News from Our President

For everyone who registered for the Conference meeting, don't forget to attend.  You will receive a link to the meeting at the email address you provided.

News about a UMW member - Noriko Lao

From: Greg Lao 
Sent: Sat, 26 Sep 2020
Subject: Noriko Lao

"Getting my wings" was something that Noriko often spoke of in the past few weeks. Yesterday afternoon she received her wings and is soaring with the Lord.   

She passed peacefully at UW Medical Center with Brenda by her side. Brenda was able to be with her over the past 2 weeks in the final chapter of her journey. Noriko leaves behind a true legacy of selfless service to others. After retiring from the World Bank as a Senior IT Systems Analyst, she dedicated the next 20 years of her life in full service to those less fortunate. From working with the Red Cross as a case worker at major world crises like 9/11 and the Fukushima disaster to serving with UMW and Habitat for Humanity and working at grass-roots levels in her local community to aid the homeless. 

 She lived an independent and active life and greatly enjoyed outdoor activities, in particular, hiking and cross-country skiing with friends. She was ever-practical and efficient - those who knew her will remember her travelling great distances with diminutive suitcases (the same plaid designs that I remember as a child). Though focused and quietly contemplative much of the time, she also had a wonderful sense of humor that she would often surprise us with. 

We will miss her deeply, but can look to her life and legacy as a model of how one person can make a big difference in the lives of so many others. 

Working Women

This month, we are encouraged to explore how climate change affects women and children through the story of Reuel's daughter's work at the well and explore ways to work for climate justice.

When reading this section of the Bible, many people skim over this section with the (mostly) unnamed women doing everyday tasks to get on to the story about Moses's marriage and the birth of his son.  If we investigate it, though we see women doing work (filling the water troughs for their father's livestock) that is still carried out by many today.  In much of the world, it is still the work of women and girls to collect water on a daily basis.  They need to have water for the family animals, for cooking, for cleaning, and for drinking.  This task takes an average of 5 hour a day!

Women and Water

Water is such an important commodity, that the rights to it have been contested in many parts of the world for years!  The names of the wells give some indication of these struggles.  The Oath (Beersheba's well - Genesis 21:25-31), Enmity, Hostility and Rehoboth (Sitnah and Esek Genesis 26:20-22).   

Even though the men are the main characters in the stories where wells and places are being named throughout the Bible, it is women who bore the responsibility of working at these sites.  They were left unnamed and invisible in most of the stories.  This is also the way with the history of the area.

Women are the ones who do the work with the water, the men interrupt them, push them aside, and dismiss them as being of any importance.

Much of the world still has these issues. Women cannot just turn the faucet and have water to cook, clean, drink, or care for their livestock.  Even in some areas where we can just turn the faucet, the water that comes out is unsafe to use.

For more on this topic, check out this month's program in the program book.  It goes into much more detail than what I cover in this newsletter.

Book of the Month

The Water Walker is one of our Social Action Books.  Written for children (1st - 4th grade) it has a wonderful message for people of all ages.

Here is the description from the publisher's website:   

The story of a determined Ojibwe Grandmother (Nokomis) Josephine Mandamin and her great love for Nibi (water). Nokomis walks to raise awareness of our need to protect Nibi for future generations, and for all life on the planet. She, along with other women, men, and youth, have walked around all the Great Lakes from the four salt waters, or oceans, to Lake Superior. The walks are full of challenges, and by her example Josephine challenges us all to take up our responsibility to protect our water, the giver of life, and to protect our planet for all generations.

Date Reminders

CALENDAR 2020 - these are tentative and subject to change as circumstances change.

October  PNW UMW Executive Meeting, Virtual Meeting.

17 -  October PNW UMW Annual Conference Meeting, Virtual Meeting begins at 9:30 am.   If you registered for this event, you should get a link to this event at the email address you provided.

If you have any other information that you want me to put here, please let me know by calling (360) 609-0503 or emailing me at lmilner2016@gmail.com .

Keep working on your "knit together" project, whatever you (or your group) chose to work on.

In the story from Exodus that we read, the headline is about Moses in Midian.  The story of Reuel's daughters is a hidden story.  Look through the news searching for the stories behind the headlines.  

How are women's and children's issues represented? What are the main issues raised in the newspaper? What issues are not lifted up but are critical for the well-being of women and children?

If you would like to share any of your findings with the group, please send me an email (lmilner2016@gmail.com) or telephone me (360-609-0503).