Treatment of women in Yarls Wood Immigration Centre

We have recewived this report from Mojirola Daniels about her recent treatment in Yarl's Wood Immigration Centre. The report is in her own words:

Mojirola Daniels - Speaks Out
Full summary of the treatment that I received at Yarl's wood center.
I am one of the ladies on hunger strike at Yarl's wood center. On Monday 8th February 2010 around 11 45am GMT time, some group of women stood at the center of a hall in the center. We were protesting about the condition at the center and the length of time we spend in here. An officer approached the group and informed us that an immigration official would like to see us all to discuss the issues that we have raised.
The officer told us to follow him down the corridor to the immigration office. We proceed down to the end of the corridor. When we got to the very end, the officer asked that we should go inside the office 4 ladies at a time. They allowed 4 women to enter and told us that they will let 4 more in when those 4 inside gets out. One of the manager of the center ( a lady manager called Viv Moore) came from the long corridor and asked us if we wanted to go back to our rooms. We told her that we were waiting to see the immigration. She said we are just wasting our time and that nothing is going to be achieved from our protest. She then asked the officers in the room to come with her and as soon as they got to the door, the last officer looked the door on us. They all stayed outside watching us through the door window.
We were singing and chanting for about one and a half hour since we have been looked up, some ladies went to the door and asked to go to the toilet. The officers including the manager Viv Moore told us that we are not allowed to leave where we are. Some of the ladies started getting sick and collapsing on the floor. There was one asthma lady, one sickle cell lady and two others who were choking on the floor. We were all hyper-ventilating and sweating. There was no door or windows open and we were all complaining of lack of air. Around 2.00pm, Some Chinese girls asked the officers to go to the toilet and they were told no one is allowed to get out. The Chinese bend down at the corner and pee on the floor. Few minutes later others copied them and wee on the ground. the officers were all watching and still refused to open the door. Some people decided to call the emergency service for the ladies having breathing difficulty. The police and ambulance were asked for and they called us back to tell us they are outside of the center but are not allowed entry.
About an hour after the police called us back, some ladies realised that the window was only closed not locked. They opened the window and got out into the compound. Other ladies went through the window and joined them. More were trying to get out through the window but the officers had seen what was happening and had gone round the compound to meet them. They were carrying police guard shield and wearing heavy jacket. They crushed the ladies who were trying to get out with the guard shied and pushed them to the ground. Some women were crushed to the ground and beaten up. Two ladies were physically injured and were bleeding. The windows were protected with the guard shield and the officers holding on to the guard shield. We were all hysterical and upset and were begging the officers not to hurt the women outside. The officers laughed at us as more officers joined them and formed a line to force the women outside in one small corner.
Some women needed to change their sanitary towel cause they were on their period but they had to throw bloodied towel next to where we were standing. We were all exhausted and demoralized by 5..00pm and we had no choice but to sit on the soiled floor. There was no chair or anything to lean on. There was an helicopter hovering above outside by this time but the women outside were not allowed to move from where they are being crushed. Some officers came outside to offer the officers chips and hot drinks. They were replaced by new officers every hour. No officer stayed guard for more than one hour. Every next hour, new sets of officers comes to replace them from their position. The women locked up and the 19 women outside were not offered any food or drink.There was no heat in the small place where we were locked and we all suffered from hypothermia. The ladies outside had to stand in the cold snow without sock and jacket and the officers will not allow them to have jacket. We tried to get them jackets and jumpers through the windows and the officers smashed the window on one of the ladies fingers.Her middle finger was damaged and her fingernail came off. There was blood everywhere and the officers still refused her medical treatment. We were not moved from where we have been detained until 7.30pm.
We were told to come out in pairs and were searched with around a dozen officers watching us. We were offered food and medication after the search and then led to our wings. We were about 70 which consist many Nigerians, Chinese, Jamaicans, Zimbabweans and some nationals that I do not remember. I have been traumatised and victimised because of this experience. I can never believe this can happen in the UK and I am still in shock.
Please publish and pass this story to who ever is interested.

