Inspiring Women of WW I : The Hello Girls and Their 60 Year Fight for Veteran Status

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

While the US Air Force was in its infant stages in 1917 another unit was being formed by Brig. General John Pershing. This one was to be made up of woman pioneers who would become the US Army’s first female combat unit.  Known as the Hello Girls, these recruits were made up of a force of 450 women, most of which came from the telephone company where they were switchboard operators.

The hello girlsSince October 1917, when the new American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) telephone system had been put in place, the American soldiers and the French women working as telephone operators were unable to communicate. The need for bilingual telephone operators precipitated the recruitment of the 450 Americans.

Not only were these women trained in military radio and switchboard operations, they also completed other military training. Upon graduation they were sworn in, required to purchase their own uniforms and were issued dog tags and gas masks. The uniforms of the Hello Girls were navy blue at first, and later they were changed to a version of olive-drab green.

The operators received promotions and carried positions like anyone else in the Army at that time. The “Stars and Stripes” on March 29, 1918 identified the rank of the Hello Girls as follows:  “Their ranks were identified by white Armbands. An Operator First Class wore the white armband with an outlined blue Telephone mouthpiece. A Supervisor, who rates as a platoon sergeant, wears the same armband with a wreath around the mouthpiece. A Chief Operator or “Top” had the emblem with the mouthpiece, the wreath and blue lighting flashes shooting out above the receiver.”

In March, 1918, the first contingent of 33 Hello Girls were sent to France. Others followed and were sent to numerous locations throughout the war zone where they connected the front lines to general command.  During their time at the front, the Hello Girls took on incoming fire like any others soldiers and were called combatants.

Chief Operator Grace Banker received the Distinguished Service Medal

Chief Operator Grace Banker received the Distinguished Service Medal

Congress issued a citation to Grace Banker, Chief Operator, for leading eight operators to the front. They arrived just in time to be part of the Sept. 12, 1918, push in the Battle of St. Mihiel. For eight days, these Hello Girls worked around the clock handling communications on eight lines. On Sept. 26, 1918, they were chosen for a new offensive and reassigned to the front, which at that time, was northwest of Verdun, according to the “Stars and Stripes” account of the events.

When the Hello Girls call to duty ended and they returned to the US, they requested their veteran’s status, honorable discharges and World War I Victory Medals. Unfortunately, they were turned down because regulations addressed males, not females, and there was a consensus that the Hello Girls were more civilian volunteers then military members.

History shows, that throughout the years, the Hello Girls petitioned Congress to receive their veteran status. For almost 60 years they continued their fight led by Merle Egan Anderson. They finally received help from a young attorney, Mark Hough, who took the case once again to Congress and this time their efforts paid off.

In 1977, then President Jimmy Carter signed a bill and the Hello Girls finally earned their status as US veterans. Unfortunately, when that time came, only 50 of the 450 Hello Girls were still alive. Those 50 were awarded their Honorable discharges and World War I Victory Medals.

450 young women, known as The Hello Girls, answered the call to duty and served a vital part in the outcome of WW1. These women had proven they, too, deserved a place in history. They displayed a driving perseverance and their persistence earned them the right to officially become veterans.

Women have always been a vital part of military HERstory : pioneers, doctor, nurses, combatants, pilots, yeoman and in more roles than may ever be recognized. Today, on this Veteran’s and Remembrance Day, we must remember all these women that proudly served as well as those that dedicated and gave their lives.

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My Mom Who Can Do Anything

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

I have not always been proud of my mom. She knows this, mainly because I would tell her constantly about all of the things she should be doing differently. It’s only fair then that I take the time to tell her–and you–how incredibly proud of her I am today.

Today, my mother receives her Master of Science in Nursing.

At 51 years old, she’ll walk across a stage in a cap and gown. She’ll stand at a podium on that stage and speak for her class, an honor bestowed upon her by her peers and instructors, in part because of her academic excellence.

This journey started about twenty years ago.

Britt Reints' mom with her granddaughters.

Britt Reints’ mom with her granddaughters.

I don’t remember what my mom was doing for a living, or if she was able to find work at all. I remember we were poor. Very poor. I know that her husband at the time spent whatever cash she could come up with on drugs and alcohol. I know that they fought in the middle of the night and she used her arms to protect her head from pummeling fists.

And then they decided to go back to school. Both of them enrolled in nursing school, earning first an LPN degree and then an RN. The RN my mom earned while working full time. Her job prospects got better, but the abuse continued.

When I was 12, she left. We left. She took us from that home and that town and started over in a new place with a new job. There would be many new jobs and new homes for her over the next decade. She would even leave the nursing industry entirely for a while in one of her many efforts to make things better. She worked in sales and then she started her own business, always striving to make things more normal and safe for my brothers and me.

About ten years ago, she called to tell me that she was thinking about going back into nursing. It sounded crazy to me; she hadn’t worked as a nurse for at least five years. She had to take a bunch of classes and get her license renewed. She had to explain a five year absence to a prospective employer. Nursing was something she’d tried and quit years ago; why would she go back to it?

“I think I can do this,” she told me.

“Why would you want to?” I asked.

We’re taught to see going back as failure. We move forward. We move on. We don’t revisit a passion we’d held years ago; it’s practically admitting you were wrong to give up in the first place!

She didn’t care. She went back. She got a job in a nursing home near her house, the same nursing home where my mother-in-law works. It was there that I told them both that we were expecting another baby. It was there that she heard about a storm that had wiped out half of the town. It was there that she got her groove back. It was there that she decided she wanted more.

