“Really?” Would have been my response if you had
told that Sr. High girl who was often mistaken for a boy because of her height
and that really bad hair cut, that one day she was going to be the organizer of
a girl’s conference. I remember I was timid back then. I was a good Christian
kid who never stirred the waters. My friends asked me why I was so nice, and I
just smiled not having a clue of how to tell them about Jesus. God is really into
the transformation business. I say all of this because I never would have
imagined myself in this position. Today I am the founder of a non-profit
organization called Young Women of Power fighting for the causes of young women
with deep seeded conviction. I can feel it, every day this conviction for the
Cause of women gets stronger and stronger. I can’t hide it. For those who’ve
only known me since I’ve been involved with Young Women of Power, I HAVE NOT
ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS! I am so focused, like the eyes of a lion locked onto its
prey. Friends buying me books such as Lioness Arising or sending me the movie
Girl Rising, and watching women of wonder in my city like Connie Jakab inspiring
me to be W.I.L.D. and a Culture rebel for God’s kingdom in big ways. It’s changing
me. The girl in her 20’s who was passionate about everything where is she? What happened? And how did I get here? Is God
shaping me into a feminist? Would he do that? I remember the day when God woke
me up and turned my commendable-church Christianity into a culturally dangerous
one. This is the story of how I got here and founded Young Women of Power.
It
was October 2007; I was a volunteer youth pastor at the time. I was sitting in
my car with one of the core teens from my youth group. She was pouring her
heart out as she shared with me about the events over the past couple of days
after her sister age 20 or 21 at the time had been raped by two co-workers. My
heart sunk. This was a family of 5 girls Jodi, the sister she was talking about
being the oldest. This news was disheartening because Jodi just regained the courage
to ride the transit alone. You see in 2006 Jodi was sexually assaulted almost a
year to the date of this new incident. Tears strolled down my face as I
listened to her sister tell me the story of what happened. I was disturbed and had
heard this story before, it is like perpetrators know exactly who they can take
advantage of. It was uncanny; it was literally a couple days shy of the exact
date that she had been previously raped. This is not an isolated case, I’ve
heard other stories similar to hers; in my experience girls who have a history
of abuse or low self-image and self-esteem are extremely vulnerable to sexual
predators. Girls are taken advantage of just because they didn’t understand
their true value or realize their greatness. It doesn’t have to be. Jodi’s
story was the final straw for me, as Bryan Adam sings tears are not enough. Her story provoked me to act. As I drove home
the vision and concept for a Conference that would raise the confidence of
girls and teach them street smarts was now under way and Young Women of Power
(YWOP) was born.
Since
that day I swallowed the red pill and my eyes have been open to how deep this
rabbit hole actually goes. From Human Trafficking, to how females are portrayed
in media, to recognizing the need for women in positions of influential leadership
and the constant battle for personal confidence. I was invited to attend a
training session hosted by youth justice. As the speaker spewed her statistics
on girls in North America, I held my head down as I could no longer clear the
floodgate of tears fast enough strolling down my face.
In
an article in Time Magazine it stated that every century faced a moral
challenge. In the 19th Century it was Slavery. In the 20th
Century the issue was Totalitarianism.
The moral challenge of the 21st Century is the brutality against
women and girls.
Being Black, I recognize the severity of slavery;
it’s the very reason why I would never want to travel back in time. To see the
brutality of women and girls in the same category with slavery awakened a moral
cause. I own a CD filled with all of Martin Luther King Jr.’s messages. As a
speaker and follower of Jesus Christ, he has been a role model and inspiration
to me. He was a man who was culturally dangerous. Listening to his messages I
was in awe of how he used his speaking skills and inspired by Faith for a moral
cause. I longed for that. It was in that place God answered back whispering my
cause into my spirit. My voice would be used to raise up and empower women and making
right where things have gone very wrong for the sake of societal restoration, personal
healing and justice for God’s glory.
I’ve
often felt the need to clarify to people that I am not a feminist because there
is a negative connotation with that word. It’s the equivalent of an Ismaili
Muslim having to clarify I AM NOT A TERRORIST! There are different approaches
and philosophy’s surrounding feminism, but in its purist form the definition
according to dictionary.com is advocating social,
political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. This includes seeking to establish equal
opportunities for women in education and employment. By this
definition, God has instilled in me the heart of a feminist, however I AM NOT AN
EXTREMIST!
A FEMINIST
Someone who believes the radical notion that woman are people.If you believe that women and men should have equal rights, you are a feminist. There’s nothing "extreme" about it.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=feminist
God’s
brought me to a place where I will no longer stay silent on issues concerning
females. As a result He is expanding my borders and giving me a platform in my
city not just with teens but with women as well. My prayer is that whether you
are a male or a female that God would open your eyes as He did mine to see the
moral challenge we face today. That you too would no longer turn a blind eye on
the enemies assault against women, but that you would rise up and be
intentional on how you are investing in the lives of females all around you. I
pray that your Christianity will not be tame or lame but that it will be
culturally dangerous in our society.
The
vision of Young Women of Power is to reduce the statistics of violence against
women. We do this by providing conferences, workshops and mentorship for
teenage girls. YWOP is not an exclusive Christian Club but it is our gift to
the city, equipping all girls by inspiring female greatness. This is
year 5 for us. We are still young with lots of room for growth. If you would
like to be or perhaps you already are an advocate for teenage girls or young
adults please contact me so we can see how we can collaborate. If you would
like to know more about Young Women of Power visit our website at www.ywop.ca to see how you can be involved. Our
desire is to go across Canada with this and we cannot do that alone. So send me
an email or send your girls and attend our conference in Calgary April 25-26
2014 and prepare to be awakened.
The
Founder of the Young Woman of Power (YWOP) Conference, Alison develops programs
that are designed to build girls confidence such as the YWOP PivotFWD workshop
which she delivers in Calgary’s Youth Judicial System. Alison’s heart for young
women is to see the statistics of violence against women decrease and to see
females become counter culture/culturally dangerous by growing in true
confidence. For more info or to book Alison as a speaker visit www.ywop.ca
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