March 8 is International Women's Day, a day to honour all women and celebrate the achievements of world wide efforts to promote women's equality, safety and access to justice. March 8, as with every day, we also must remember that in every corner of the world, there are women, (our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, children), living in fear and pain, degradation , and poverty; there are women fighting for freedom from oppression, fighting for safe drinking water and adequate housing, fighting for a voice in their community or their nation. Heroes all. The unofficial anthem for IWD is Bread and Roses, from a poem by James Oppenheimer 1911. Give it a search. Some of the lines have changed a little over the years and one line of one version goes: "...the rising of the women means a better human race".
March 6 to 12 is Social Work Week in BC. Across Canada there are events to recognize the acitivities and contributions of the profession at various times during the month of March. Many of us have been on the positive receiving end of "social work", perhaps without recognizing it. You can find social workers in organizations such as ours, in academia, policing, hospitals, victim services. They write books, create music, work in soup kitchens and schools. They are artists, politicians, therapists, community organizers, environmentalists and so much more. What joins us/them together is a strong code of ethics and a determination to make the world a better place for all.
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