I was driving on I-4 in Central Florida, enjoying my daily commute-and-chat with my mom, when she told me she was thinking of going back to school. She had befriended a woman at work, a nurse practitioner, who had been encouraging her to consider graduate school. My mom was 48 and asking me if it was a good idea to go back to college.

“Is this stupid? Am I crazy?” she asked.

“Of course not! Two years is nothing!” I told her.

A couple weeks later she called to tell me she’d learned it would actually take three years for her to become a nurse practitioner. She had to earn her bachelor’s degree first and then earn her master’s degree.

“That’s another year before I can even think about practicing,” she said. “I’ll be almost 52 before I even graduate!”

I guess at 48, 52 seems really far away.

“You can do this,” I told her. “You can do anything.”

I figured she probably could, but I wasn’t sure if she’d actually go through with it. My mom is notorious for her grand ideas.

She went back. A year into her schooling, her oldest son was arrested. He was accused of robbing ten banks, an accusation that sounded absolutely ludicrous at first. Of course it did. And then it became slightly less ludicrous as we began to learn more. The bottom fell out of her world and it seemed as if it would be forever until she got to hold her child again.

“I don’t think I can keep doing this,” she told me one morning.

I wasn’t sure if she was talking specifically about school or all of it, but I knew she wanted to quit. Working full time and going to school was already pushing her to her limits; the added toll of her son’s problems threatened to break her.

“You can do this,” I told her. “You can do anything.”

I was starting to believe maybe she really could. She’d already done so much. She stayed. She pushed on. She grieved for the life she had wanted for her son, stood beside his girlfriend through a pregnancy and the birth of her grandchild, and still managed to go to school and work. And she did it well. She made A’s and B’s even when she was sure she was failing.

She earned her bachelor’s degree with academic honors and almost no fanfare from her family. Only her husband attended the graduation ceremony. The rest of us were incarcerated, sick, or simply too busy to make a big deal out of it. Maybe we believed her when she said it was nothing. But we were wrong; it wasn’t nothing.

Still she wasn’t done. She took a new job, one with a better salary and more responsibilities. She struggled to learn her new role while keeping up with her school work. When the long days stretched into long weeks and even longer months, she questioned whether or not she’d taken on too much.

“I don’t think it was a good idea to take on a new job while I’m still in school,” she said. “I’m not sure I can do all of this.”

“You can do this,” I told her again. “You can do anything.”

I knew it was true. My mom had shown all of us that she was super hero.

Today she graduates.

She has finished her graduate program and done it extraordinarily well. She’ll wear a special hood over her robe to symbolize her academic excellence, to symbolize her ability to not only survive but thrive.

My mom is amazing. She can do anything. And I am so, so proud to be her daughter.

Britt Reints wrote this story about her mother in May of 2012. She is a happiness expert and owner of “In Pursuit of Happiness”. As a happiness coach, inspirational speaker and author, she helps busy people find practical ways to be happier.

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Inspiring Women of World War I : Nurse and Poet Eva Dobell

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

Born Eveline Jessie Dobell in Gloucestershire, England, poet Eva Dobell was the daughter of wine merchant and local historian Clarence Mason Dobell and the niece of Victorian poet Sydney Dobell.

Eva Dobell, WWI nurse with VAD

Eva Dobell, WWI nurse with VAD

She volunteered to join the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) as a nurse in World War I with other women of note such as Enid Algerine Bagnold who later wrote “National Velvet” and Vera Brittain, British author of the best-selling 1933 memoir “Testament of Youth” which recounted her experiences during World War I. The VAD referred to a voluntary unit providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals, in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire.

Eva Dobell was deeply distressed by the suffering and loss of life she observed during her work with the VAD during the war. Her experiences moved her to take part in the morale-boosting work of writing to prisoners of war and prompted her to write poetry about, among other things, wounded and maimed soldiers.

The major part of her life was later spent in the English Cotswolds, but she also travelled extensively to Europe and North Africa. She helped and encouraged young poets, and campaigned for the protection of both wildlife and the English countryside.

Her poem “Night Duty” is cited as one of many poems by female war-poets and nurses that provide access to an experience rarely shared by male poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.

Night Duty

The pain and laughter of the day are done
So strangely hushed and still the long ward seems,
Only the Sister’s candle softly beams.
Clear from the church near by the clock strikes ’one’;
And all are wrapt away in secret sleep and dreams.

Here one cries sudden on a sobbing breath,
Gripped in the clutch of some incarnate fear:
What terror through the darkness draweth near?
What memory of carnage and of death?
What vanished scenes of dread to his closed eyes appear?

And one laughs out with an exultant joy.
An athlete he — Maybe his young limbs strain
In some remembered game, and not in vain
To win his side the goal — Poor crippled boy,
Who in the waking world will never run again.

One murmurs soft and low a woman’s name;
And here a vet’ran soldier calm and still
As sculptured marble sleeps, and roams at will
Through eastern lands where sunbeams scorch like flame,
By rich bazaar and town, and wood-wrapt snow-crowned hill.

Through the wide open window on great star,
Swinging her lamp above the pear-tree high,
Looks in upon these dreaming forms that lie
So near in body, yet in soul so far
As those bright worlds thick strewn ion that vast depth of sky.

