Sometimes Divine Providence steps into our ministry and takes over, this was the case with International Women's Day. We only had a week to plan a celebration, but things fell together easily, and on March 8 Proyecto Juan Diego celebrated the International Women's Day with women around the world. A group of 40 women (ranging in age from their teens to 80's and who participate in our various programs) gathered to listen to a short reflection by Marianella Villarreal on the enduring qualities of women. Marianella inspired us with her testamonies of the strength of the women in Cameron Park. The participants were encouraged to touch their own power and passion as women and to stand up for issues they believed were important for the betterment of our society. After the reflection, we gathered to march around the streets of the neighborhood. Young mothers with strollers lined up along grandmothers and our staff memebers, to help pass out a carnation and a special prayer for women to all the women we passed. We could see women inside their homes peek out of the curtain as we walked by, men stopped their conversations and wondered, what is this group of women doing? It was an opportunity for us to raise awareness of the inqualitites that still exist in our world and encourage woman to know their power to make the world a better place for themselves and their children. Proyecto Juan Diego is already looking forward to celebrating International Women's Day next year!
















This year the United Nation's theme was "Ending Impunity: An end to Violence Against Women and Girls" and reports the following facts:

• It is estimated that between 113 million and 200 million women are demographically "missing." They have been the victims of infanticide (boys are preferred to girls).
• Globally, women between the age of fifteen and forty-four are more likely to be maimed or die as a result of male violence than through cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war combined.
• Domestic violence is the largest form of abuse of women worldwide, irrespective of region, culture, ethnicity, education, class and religion.
• Systematic rape is used as a weapon of terror in many of the world's conflicts. It is estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 women in Rwanda were raped during the 1994 genocide.
• Studies show the increasing links between violence against women and HIV and demonstrate that HIV-infected women are more likely to have experienced violence, and that victims of violence are at higher risk of HIV infection.