Women unite at annual Omaha International Womens Day event | Mosaic

4/24/16, 8:35 PM

Women unite at annual Omaha International

Womens Day event
Posted on April 8, 2016 at 3:01 pm

The award winners for resilience and service to the community receive their awards at the
International Womens Day event. Christine Ross is pictured third from the right in her traditional
gomesi outfit, a colorful floor-length dress. / Photo by Elizabeth Moran
By Elizabeth Moran
Christine Ross passion for womens rights and support for other women began during her stay in a refugee
camp in Kenya.
Ross, a South Sudanese refugee, spent her time in the refugee camp talking with many women and forging
relationships in three different camps. United Nations officials noticed her efforts and asked her to help the
8,000 women in the camp connect and talk. One of the first things she did was explain a new cooking
method that conserved firewood so the women didnt have to venture into the forests, where they were
vulnerable to capture by Somali rebels.
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Women unite at annual Omaha International Womens Day event | Mosaic

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When Ross came to the United States in 1995 with a cousin and her daughter in tow, she continued her
passion for helping others by working to strengthen the community of refugee women in Minneapolis. She
did the same once she moved to Omaha, where she helped create an International Womens Day event.
Ross and a group of women make the event happen each year as a way to celebrate women and their
accomplishments. Ross said she believes women need a space where they can be empowered.
A lot of women were asking me about it, she said. International Womens Day is a huge thing. They dont
see it here. They thought, Are the American women not proud of being a woman? I told them, We can start
something.
So several years ago, Ross and Linda Duckworth, president of the League of Women Voters of Greater
Omaha, came up with the idea of creating a local event.
Attendance doubles
Now in its third year, the event doubled its attendance this year when about 150 women showed up on March
5 at the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center on the University of Nebraska Omaha campus.
Representing all ages and many backgrounds, the women laughed, ate, mingled and perused the more than 20
booths representing local and national organizations that surrounded the outer edges of the room.
At one point, Acholi dancers, dressed in bright red and blue outfits, swarmed the room, blowing whistles as
music played. They performed the traditional African dance and then let attendees join in the fun, creating a
large circle of women dancing together.

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Traditional Acholi dancers invite event attendees to join in the dance after their performance. /
Photo by Elizabeth Moran
For refugee women in particular, International Womens Day makes them feel more at home and
comfortable, Duckworth said.
Its welcoming, she said. Americans absolutely ignore it, though. Were unusual in that way. In other
countries, people get the whole day off to celebrate International Womens Day.
Others agreed about the importance of International Womens Day to the refugee women.
This is a big day for women worldwide, said Michaela Brown, program director of resettlement and
integration for the Refugee Empowerment Center. We should recognize and celebrate triumphs over the
years, especially with international populations in Omaha. We should be thanking them for their contributions
in Omaha, and we should promote their opportunities for advancement.
Strong refugee women
Refugee women face many obstacles and adversity.
Just because women dont have a degree of dont have good English, that doesnt mean theyre not smart or
resilient, said Christa Yoakum, a coordinator for Nebraska is Home and the Immigrants and Communities
Program at Nebraska Appleseed in Lincoln.
Refugee women arrive in the U.S. and have to learn how to exist in another culture, but more importantly,
they have to remain strong for their families and keep them together.
As a woman refugee herself, Ross wholeheartedly agreed.
Among the refugee population, men get stressed out and give up, she said. Women do a lot of stuff in their
families. Women stay strong. They think, What about the children? They hang on.
For Ross, International Womens Day isnt the only way she helps her community. She works as Omahas
community health educator in the Office of Health Disparities and Health Equity, part of the Nebraska
Department of Health and Human Services. In 2012, she created the Refugee Women Organization of
Nebraska, which brings women together in various ways.
First year with budget
Ross said the International Womens Day planning committee members were encouraged by the growth of
this years International Womens Day event, which was held on Saturday, March 5, three days before the
worldwide observation of the day to take advantage of the weekend. This is the first year the group had a
budget to work with for the celebration. About $800 was donated by area organizations, including Lutheran
Family Services, the University of Nebraska Omaha and the Refugee Empowerment Center.
And to help boost attendance and help with transportation issues, buses were used this year to shuttle people
from Augustana Church and Omaha Public Schools Yates Building to UNO.
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Each year has meant increased attendance and improvements for the event and team, which is always looking
to the future.
How can we go back and empower these women? Ross asked. How will we keep the fire burning a little
bit? I feel like the empowerment cannot stop.
The International Womens Day planning committee hopes to see the event grow even more.
I want it to keep growing and get a majority of Nebraska women to get involved, Ross said. I want an
empowered young generation of women. We need women in leadership positions. We need power and the
will to come in this setting. Single families are succeeding because of the women.
This is important.

Community
Nebraska Mosaic Scholarship offered for high school seniors

Graduating seniors from Lincoln high schools are encouraged to apply for the Nebraska Mosaic Scholarship,
offered by the Nebraska Mosaic project of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Nebraska Mosaic Scholarship, with generous funding from the Lincoln
Community Foundation and the Knight Community Information Challenge, will provide a []
April 14, 2016 at 4:41 pm

Contributors
Strong women paint my family history

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