Eva Dobell (January 30, 1876 – September 3, 1963)

Respectful note to estate and/or publishers: please contact me if there are any copyright / permission issues

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I Do It Because I Promised My Daughter I Would Live

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I think it apropos to honor an inspiring woman, Maimah Karmo, who not only battled with the illness but has taken her challenges and built upon them to educate and support others. She is the Founder and CEO of the Tigerlily Foundation and an eight year survivor of breast cancer and she shares HERstory in her own words with us.

Maimah Karmo with her daughter.

Maimah Karmo with her daughter, Noelle.

“In 2006, I was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. I was 32 years old and had a 3-year old daughter.  When I initially went to the doctor, I was told I was too young to have breast cancer and my mammogram came back false negative.  The doctor performed an aspiration, which was unsuccessful, but she insisted that I come back in six months.  In the meantime the lump doubled in size and I began experiencing overwhelming fatigue and night sweats.

When I went back, she insisted on a re-aspiration. I pushed for a biopsy and was diagnosed the next day, on February 28, 2006, with aggressive breast cancer.  I had a lumpectomy, then chemotherapy and eventually radiation.  I watched my hair fall out and the weight peel off my body. While undergoing my second round of chemotherapy, I would ask why this was happening to me. I was so afraid of the future.

I had no family history of breast cancer. I lived a healthy life and could not understand how or why this was happening to me. One night I made a promise to God that, if he restored my spirit, I would give my life to him in service. The next morning Tigerlily Foundation was born.  I had learned that approximately 13,000 young women get diagnosed and approximately ten percent of those women die because they were originally misdiagnosed.  I thought of how many other young women were going through what I was experiencing. That was the moment I stopped asking why and began thinking how and what I could do to make a difference.

Maimah Karmo with First Lady Michelle Obama

Maimah Karmo with First Lady Michelle Obama

Tigerlily Foundation’s mission is to educate, advocate for, empower and provide hands-on support to young women – before, during and after breast cancer. What started as a promise and a dream is now a nationwide organization reaching thousands. The foundation provides education and empowerment to young women and their families, we educate healthcare practitioners, we provide peer support to newly diagnosed young women, we send young women in treatment breast cancer buddy bags, meals, we pay their bills, and we provide support to young women living with Stage 4 breast cancer.

I run the foundation while working a full-time job and being a single mother and these are some of the reasons why.

  • I do it because if it were not for the grace of God and a mother who taught me to do my breast exams at thirteen, I wouldn’t be here.
  • I do it because I am humbled to do this work and because I believe that when one is blessed with life, in some way, we must be of service to others.
  • I do it because I promised God that I would create something that would make a difference in the landscape of young women and breast cancer.
  • I do it because I promised my daughter that I would live – and I meant not just physically, but be truly alive – thereby giving her a legacy that would never die and hopefully an example of the importance of creating the life you want, pursuing your dreams, embracing life, loving the moment and walking along a path because you believe in something deeply, even if you can’t clearly see the way ahead.
  • I do it because young women are needlessly losing their lives to a disease that many of them are not even aware they may have.
  • I do this work because breast cancer floored me but I made a decision to pick myself up and be even better than before.
  • I do it because I want other young women who are diagnosed to know that they have somewhere to turn for support, love, empowerment and services.
  • I do it because I want women to know that they can survive and thrive. I want young women who have not been diagnosed or misdiagnosed to know that they have a right to life and that they need to exercise their personal power and become their own best advocates. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that every young woman is aware of the issue of breast cancer and I’ve dedicated my life to ensure that this happens.
  • I do it because it is important to be living examples to our children. When my daughter was six, she woke me up one morning and asked me what she could do to “help the women too”.  She asked me if she could have a fundraiser.  The week she started first grade, she began planning one along with several of her friends. At six years old, they knew that they can make a difference.  It started with a pajama party event in Washington, DC to educate young girls and mothers and it has now spread to New York, NY.

In 2012, my memoir “Fearless: Awakening to My Life’s Purpose Through Breast Cancer” was released. Breast cancer, to me, was a catalyst and reminded me to live my life on my own terms every day. I’m truly thankful to be alive and to be in service to others. As tough as it was to go through breast cancer, I know that my challenges can help others to know that they too can get through this disease.

To me, I’m really just a girl who got breast cancer and, after my life got turned upside down, I knew I couldn’t just go back to life as normal. Somehow, through it all, I have found my purpose and want to help other young women as well – in the world of breast cancer and in life.

Everyone has someone or something that motivates them and pushes them when they’re exhausted and feeling like they can’t go on. For me, it was my then 3-year old daughter, Noelle. She is now 11! I’m so thankful for every day I get to be with her and watch her grow up.

I would say to any woman or man going through a challenging time : Try to see your challenge as a gift. It’s all temporary, even life. You can’t control the course, but you can control your reaction to it. Namaste.”

Maimah

The Tigerlily Foundation’s 6th Annual EmPOWER Ball will be held on November 8, 2014, from 6:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m., in Reston, VA, to honor individuals making a difference in the world of breast cancer. To learn more about the Empower Ball, buy tickets, sponsor, advertise or to honor a breast cancer survivor, visit our EmPOWER Ball website.

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Robert Downey Jr.’s Heartfelt Tribute to His Late Mother, His Inspiration

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

Upon the recent passing of his inspiring mother, Robert Downey Jr. posted HERstory on Facebook – a story which is deserving of being shared. She actually passed away September 22nd, 2014 and I was very moved by this touching tribute. I believe you will be also.

