MBCNews - Commencement 2009: Speaker Delivers Message of Hope to Women Worldwide

Commencement 2009: Speaker Delivers Message of Hope to Women Worldwide

By Dawn Medley

2009-05-24
Update 5/28/09: Watch Karen Sherman's Commencement speech
Update 5/24/09: Karen Sherman's Commencement 2009 Remarks

Thank you for that kind introduction, and my thanks to Mary Baldwin College for the honor of speaking to you today. Even though you’re sitting out there, and I’m standing up here, we have something in common: all of us are about to start something brand new. You are about to start your post-graduate life. I’m about to deliver my first commencement address – ever. I’m sure you’re feeling what I’m feeling – a lot of excitement … mixed with just a little bit of fear.

I’m excited because today I have a double privilege. It is a privilege to speak to you – the next generation of leaders, and especially women leaders. And it is a privilege to share with you some of what I have learned since I sat where you are — listening to a commencement speaker as my undergraduate life ticked down. My hope is that my experience may help in the life that awaits you.

After my graduation day, I moved to Washington DC from Portland, Oregon with a degree in political science. I began a short internship and then landed my first job with a non profit organization, Peace Links, which would set me on the path to my lifelong career and passion – international development.

I might have been the luckiest new grad in history: Peace Links gave me the chance to go to the Geneva Summit Talks in 1985 where I met then-President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.

That meeting inspired me to get a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies, to set up a small business in the former Soviet Union and to start on a career focused on developing the skills and resources of women entrepreneurs and leaders.

Twenty-plus years later, I’m still just as inspired and impassioned about my work with women. (And of course I’m passionate about men, too, starting with my husband and three sons – Sam, Eli, and Kai

In 2003 I joined Women for Women International, which works with women survivors of war in conflict and post-conflict zones around the world. We tripled in size over the next five years, and today we have served over 195,000 women survivors of war with our core program of rights awareness, leadership training, vocational skills and income generation assistance. We have distributed more than $79 million in direct aid and micro-credit loans to socially excluded women.

Almost 25 years of work in developing countries and embattled parts of the world have taught me many lessons. Some of the most important have come from people living in the midst of war. Most of these people have been women – women who have never had the luxury to expect anything from life and yet confront each day with strength and determination. Most of us here today have spent our lives assuming that if we work hard we will achieve our goals, that we will lead comfortable lives. Most of the women I work with have been taught to expect … nothing. And because of this, many people assume they have nothing, and especially, that they have nothing to teach us.

Simply not true.

My hope is that I can share with you some of the lessons I have learned from women in war.

Let me start with one of my favorite quotes: “You are what you do. Not what you think. Not what you want. Not what you dream. Not even what you believe. You are what you do.” (Anonymous)

And what do we do?

Early in life, we start out with big dreams about what we want to accomplish, the kind of person we want to be, how we want to change the world.

Over time, many people become more cynical through the normal ups and downs of everyday life — stress, disappointment, heartbreak and loss, even the pressure of expectations. Life has a way of clouding our thinking and calling into question the things that we were once most sure of about ourselves.

Many people gradually let go of their dreams, their ambitions because it’s just too hard, too inconvenient, too risky, too unrealistic, or just simply too much.

The lesson I’ve learned from my work is that it doesn’t have to be this way. You can be the change that you want to see. You can be the shining example of how you can hold onto your sense of hope, of optimism, of passion, your sense of self. That is true even in a sometimes cynical world, during the stresses of everyday life, even in an economic crisis.

I’ve seen it happen with women all over the world, in the midst of the most difficult and horrific circumstances — from Afghanistan, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Sudan and Rwanda. I’ve worked with women who have truly lost everything — husbands, children, livelihoods and had their dignity stripped away by atrocities on a scale most cannot even imagine. Still they smile, they dance and their stories of resiliency, courage and strength inspire me everyday.

Take Azada’s story from Afghanistan. Azada was the third wife of an Afghan car dealer who went back and forth between wives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “I endured the cruelty of my husband because I didn’t have other choices,” says Azada. Exiled in Pakistan, Azada eventually got permission from her father to divorce her husband and returned to Kabul to support her two growing children. There she enrolled in rights awareness classes and, with the help of Women for Women International, learned a trade. Her most prized possession is her certificate of employment. “I never thought that one day I would have the opportunity to support myself without a man,” she says. “Now I can do it. I am doing it!”

In the Congo, where every month 45,000 people die as a result of violence, a Women for Women participant describes her life this way: “I wake up each day and say a prayer for safety, then sweep the house, wash the dishes, and fetch water at the river … 1.5 kilometers from where we live. I use the water to cook for my children a meal if possible but sometimes they go without food. I now have a small business selling soaps, sweets, charcoal and flour near my home.” In a place where it is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier, this woman and others like her, are struggling not just to be recognized as equal to men but for justice, peace and development for all. If she can do this, you can too.

Part of what limits how we see the world is the day-to-day reality of our lives. It is like the Talmudic saying, “We see things as we are. We don’t see things as they are.”

If you were anything like I was in college, I’m pretty sure at one time or other you found it hard to study or pay attention in class, because you were distracted by your rumbling stomach or parched mouth. Imagine if you were always hungry … if you couldn’t remember a time when you didn’t feel this way, and if you couldn’t be sure you would ever stop feeling this way. It’s no surprise that, without basic amenities, democracy, political representation and civic participation are luxurious afterthoughts.

