Canadian Federation of University Women - Perth and District

This past weekend I reconnected with a friend of mine from my Bell days and beyond - Karen Hickey. I spent the weekend with Karen in her beautiful new home in Perth. I was there to speak at a Conference on Saturday marking the 40th anniversary of the Perth and District Canadian Federation of University Women. CFUW is a voluntary, non-profit, self-funded bilingual organization of close to 10,000 women. These women do wonderful things - go to http://www.cfuw.org/ to learn more.

I met so many wonderful women and to share a few with you first look at the picture on the left - and starting on the left - Caecilia van Peske, United Nations Women's Representative, Dutch Foreign Affairs Department / Ardith Toogood, Chair-International Relations Committee, International Federation of University Women / Anne Neill, President CFUW Perth and District / CAC / Lana March, Community Leader, Former Mayor for the Town of Perth and Monique Tougas, CFUW Regional Director, Ontario East. In the picture on the right you are looking at Caecilia, me, Karen Hickey and Anne as we shared a glass of wine and dinner on Saturday evening. (Picture taken by Anne's wonderful husband Bruce. Bruce and I have at least a couple of things in common - Bell and health "stuff.")

I could write a book about Caecilia but briefly I can tell you that she is a Dutch national who spent her childhood in Switzerland. Currently she is based in the Netherlands. Through her many years of working within the context of peace keeping, international election observation and capacity building in over thirty (post-) conflict countries, Caecilia has witnessed the suffering wrought by distrust among people and the damage caused by disregard for the natural environment. These experiences form part of her motivation behind her engagement in international development and co-operation. As of fall 2009, Caecilia was appointed United Nations Women's Representative by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this function Caecilia addressed the United Nations General Assemby in New York city earlier this month. Her statement placed focus on Women, Peace and Security in the context of Good Democratic Governance. Cecilia shared her statement with us - you could have heard a pin drop as she spoke. All of this and she is 40 years old only!

I met so many wonderful accomplished women during the day on Saturday and am sure I will stay in touch with many of them. Women helping women is always a good thing.

As many of you know, I do not "do kitchen" meaning I can't and therefore do not cook. So, it many seem strange to hear me talk about a cookbook and suggest you purchase it . . . The CFUW Perth and District have put out a wonderful cookbook just in time for Christmas giving. Watch for information re how you can order it. I will get to that in a few days. (It takes me longer to write about cooking, baking and kitchen in general.)

It's Election Day - get out and vote.

Carol Ann