“My mom passed away early this week ….I wanna say something about her life, and a generic “obit” won’t suffice…

Elsie Ann Ford was born outside Pittsburgh in April of 1934, daughter of an engineer who worked on the Panama Canal, and mother who ran a jewelry shop in Huntingdon, where they settled… a bona fide “Daughter of the American Revolution”.

Robert Downey Jr and his Mom, Elsie AnnDowney

Robert Downey Jr and his Mom, Elsie Ann Downey

In the mid ‘50s, she dropped out of college and headed to NY, with dreams of becoming a comedienne. In ’62, she met my dad (who proposed at a Yankees/Orioles game). They married, had my sister Allyson in ’63 and me in ’65…

There was another revolution of sorts going on at that time, of underground counter-culture film and theatre… and with her as Bob Sr.’s muse, they jumped in wholeheartedly…

“Chafed Elbows” (a man marries his mother and goes on welfare), “Greaser’s Palace (a woman relentlessly persecuted by God who never utters a word), and “Moment to Moment” AKA “Two Tons of Turquoise To Taos Tonight” (in which she played 17 characters) were the stand outs.

By the mid ‘70s, the downside of drug culture caught up with many artists. She was an alcoholic…

As the marriage suffered, she continued to work, but not for long. A recurring role on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (’76-’77) was her last paying job… not that she cared; she’d have done it for free.

I remember living with her and her boyfriend Jonas (who became a second father to me) in a 2 room 5 storey walk up in Manhattan after that… Bunsen burner for a stove, cockroaches, broken dreams…

By 1990, she’d had enough, went to treatment, got sober. Just in time to enjoy several years of heart disease, bypasses, you name it…

While I strived to have the kind of success that eluded her, my own addiction repeatedly forbade it.  In the summer of 2004, I was in bad shape. She called me out of the blue, and I admitted everything. I don’t remember what she said, but I haven’t drank or used since.

Eventually, when finances allowed, we were able to move her out to LA. She had a special affinity for my first born son Indio, and really got a kick out of Exton. Got an iPad, pictures, videos, the whole 9…

Her doctors basically titled her a “Medical Incredible”, said there was little they could do, and were frankly amazed she was up and walking…

Many fond memories of her in the last few years… holidays, kid-stuff, her strutting around with a walking stick. I knew it was difficult, and understood as the visits got shorter.

In March, she suffered another cardiac arrest and was put on life support. Her wishes were to be left to die if there wasn’t a reasonable chance of recovery, which for sometime there was.

I returned from filming the “Avengers” sequel in June, went straight to see her. To my amazement, she was completely lucid, interactive, mugging + pulling faces. We couldn’t speak ‘cause she had a tracheal tube. I wondered if she just might beat the odds once more.

Another set of seizures answered that, and we brought her home for hospice.

She died @ 11 p.m., September 22nd, survived by her extremely loving and tolerant partner of 37 years, Jonas Kerr.

She was my role model as an actor, and as a woman who got sober and stayed that way.

She was also reclusive, self-deprecating, a stoic Scotch-German rural Pennsylvanian, a ball buster, stubborn, and happy to hold a grudge.

My ambition, tenacity, loyalty, moods, “grandiosity”, occasional passive aggression, and my faith… That’s all her… and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If anyone out there has a mother, and she’s not perfect, please call her and say you love her anyway…”                                                                                       Elsie Ann Downey, 1934-2014

This has been reposted from Robert Downey Jr.’s Facebook.

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Will Women Ever Be Treated As Equals and With the Respect They Deserve : An Editorial

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

I am not one for using this blog to express my own thoughts on current events or issues but, with all the disparaging comments I have been hearing and all the biased news stories that I have reading aimed at women, I just had to use this forum to express my thoughts and say “What would your mother have said about your behavior?”

Major Mariam Al Mansouri

Major Mariam Al Mansouri

Let me first examine the statements made by the FOX news anchors in response to a female fighter pilot from the UAE – comments which I cannot bring myself to repeating but which you are probably most familiar with by now. Yes, Maj Mariam Al Mansouri is a woman. Yes, she is the first female fighter pilot in the UAE and she fought hard to achieve her dream.  However, first and foremost, she is leading the Arab emirate’s air force in airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq who are not only a threat to the Middle East and to the world but also a threat to Islamic women’s rights. She is part of the coalition fighting to control this threat and therefore she should be given the same respect as all military personnel.

So I call out co-anchors Greg Gutfield and Eric Bolling of FOX news and ask them “What did your female family members think of your inappropriate and sexist remarks? Were they as disgusted as I was?”

Secondly, what is this obsession about leaking photos of nude women – private photos, photos that no one has the right to steal, photos that try to demean the women in them. Recently hundreds of these photos were illegally obtained by hacking accounts of celebrities, mostly women naturally, and then releasing them publicly.  They are now “out there” in the webosphere and, although most people have condemned the leaks and the people who share the photos, many others are still being hacked, posted, and shared. This is not OK.  This is a violation of a person’s basic right to privacy.

This is theft, this is criminal and you will be found. I ask you, whoever you are, “How will you explain this to your wife, mother, grandmother and especially your daughter? Will you still feel proud of your actions and they way you humiliated these women? Will you still feel powerful when the steel bars of your jail cell are what keep you safe?”

Thérèse CasgrainNext there is Thérèse Casgrain, a Canadian suffragette and icon in the movement to achieve the right for women to vote. She later went on to become the first female leader of a political party in Québec in 1951 and later was appointed to the Canadian Senate. Until a few years ago she had two distinct honours for her achievements: the Therese Casgrain Volunteer Award, which was started by the government in 1982, and her image on the $50 bill. In 2012 her image was removed from the banknote in a redesign.  Then, earlier this year it was finally made public that in 2010 the award was replaced by the Prime Minister’s Volunteer Award, a decision made by the current government.

