Transcript: "Meet Me On The Bridge" Audio Slideshow

So, International Women’s Day was March 8, 2010. It was the 100th time that the world has celebrated International Women’s Day, and it was founded by women who wanted to celebrate the accomplishments of women but also demand an end to inequity and oppression of women.

Women for Women International, one of the partners of the Raise Hope for Congo campaign, launched a Join Me On the Bridge campaign, where they encouraged supporters around the world to gather on a bridge in their community and stand in solidarity with women around the world and send the message that women can build the bridge of peace. So, there were dozens and dozens of events being held all over the world in many states across the United States but also in countries around the world. Incredibly, there was an event on a bridge between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Rwandan women and Congolese women joined together on the bridge to send an incredibly powerful message that women can build the bridge of peace between their two countries and to demand an end to the conflict that has wracked Eastern Congo for over a decade.

We decided to host a bridge event here in Washington, DC. We asked supporters to come out and join us and march with us across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. We had about 100 enthusiastic supporters turn out. Everyone was carrying signs, signs that called for an end to violence against women, signs that celebrated women, signs that said, you know, “Women Build the Bridge of Peace.” It was just a great display of solidarity with women around the world. And then we ended at the Watergate Steps with the Lincoln Memorial in the backdrop, and we heard from some really incredibly inspiring speakers. We heard from Sylvie Maunga Mbanga, who was a human rights attorney in Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she said that, women just want peace, they don’t want hand outs, they don’t want aid, they don’t want money. They can take care of themselves. They are strong women, and they know how to take care of themselves, they know how to take care of their families, they know how to take care of their communities. But what they need our help on is peace.

Overall it was just an incredibly inspiring day. It was so amazing to look out and see all of the people who had come out, who had taken time out of their day to come march with us and to stand in solidarity not just with women in Congo but women in Afghanistan and women in Burma and women in Iraq and women really all over the world who face many of these same issues. And so it was more important than ever that people gathered to not just celebrate International Women’s Day but also to demand an end to these same issues that women have been facing for so long, demand an end to oppression and an end to inequity and an end to violence against women.