Mojirola provides the following information about herself should you wish to contact her directly:

Mojirola Daniels
Nigerian
Aged 45
Came to UK- December 1987.
3 British children
mojidan@hotmail.de

International women blogs - for daily bread and greater campaigning solidarity

So here this is another post to encourage people to read and leave comments on other blogs.
Today three more blogs - this time with an international flavour.
This week the WCC is holding its UN advocacy week in New York alot of my colleagues from Geneva will be there. However to get a fuller picture of some of the international work involving campaigning by NGOs and others at the UN I've been reading the Ecumenical Women at the United Nations blog for quite a while. There are some fascinating posts there - you can find posts from Cambodia, Kenya and Middle East among other places: comparing the role of women disciples of Jesus and female followers of Martin Luther King; about female condoms, child brides, shopping and fashion justice, the rich poor divide and much more besides. A few months ago the blog adverstised for new writers and as a result posting is much more regular and more diverse than in the past. It's a useful window onto international campaigns but with personal insights from the authors.
One of the new writers there is Paola Salwan, Programme Assistant for Africa, the Middle East and Europe at the World YWCA and co-founder of the blog Café Thawra, The blog is in French and English and offers insights into Middle East issues - a special dossier on the Lebanese communist party, where the left is in Middle East politics, as well as promotion of social entrepreneurship.
The Women's desk at the Lutheran World Federation is preparing for next year's LWF assembly with a blog on Give us Today our Daily Bread. As the women in ministries network prepares to meet on the theme of food for the soul perhaps someone would like to write something for their blog. As the issue of food security moves up the world agenda how do women, who grow, harvest and prepare much of the food eaten in the world, think about food justice and spirituality. I'll admit that as a woman who has spent most of her life eating far too much the "stuffed and starved" agenda is one I find particularly challenging. What does the promise of the heavenly banquet mean to those of us who live in permanent food plenty? Lots of issues around food will develop on the blog as preparations for the assembly in July next year advance, so why not drop by from time to time and join the discussions?

And finally here's a challenge (is there anybody reading these posts?) try to use the comments section here to link to a favourite website, blog or book.
Written by Jane

Blogs about life and ministry, about studies and vocations

After a rather long silence here I thought it might be good to highlight other blogs that might be of interest to women in ministries. This is also a way of encouraging you to try and get a bit more involved in the blog - what are the blogs and sites you enjoy, do you have a book you've recently read? Then why not tell others about it using this blog.
I realise that not everyone is an internet and communications addict like me but it's important to try and use this space a bit more - especially in the run up to the meeting in Windermere in January.
Anyway here's an intro to a couple of blogs I enjoy - this blog has a permanent link to all of them.

Sunday's Coming is a blog where Ruth Whitehead "thinks about preaching". She posts most of her sermons and when she has time she also shows her workings and reflections as she works towards Sunday each week. I've just been reading through her struggle with coughs and colds, multiple carol services, funerals and all the rest through Advent last year. What I like about this blog is that it's not flashy or gimmicky - very pared down and Reformed in many ways - here's a woman simply getting on with ministry in an ecumenical setting. It really allows for insights into the weekly struggle with the biblical text and the church context. It's down to earth, the sermons are good and it's a great example of using the blog to add a bit of extra value and after-life to the work of writing sermons many of us are involved in. Also if you are having a bit of a sermon crisis Ruth often posts her sermons early so you can go there for late Saturday night inspiration too!

Rachel Marszalek blogs at Re vis.e Re form. Rachel is training for the Anglican ministry at St John's in Nottingham. Since starting her training she blogs nearly daily about the lectures and courses she attends and her own thoughts, prayer life and spirituality. Before that she wrote about her vocation and work with children and young people as a volunteer in her local parish - amongst many other things. She writes a great deal about the Bible which has got her into the top 50 biblioblogs. I blog quite regularly but Rachel really blogs an enormous amount - even with essay crises and all the rest, it's very impressive. I like reading Rachel because the way she speaks about her faith, her experience of God are so very different from mine. She is a charismatic but not a conservative evangelical. She's also committed to the role of women in the Anglican church and follows the synod discussions about women bishops with refreshing thoughtfulness and commitment. Reading her I am often reminded about how intent the Church of England is to try to hold the diversity of the church together and how hard it is for people within it to sometimes find the way to their convictions as a result. Rachel's blog is a useful reality check for me, showing me how much the churches have changed in the 20 years since I left the UK. I love her fresh approach and enthusiasm - a great antidote to my cynicism. Hope you will also enjoy reading it.

And finally for now a plug for Kate Grey's Breadbreaker blog which I imagine will be a bit quiet now that she is on maternity leave. The blog mainly highlights a few of the events and some of the work in St Mark's Wythenshawe. I particularly enjoy the photos and the links to the messy church events. Lots of great ideas so why not visit and and perhaps get inspired to start your own blog - even if you only post once a month it can be a great resource for community and church work.
posted by Jane.

Jan Berry Book launch 30 November at Luther King House

So here's an invitation to the book launch for Jan Berry's new book Ritual Making Women.
The launch takes place at Luther King House, Manchester on November 30 at 18.30.
I'm sad not to be able to be there but hope some of you can make it.