My question to you Prime Minister Harper is “Why? Why was it so important to erase this woman’s contributions? She was one of the activists that helped your mother get the right to vote so why did you feel the need to obliterate her memory?”

Then we have Emma Watson who is the global goodwill ambassador to UN Women and gave an inspiring and moving speech about gender equality and introduced the #HeForShe campaign at UN Headquarters in New York. A campaign that promotes equal rights for men and women and aims to remove the negative connotations associated with the word feminism.  As Ms Watson says in her speech “It is not the word that is important it is the idea and the ambition behind it”.

This speech and the campaign were received with high accolades by most but, within hours, there were campaigns on social media against the movement. To them I say “Would your grandmother’s, mother’s,  and/or sisters’ lives not have been easier had they been treated equally; had they had equal pay; had they had equal rights?”

Ms Rayheneh Jabbari

Ms Reyhaneh Jabbari

And, just when you think it couldn’t get worse, a 26 year old woman in Iran is due to be executed by hanging because she protected herself from being sexually assaulted. Ms Reyhaneh Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence who she says tried to rape her. She was placed in solitary confinement for two months, where she reportedly did not have access to a lawyer or to her family, and was sentenced to death by hanging by a criminal court in Tehran in 2009.

This man, Sarbandi, took a young girl, just starting out as an interior designer, to a location that he claimed was an office he need renovated and then preceded to allegedly assault her. A scuffle broke out, she stabbed him, and he bled to death.

Ms Jabbari was supposed to be executed last April however the government postponed the execution. The case of this young women has sparked worldwide outrage, with over 190,000 people signing a petition to save the woman’s life. As of October 1st, 2014, she was granted a 10 day reprieve thanks to the online campaign.

I fail to understand why a young woman should die because she defended herself and did not allow a rapist to brutalise her. What would a man have done had someone tried to rape his mother, his sister, or his daughter?  In most cultures, he would have defended them. So I ask “Why a young woman should not be allowed to defend herself from being sexually violated?”

Note: Unfortunately Ms Jabbari was executed on October 25, 2014 and left this heartfelt message for her mother.

I know that these are only a handful of stories and that there are many more out there. However, until such time as gender equality is a way of life and not just a dream; until we all believe that we are equal; and until we all take responsibility for our actions, there will unfortunately continue to be injustice, violence and inequality towards women.

Betty Eitner
Founder, Editor, Blogger
InspiredByMyMom.com

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Literacy and Perseverance Expanded Her World and Her Business

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

Beaming with confidence, 37-year-old Tina Tuonyon proudly sits by her large market stall in Greenville, the capital city of Sinoe, a rural county in southeast Liberia. Just two years ago, she sold tiny bags of charcoal from a roadside stall on the outskirts of the small market in her community.

In 2005, as a single mother Tina used to walk four to five miles to a nearby village to buy two bags of charcoal for resale in her community. Twice a week, she would tote the heavy bags back to Greenville, empty the charcoal into smaller plastic bags and sell each of them for $10.00 Liberia dollars (USD 10 cents). This was her business.

Tina Tuonyon Liberia

Tina Tuonyon is a 37 year old single mother in Liberia. UN Women/Arwen Kidd

“It was on the profit made from those two bags of charcoal that my son and I were fed and that his school fees were paid. On many occasions, I ran out of money and had to start over again,” adds Tina.

Given the unpredictable nature of her income, Tina was determined to do better. She dreamed of becoming a businesswoman, and of going to neighbouring countries to buy goods for sale. She had the will and potential, but she was illiterate and had no management skills.

Tina heard about literacy classes being offered in five communities, including Greenville, by the UN Women-led Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP GEWEE). She joined the classes and continued on to take business management courses facilitated by Educare, one of UN Women’s partners.

“Reading and writing were difficult things for me, so I used to do all my calculations in my head and with my fingers. I wanted to go to school to be able to read and write, and be able to put some of my plans on paper.”

Tina was not alone. Through a comprehensive approach to building women’s entrepreneurship and creating an environment which enables women to empower themselves, this programme has been able to transform the lives of over 20,000 Liberian women like Tina since 2009.

“A multi-sectoral and holistic approach to the economic empowerment of women has created the space for rural women to develop their potential as economic actors and gain greater recognition for their contributions to driving the economy in Liberia,” says Sheelagh Kathy Mangones, UN Women Representative in Liberia.

For Tina, the business class exposed her to management strategies and skills that helped improve her business. She learned budgeting skills, including how to save a small percentage of the profit for emergencies.

“I started to see change… My small savings could allow me to buy additional bags of coal and, over time, I started to hire a pick-up truck to bring 50 to 100 bags of coal to town.”

As the charcoal business expanded, Tina opened a bank account. “I still cannot forget the first day I held my own bank book and made my first deposit,” she recalls. “I kept looking at the book for hours, seeing my picture and my name written in my handwriting. I was feeling different, I can’t explain it.”

Eventually, Tina’s savings grew and she was able to travel to Guinea, a neighbouring country, for new goods to sell. She expanded her inventory, and bought bags of dried pepper and other agricultural produce to trade. Her income grew immensely, as did her savings, and she joined the savings and loan training class of the JP GEWEE programme. Upon completion, she became part of the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) of the Association of Women in Cross-Border Trade, where her savings improved, and could soon take bigger loans.