In a recent speech, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated: “You cannot expect a country to develop if half its population are underfed, undereducated, under cared for, oppressed, and left on the sidelines. That’s not in the interests of Afghanistan or any country, and it certainly is not part of our foreign policy or our strategic review.”

The half of the population that Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton is referring to is women. Her message is that women’s empowerment is strategically important.

And, you know, experience in every corner of the world has proved that, when you invest in women, they are much more likely to invest in the health, education and nutrition of their families. At Women for Women we say, “Stronger Women build Stronger Nations.”

At the end of every 12-month Women for Women program, the participants gather together, much like you are today, for a graduation ceremony. You will shortly hold a diploma from Mary Baldwin; our participants hold a certificate from us. The certificate does not guarantee they will have food to feed their children or that violence and conflict will not continue to terrorize their lives. It does mean the woman who holds it knows her rights — her right to earn an income, to be educated and to have a life free from violence. She will also have learned a new skill, perhaps in carpentry, tile-making or organic farming. And, most importantly, she has the confidence and support of other women to help her put this new knowledge and skill to use.

I have attended dozens of Women for Women graduation ceremonies. The women always radiate; they radiate with the potential they have realized within themselves.

As one graduating woman in Kosovo proudly said, “I have no fears to speak now.”

These gatherings are celebrations of the possibility of change; celebrations of the potential that comes from living one’s truth every day.

Today is one of those celebrations, too. I began by saying I was honored to be asked to speak today. That was not just a polite cliché. I am truly honored because Mary Baldwin is committed to helping women and girls at risk around the globe. I am honored because as I look out at your faces today, I can see how Mary Baldwin has transformed itself into one of the most diverse colleges anywhere. Finally, I am honored because of your deep commitment to social responsibility and global citizenship. It’s a commitment you’ve renewed by establishing the Spencer Center for Civic and Global Engagement.

It all kind of makes me wish I’d gone here, too.

So let me close my first ever commencement speech by saying that, after your years here, each one of you has what it takes to be an agent of change — whether it’s working in the developing world, in the executive suite, or as parents, as friends, colleagues and employers. As Christine, the woman who runs Women for Women’s program in the Democratic Republic of Congo often says: “One woman can change many things, many women can change everything.”

Of course, change carries risks — risk of failure; risk of breaking someone’s heart or perhaps your own; risk of not finding the right job, the right pay, the right position. Sometimes you just have to jump without knowing right where you will land.

You will have to make many choices — about your career, about your family, about whether you want to combine work and family and all the tradeoffs involved.

Embrace your choice, and celebrate your ability to have and make choices. Remember making life choices is a luxury that is not shared by too many women around the world.

And don’t choose out of guilt or regret or a sense of obligation. Choose because it is the right decision for you, because it is your right and because that right is really a gift.

And know that whether you choose to invest your time, energy and passion in your family, your career, your community or in the community of nations or some combination thereof, you are a beautiful example of the change you seek.

Thank you.

Original article 5/12/09:

Karen Sherman helps “stronger women build stronger nations” as executive director for global programs at Women for Women International. The phrase, used frequently by the social entrepreneurism organization that Sherman has been a part of since 2003, is not a hollow promise.
As the keynote speaker at Mary Baldwin College’s 167th Commencement May 24, Sherman will share how Women for Women International has given hope to women in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Congo, and many other countries. Founded in 1993, Women for Women provides job and leadership training, small business development assistance, emotional support, and rights education to encourage women to support their families and contribute to their communities and to society.
“We are committed to working with the most socially excluded women in those populations because they are not being served by other organizations,” Sherman said in a presentation for the World Affairs Council. “We are motivated to move them from victim to survivor to active citizen in their communities.”

After earning an undergraduate degree in political science at University of Oregon — near her hometown — Sherman packed up and drove cross-country to Washington DC for an internship she had set up while still in school. That work led her to a position with Peace Links, an organization founded at the height of the Cold War by the wives of US congressmen, and to her first international job experience. Sherman worked as development coordinator and development director of the organization’s International Peace Walk, spending significant time in the former Soviet Union. Her passion for that work convinced her to earn a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies at George Washington University, which she did while launching and managing a small homestay tourism business in the former Soviet Union, identifying entrepreneurial opportunities and finding partnerships in that region.

“One of the pieces I hope will come across in my address is how to capitalize on opportunities in your life,” Sherman said. “Right out of college, I had the chance to meet Mikhail Gorbachev [then general secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union]; it was unbelievable.”

Prior to joining Women for Women International, Sherman worked for 10 years at Counterpart International, a global development organization that operates in more than 60 countries. She began as a program officer and held several positions leading to executive vice president.
Sherman has an integral role at Women for Women International, coordinating program leaders in each of the eight countries where the organization operates. Her responsibilities build on more than 20 years experience in international development, including management of technical and financial aid programs for women, entrepreneurs, and non-governmental organizations worldwide. Field visits are her passion, and she recently returned from a trip to the Congo, where she met with women involved in Women for Women projects that include “everything from commercial farming to handcrafts to day care centers. We do our best to tie their desire for meaningful work to the local markets and economy.”
Sherman has spoken to large crowds before, but this will be her first Commencement address, and she plans to make the most of it. “I am thinking now about the stories I will share about women from around the world who have turned their lives around. I really want to leave them with a message of women as change agents, women as doers,” she said.

Visit www.mbc.edu/commencement for more information about Commencement activities May 22–24.