World Pulse, our home. May we continue to grow and barriers dissolve as we celebrate that we now have each other.