Tina’s story is similar to that of the more than 4,000 rural Liberian women who joined Savings and Loan Associations between 2010 and 2012. Their average individual savings are of USD 430 and average loans of USD 1,179 by their second year.

“The Village Savings and Loan Associations give the opportunity to rural women to build their financial security and therefore be more empowered to continue moving forward autonomously,” says Deola Famak, of Educare.

Tina further expanded her business after travelling to West African countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Togo to buy goods. Eventually, she became a cross-border trader. Today she lives in Greenville and runs a big shop with clothing and household provisions.

Speaking of all the changes, she says: “I started seeing things differently and thinking of big things; it was like removing a cloth from my eyes. I then said to myself: my business is my world. What used to be a dream for me is now a reality,” she beams.

Cross-posted from and with the permission of UN Women.

The UN Women-led Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP GEWEE) offers a comprehensive programme to promote women’s literacy, business skills, entrepreneurship and savings, is transforming the lives of over 20,000 rural women in Liberia.

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Remembering the Inspiring Women of World War I

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

In remembrance of the 100th anniversary of “The Great War” or “World War I” and the woman behind the soldiers on the front lines, I will be posting several stories over the next few months highlighting some of the incredible woman that contributed to the war effort.

WWI was a pivotal time for women because it gave them an opportunity to prove themselves in a male-dominated society. With so many men going to war, there was a large gap in employment and in providing services that were traditionally provided by men.

Women in WWI were mobilized in unprecedented numbers on all sides of the war and in all corners of the world. These women were drawn into volunteer services, drafted into the civilian work force to replace conscripted men and needed to work in industrial plants – including the greatly expanded munitions factories.

Women working in a munitions factory

Women working in a munitions factory

In the UK, posters with persuasive images were designed to solicit female involvement in the war. As a result, many women left their domestic lives to join munitions work as they were enticed by what they thought were better living conditions, patriotic duty and high pay. However, these posters do not communicate the reality of the dangers that munitions work entailed. There was never any reference made to highly explosive chemicals or illnesses due to harsh work environments in the munitions factories.

There were many ways that women participated in the war effort. Women were deemed ‘soldiers on the home front’, encouraged to use less of nearly everything, and to be frugal in order to save supplies for the war efforts. Not only did women help raise money; they rolled bandages, knitted socks, mitts, sweaters, and scarves for the men serving and sent letters and precious packages to their loved ones.

However, one of women’s largest contributions to the war was in the form of voluntary organizations and they volunteered millions of hours of unpaid labor.

In the UK, The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) referred to a voluntary unit providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals. The VAD system was founded in 1909 with the help of the Red Cross and Order of St. John. By the summer of 1914 there were over 2,500 Voluntary Aid Detachments in Britain. Of the 74,000 VAD members in 1914, two-thirds were women and girls.

One of the biggest organizations in Canada was the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. By WWI the IODE was of the largest Canadians women’s voluntary associations. The IODE’s most important war work was putting all the time, money and effort that it could muster into caring for servicemen and their dependents – before the men left, after they departed, and after they returned from active service.

One of the primary roles for Australian women during WWI was nursing. The Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) comprised more than 3000 nurses during the war, over 2,200 of who served outside Australia. Nurses were present on the Western Front, and in Greece, England, India, Egypt, and Italy. Sister Pearl Corkhill was one of the few Australian Nursing sisters to receive the Military Medal.

WWI nursesAmerican women served in the First World War in a number of ways. The armed forces accepted women into non-combat roles, supporting troops as nurses, cooks and administrative assistants. Organizations, such as YMCA, Red Cross, and the Salvation Army sent women to Europe to help the service men. Professional women such as doctors were few and had a tough time being taken seriously. Doctor Mary Crawford a female physician forged her own pass to service in WWI.

In March 1917, the Secretary of the U.S. Navy realized that the Naval Reserve Act of 1916 used the word “yeoman” instead of “man” or “male”, and allowed for the induction of “all persons who may be capable of performing special useful service for coastal defense.” He began enlisting females as Yeoman (F), and in less than a month the Navy officially swore in the first female sailor in U.S. history, Loretta Perfectus Walsh.

The contributions make by allied women to the war efforts during WWI, on the home front and on the front lines, are immeasurable. However, we cannot forget those women and families that were living through the war on European soil: on the western front in France and Belgium where much of the fighting took place; on the eastern front between the Russian Empire and Romania on one side and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria and Germany on the other; and on the Italian front to the south.

Imagine living in a war zone where every day you wondered whether you and your children would still be alive tomorrow. Imagine not knowing how you were going to put food on the table for your family because there just was none available and the possibility of starvation haunted you daily.  Imagine waiting for news of your loved ones at the front lines or in the next town and finding out that a father, husband, or brother had been killed in battle or died of illness. Imagine being driven from your home because the fighting was getting too close and then coming back to your village to find your house destroyed, your worldly possessions gone.  Imagine the life you knew being torn away from you overnight and having to fight daily for your life and the life of your family.

However, women did find a way and managed to survive and help their families survive. They found the strength to persevere.  They never gave up and used their motherly instincts to protect their families, to scavenge for food and to find safe havens for a night or two. These women are heroes that should never be forgotten and should be an inspiration to all women every day of our lives.