Women and leadership

Yesterday I put as a status update on my facebook page "Had some interesting conversations about the leadership of women at work today. A long way to go..."
It generated more conversations on the same subject today ... not entirely surprising given recent events.

From 27-29 October the Evangelical Church in Germany will meet in Ulm to elect a new chairperson of the EKD Council, Bishop Wolfgang Huber is retiring. Some people seem to expect that Bishop Margot Kässmann will be elected as his successor. Personally I very much hope this is the case but I wonder whether it will really happen. A life time in politics has told me electorates are not always to be trusted.

For me being a woman in ministry it is important not only to encourage women to discover and fulfil their leadership potential at all levels, we also need to be able to point to women who can serve as role models for us. I think knowing that there is a diversity of leadership at the upper levels of churches and organisations, helps us to work for that same diversity of shared leadership at the grassroots and intermediate levels.

There are some interesting posts here and here on the CPAS women in leadership blog.

Working for change on the area of women and leadership is a long hard slog. I give thanks for the pioneering work of women in our own traditions and am very proud to share that 1917 date of the first ordination of a woman to the word and sacrament. However, the Daughters of Dissent project showed us just how painful and sometimes long the wait for recognition of women's ministry at all levels of the church has been. What I realise now is that, just like democracy, so also with the recognition of the gifts of all God's people, this needs to be worked at at all levels and at all times. Ah yes, and sometimes we get tired.

Ecumenical Women's blog looking for women bloggers to contribute to their campaigning blog

Don't know if anyone is tempted to give this a go but it's worth sharing with your wider networks and it should be an encouragement to you all to start a blog or re-start your blogs:

Ecumenical Women (EW) is an international coalition of church denominations and organizations which have status with the Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations. We train and empower faith-based advocates for gender equality at the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held every February-March.

Ecumenical Women at the United Nations is seeking a Blogging Specialist to update and maintain its blog and website, http://www.ecumenicalwomen.org/. Qualified applicants will be familiar with blogging and other social network tools, or demonstrate serious willingness to learn. Applicants should be committed to women’s rights and gender equality, be comfortable writing about Christianity and other faiths. Experience with advocacy, ecumenical organizing and the United Nations is preferred but not required.

The EW Blogging Specialist will be responsible for posting 4-6 blog posts per month, which s/he may either write or recruit others to write and edit. Posts should be within the interests and advocacy goals of EW’s member organizations. The Blogging Specialist must be a clear and creative writer, an independent worker, and capable of working remotely.

Essays on Mariam, the Magdalen and the Mother

Hat tip to Deirdre Good who has edited this book of essays, and whose blog "on not being a sausage" is one of my favourites.
Find out more about the book here.

Good's edited book is both a challenge and a delight. The challenge is watching ten competent scholars working carefully with a multitude of languages and religious traditions to bring a fresh assessment of the woman named Mary Magdalen. The complexity of the endeavor is captured in the book's stated intention, Rather than revisiting her singularity, Mariam, the Magdalen and the
Mother argues that the Miriamic roots of her composite identity and prophetic vision are prominent in all religious traditions of the first five centuries of the common era. The delight of the book is discovering the relationship of the names Miriam, Mary, and Maria, and the relationship of the women bearing these names. The scope of the book widens with essays dealing with Mary in Gnostic gospels, Islam, and Manichaeism. This work has copious footnotes, an impressive array of works cited, and a useful index. It would be a difficult task for the general reader, but advancing students, scholars, and professionals will find it
revealing and rewarding.

WOZA - women of Zimbabwe Arise

I am continually amazed by the women and men of Zimbabwe, their tenacity in daring to stand up for their dignity as human beings. So I'm reposting here something just recieved from WOZA - Women of Zimbabwe Arise and from Kubatana. They are not church NGOs just people risking their lives for the good of their country. Many are still in prison.

You can find out more news from Zimbabwe on the WSCF's campaigning Zimbabwe blog.

You can also read this powerful post about what happened to one activist for truth and justice.

If Zimbabwe is ever in a state to truly rebuild then the women and men there will need our support.

