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W.O.M.E.N. Newsletter
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IS THERE A WAR IN ICELAND?
If one takes a look at the news headlines lately, you could be forgiven for the thinking that things were pretty incendiary here. War in the world has caused people to seek refuge in Iceland from countries such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and others.
The plight of au pairs in Iceland also made the headlines and brought to light the miserable and illegal conditions that some au pairs are subjected to here. Fighting the exploitation of these workers is an ongoing battle which can no longer be ignored.
The recent incident of blatant racial profiling by police in Reykjavík, spotlights racism in Iceland and caused outrage. It will take each and every one of us to combat and overcome racism by stamping it out as soon as it raises its ugly head.
This association is dedicated to serving women of foreign origin in Iceland by fighting for their rights and speaking up against discrimination and exploitation.
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What's been happening?
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This year we started our World Food Café with a change: the Peace Food Café – Slavic food! Julia, alternate to the board, organised a group of wonderful women from countries such as Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Russia and Lithuania to come together in solidarity to show support, love and sisterhood toward each other and share their very similar cuisine with the women of W.O.M.E.N. Guests were asked to come with donations for the women and children coming through the refugee and asylum system. W.O.M.E.N. received over 53.000 ISK in donations that was used to buy more supplies needed by the refugees.
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The World Garden continues to bloom this year and we started sowing seeds on Sunday 24th of April.
The tulips that our gardeners put down last winter turned out just fine and will welcome us to the Greenhouse. Lilianne, Hye and the ladies from last year are quite excited to start a colorful garden again and would like to encourage anyone who is interested in gardening, nature and people to join us.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to email us at greenhouse@womeniniceland.is
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Peer Support is an ongoing service for women in need of information or support with regards to negotiating life in Iceland. No issue is too big or too small. The social restrictions of the past two years forced us to rethink how we could offer this service to women seeking help. We decided to do as everyone else and try online meetings. It was a huge success. So much so, that we increased the service from twice a month to every week. Now that restrictions have been lifted, we wondered if the old format of offering the service from our office would resume. It seems that our online service is more popular, so we are sticking to that. For now. If you need information or support, send an email to support@womeniniceland.is to book an appointment.
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New membership drive.
Some of you might have been surprised to receive a bill from W.O.M.E.N. in your online bank. We apologize if you received more than one bill. The Board decided, after a long debate, to start a membership system for W.O.M.E.N. and charge membership fees, like most other associations. This is primarily to generate funds for our voluntary organization so that we can plan, organize and implement events and workshops for our members. As it is in its infancy, we are still having growing pains and learning, so please bear with us. If you do not want to be a paying member, but would still like to donate to our cause, please check our website
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And learn about the privileges of membership!
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SUPPORT IS WHAT WE DO BEST
If you are a member and have your own business or a project that you would like to promote, we will advertise your services or projects in our newsletter. Please feel free to contact Marion or Shelagh at info@womeniniceland.is if you would like to take advantage of this offer.
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Not on Facebook? Follow our events on our website!
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New in May: Kvennaborðið
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Practice Icelandic in a safe space!
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In last year's survey, women of foreign origins expressed their need for more opportunities to practice Icelandic and network. We wanted to do something about it.
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THE PEN
To celebrate the diversity of our organization, we will have a corner in our newsletter for members to write in their own language. It could be a poem, an insight, anything. There will be one language per newsletter in this corner. If you would like to contribute to our language corner, please send Marion or Shelagh an email at info@womeniniceland.is. It should be no more than 100 words and may not contain any racist, sexist or profane message.
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