My maternal grandmother, Helena, was living in Russian controlled Poland during the outbreak of WWI and my paternal grandmother, Maria, was living in German controlled Poland in the west. They both lived through WWI and were raising their growing families in Poland when WWII broke out.  Although both were living at opposite ends of the county, one in the east and one in the west, both were deported to Russian labor camps in Siberia during the course of the war and neither ever returned to their motherland. They were both strong and amazing woman who went on to live into their 80s – one in Scotland and one in Canada – and I was one of the lucky women that got to know and to learn from both of her sage grandmothers.

World War I, known as The Great War, was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
What happened?

Betty Eitner, Founder, Editor, Blogger – InspiredByMyMom.com

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Career Day, Then and Now

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

When I was in elementary school I always loved career day. I loved when my mother, a writer, would come in because she was the only writer among the parents. She would bring pens and paper to hand out, and would try to do in 15 minutes what my English teachers couldn’t manage to do the entire school year–teach us how to write a decent story. I knew my mom was more than just a writer, she was a full-time mom to six kids, but she never went into detail about that job on career day.

Meredith Fowler, Mother

Meredith Fowler, Mother

Whenever the other parents asked us what we wanted to be, I always said, “I want to be a mommy.” The parents would laugh and say no really, what do you want to grow up to be? Their reaction always confused me. What job or role could have been better? As a child, I didn’t appreciate what it really meant to be a mother, I just knew that I loved mine and she loved me and that’s what I wanted. I always believed that if she could do something, I could do it too. (Halfway through my first pregnancy I’m beginning to see that she’s actually a saint for having six children and that perhaps I can’t do everything the way she did it.)

Looking back at 22, I see now career day was a good indicator of what the future held for me. I wish I had paid more attention to the opportunities the parents described, but I did not. Instead, I just enjoyed not having to sit through math class.  But now, I also think about how I remember there were always more fathers than mothers who came in. In fact, my mother was one of the only mothers who ever did. I saw my friend’s mothers helping at the school all the time and I always wondered why they hadn’t been invited to career day. The fathers came in wearing expensive-looking suits or military uniforms and brought in toys for us with corporate logos printed on them. They were lawyers and doctors, businessmen, officers, and engineers. They gave the boys in class some image for the future—but where were the models for the girls? Thinking about it now, I realize that the working moms were likely saving vacation days for times they would need to take care of sick kids. My mom was a freelance writer, so she did not have to work to an employer’s requirements.

Then in 2001, just as my youngest sister was leaving elementary school, my mother got pregnant. I didn’t understand what it meant to get pregnant at 39 then, I just knew that I was getting a little brother.

Now that I myself am pregnant, I feel for her. Among all the challenges and adversity she would face (there were five of us in a blended family, all under her roof, ages 8, 10, 10, 11 and 12), she also had to endure another six years of career days, class parties, Halloween parades, and all the other joys of another 18 years of motherhood.

I asked my mother recently what she thought had changed for working moms since I was in 4th grade in 2000. She told me not much as far as career day went. It was still mostly fathers who came in because most of the mothers of young children in our suburban community were able to be stay-at-home moms. And those women probably faced the same issues I do now. They put their careers on hold indefinitely. They look at the cost of day care and see that their entire paycheck would go to that expense. And they see their partners’ careers take off while they put their own dreams on a back burner. Some may even try to re-enter the work force after their children start elementary or middle school, only to be discouraged by the lack of family friendly companies that offer the flexibility they need.

In the not-so-distant future, my daughter will start elementary school. Where will I be? Where will this country be? Will we have elected a woman president? Will maternity leave policies have changed? Will I myself still be struggling to make ends meet because of the soaring costs of living? Will I come in for my daughter’s career days?   Will I stand at the head of the class to talk to the children? Or will my life as a working-class single mother keep me quiet in the back of the room. I have hopes and dreams—but I have worries and fears. 

Contributed by Meredith Fowler – Twitter @mfowler323

 

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Betty Makoni, Activist and Humanitarian – In Her Own Words (Part 2)

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Inspired by My Mom

Muzvare Betty Makoni continues sharing herstory.  As a gender activist who founded the Girl Child Network (GCN), she turned devastating adversity into a strength that is impacting and transforming thousands of lives and the generations that follow.

You may want to read Part 1 here before continuing.

Dealing with Doubt: Self-doubt is something I dealt with single-handedly as a girl. I was confident that I had the brains and capability to achieve academically and I stood by self-belief. Even with the worst insults on my physical appearance especially my faulty teeth which I failed to have fixed as a child due to poverty I kept opening my mouth to speak until people embraced their naturalness. I accepted myself as I am and embraced how unique and natural everything on me was.

Betty Makoni

Betty Makoni in form 3 at St. Dominic’s

But of course issues on fear and negativity are issues I had to deal with. I recall receiving death threats on my phone and at many times being forced to pay life safety fee in Zimbabwe so that I could be allowed to continue with my work and live without being harassed by the Zimbabwe secret service. What made me most fearful was the insecurity and the physical threats on my life and they became more. To be frank after listening to many stories about Zimbabwe Secret Services I just got so terrified and lived like a prisoner in Zimbabwe. The day the Law and Enforcement Order took me to police in 2007 and spent days interrogating me over political issues is the day I feared working in my country of birth. I could not understand why someone like me would think of replacing a life President let alone turning my charity into a political party. To be honest the interrogation over false accusations made me afraid. I had never been so insecure in my life and it was for the first time. I kept asking myself why the biggest Intelligence of a country could be so well misinformed. This is when I realized that someone was an infiltrator in the charity. I did not want to be a dead hero at all. I wanted to live and save girls lives and so I decided to go into self-imposed exile and to another country where I could fear less and allow my vision and passion to be. When I feel place, space, choice and voice is threatened, I find a safer place to do my work. There are many situations that can stop what we do but my intuition knows when, why and how to move from a place of danger to a place of safety. Right now, in the UK, I keep doing my work and I keep helping girls in Africa but I feel very safe. Not a day have my documents been seized or I have been falsely accused and thrown into jail. My freedom is something I value. My life is granted only once and I take full responsibility to be heroic but remain safe.