ZIMBABWE’S CONSTITUTION MAKING PROCESS – A WOZA PERSPECTIVE

Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has consulted with members over the last few weeks on
the constitutional reform process initiated by Article 6 of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA)1 and recognise the opportunity to play a role in making this
process result in a truly democratic Zimbabwe. WOZA has already been involved in
joint civic society discussions on these developments and will continue to take
part in a coordinated response. We are prepared to participate fully in the
process but do so under protest as we feel there are serious shortcomings in the
procedures articulated in the GPA.
- Ordinary Zimbabweans were not consulted
and did not input into the 15 September 2008 Global Political Agreement. It may
therefore prove inadequate as a tool of creating a truly people-driven
constitution.
- Constitutional Amendment 19 went further in providing
wide-ranging direction and oversight role to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, which
makes the constitutional process subject to political party control.
-
Whilst we acknowledge that the people voted for Members of Parliament and
Senators and recognise that they can be expected to represent the views of the
people in their constituency, constitution making should be an inclusive
process. It is a given that the whole nation needs to take ownership of their
right to determine how they are governed. At the very least, elected
representatives need to conduct public meetings to hear the views of the people
in their constituencies in open and direct discussion rather than making
unilateral decisions on our behalf.
- Most importantly however, we feel that
there is no real operating climate for full enjoyment by citizens of all their
freedoms of expression and assembly. There continues to be flagrant disregard
for the rule of law, politically motivated and indiscriminate arrests and
detentions and a climate of fear remains. Citizens need a tangible sign that
they will be able to meet and debate without harassment before a truly
meaningful process can be embarked upon.

A new woman bishop elected in Germany

In Wittenberg yesterday the synod of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany elected Ilse Junkermann from Stuttgart as Bishop of the new church, which has come into being from a union between two German Landeskirchen - the Thuringia Lutheran Church and the Church of the Church Province of Saxony. The bishops of the two churches both stood down to allow the new church to have a clearly new leadership.
I'm really glad that they have elected a woman. The Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz Church is also due to elect its new bishop this year. There's a woman on the list there too though she's not a front runner it would seem. The first generation of women bishops in Germany are beginning to retire - Bärbel von Wartenburg-Potter last year and Maria Jepsen in the next couple of years. Junkermann's election means she will be one of three female bishops in Germany, Margot Kässmann and Maria Jepsen being the other two.

Women bishops, women's ministry

As I've been reading about (and commenting on) the Church of England and the ongoing debate about women bishops, I've been thinking about the United Reformed Church's contribtuion to women's leadership of the church in our country. As I thought about it I realised that even with Roberta in place as general secretary and with a couple of generations of women moderators, women's leadership is still quite fragile even within our own denomination.
Being a leader in the church today is not easy for anyone, woman or man. Perhaps it is much clearer to those of us in ministry today in western Europe that we are on the edges of society.
I am shocked by the misogynistic invective used in some of the debate. Rachel who is starting out training for ministry in the Anglican Church is also trying to make sense of all that on her blog which I enjoy reading.
So how can we support the women in leadership in our churches, both in the UK and elsewhere? Are we in solidarity or just too busy getting on with our own work?

Here's an extract from Judith Maltby's piece in the Guardian

A friend of mine is the dedicated parish priest of a busy and demanding urban parish in east London. The parish is proud of the fact that a number of its post-war vicars have gone on to serve as bishops.
She told me recently of a meeting of the management committee for the play group associated with the church (just the sort of ministry to the wider community that the Church of England excels at) made up mainly of young professional women. One of the lay women present remarked that my friend would surely become a bishop as well. Besides her natural modesty, she informed them that it isn't possible yet for women to be bishops in the Church of England. My friend's remark was met with complete incredulity by these young women as one of them responded, quite reasonably when you stop to think about it, "Is that legal?!"
It is legal, of course. It is perfectly legal for woman priests to be rendered ineligible for certain posts in the church simply because they are women.

Jane

A woman preaches the first sermon President Obama listens to

Don't know whether you have seen that a woman, Rev Dr Sharon Watkins, preached at the first service Obama attended as president. Watkins is general minister of the Disciples in the USA. You can read the text of the sermon here and listen to it here. She's the first woman to preach at an official inaugural event.

Thinking about women preaching reminded me of Susan Durber's book Preaching like a Woman. I enjoyed it a great deal and wondered whether some of you had read it as well.
What's it like for us to preach like a woman? A huge privilege and yet also sometimes a burden perhaps.
So who would you like to preach a sermon for? Anyone in particular you'd like to listen to you and what might your text be?
If there is anyone out there reading the blog maybe we can begin a discussion in the comments about how we go about preparing for preaching and worship. Go on dare to leave a comment and tell a friend about the blog as well!

Beginning to blog with the United Reformed Church's women in ministry group

This is a blog where people attending the women in ministry session at the United Reformed Church's Windermere Centre can introduce themselves and try out blogging. Please bear in mind that they have me, Jane Stranz as their teacher and I am hardly a techie, so we'll see how we get on!
The rest of you are more than welcome to leave us ideas and links in the comments section. We'd really like to hear from other women bloggers involved in Christian ministry.
Anyway this is just an introductory post to set something up for us before we all arrive in sunny-snowy Windermere tomorrow.