My Critical Skills: I have used critical thinking as a skill to analyze people, situations, programs and what results I get from my actions. I am a highly emotional person who gets easily moved to do something just by seeing even tears on someone. I am someone who gets easily carried away by a situation but critical analysis skill has helped me to think before taking action.

I am a good communicator, prolific speaker and passionate writer. The new digital world we live in today has helped my advocacy work because I have many mediums of communication to reach the world and share on the plight of the girl child at my disposal unlike before.  I can now speak to thousands of people via internet radio and social media. I can share my written work through books two of which are now available online. I have shifted myself from an invisible activist in one country into a global leader who embraces new technology. I think my greatest skill is the ability to communicate at every level and build informal and formal networks to support my work and that of others.

Using My Mind:   I use appreciative inquiry in whatever I do. This is a skill I developed when I was very young and I have used it in many difficult situations. I always believe that any situation that is a tragedy can be turned into triumph. I believe the impossible can be possible. I believe chaos can be calm. I believe to every problem there is a solution. When I was expelled from school because I could not afford school, I never took this in a negative way like others who then gave up and opted to get married. Rather, I went out to seek a solution by vending on the streets to raise my money for school fees. If I had chosen to go to the brothel for instance, this situation could have been worse by now. So my approach to life is that anything that is negative can be positive only if you take a positive approach and use the best in you to solve the problem.

Things I Would Do Different: There are professional skills I need to develop in me as a human resources manager. I think the biggest mistakes I made in my life is to recruit or approve recruitment of wrong people to work closely with. I underestimated how hard and next to impossible it is to change behavior of an adult.

Performing at My Peak:  I always believe that working informally and without bureaucracy and where I supervise myself and take responsibility of everything I do is the best. I also believe in team building and working with a team that has the same passion and drive. I always choose to be in circles of compassion where everyone is supported and they support each other.

My Dreams and Ambitions: I dream of taking a high position at United Nations one day. I have started working towards strengthening my knowledge as a gender based violence expert with Preventing Sexual Violence started by UK Foreign Office. Of course I will keep my charity as work of passion but I want a position that will give me an opportunity to inform and implement policy and a position that will use my skills and experience to end poverty and violence on women and girls. I have a dream to build the first ever Girls Empowerment and Education Fund to assist girls at risk and those who are in difficult situations. My goal is to save as many lives of girls as I can.

The organisation has so many requests for a global service to rehabilitate rape survivors, build more girls empowerment clubs and train girls to be confident, link girls to resources and the need for girls breaking silence on the abuse they are going through has trebled. At the moment the statistics has given us a global picture that what girls face was not unique to Zimbabwe. Abuse of girls has claimed lives and it is one of those silent global genocides whose magnitude has gone beyond comprehension. Girls as young as 8 years are being married in many parts of Africa and the world. The global crisis on girls is just like that caused by a wide scale Tsunami or earth quake. Whereas an alarm can be done in such situations, you will find with girls it is often silenced about.

You will find out that this era women have been open in sharing their stories and this has greatly inspired girls to do the same. There are many books I have helped launched with inspiring women`s stories. Social media  like Facebook has changed traditional ways of police stations being places where people open up. I receive at least 10 cases of girl child abuse in my inbox only. Whatsup, twitter and many other social media have opened spaces and no wonder we are rolling out training on girl child abuse reported via social media. Yes cases are reported to police as per tradition but many girls know that such cases get stuck and so they are passed on to social media activists like us.

Inspiring Others: I have developed a brand taken from my royal title Muzvare. So far I launched my autobiography and did something I feel will live in history. We had a royal night where everyone came in their best. There was positive energy in the room. After that we made a movie overnight and it now a movie about us all everyone bringing their powerful story. People who came to my event thought it was going to be about me but a surprise from my film shows it is about us. In addition I write poems about all great people I meet and during their events I recite poems of how great they are. It keeps everyone in rhythm of their greatness as opposed to daily negativity they bring. On 5 April 2014 I am launching my third book of poetry bringing out greatness in everyone I met in my life.

My Family: I am married to a gentleman who I love and I keep him in my heart. I have all sons and I wait one day to have daughters in love and not daughters in law.

The Legacy I Want To Leave:  I want the world to remember that I am the girl vendor who survived rape and poverty and was bold enough to start a charity that changed girls lives in simplest of actions. Through my book, Never Again, not to any woman or girl again, I leave over a million inspirational thoughts any woman and girl can inherit on courage, confidence and perseverance. I leave inspiration and the world inspired. All that I want to achieve for other girls and myself is mission accomplished and I pass on the legacy to many other girls. What we can do with passion and not money is so much.  I am happy to have my royal title Muzvare and I leave a great legacy to have passed on the royal title to every girl and woman I meet.

Find out more about Muzvare Betty Makoni here www.muzvarebettymakoni.org

This inspiring story has been reposted from and with the permission of The Legacy Project : www.thelegacyproject.co.za

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