WOMEN CREATING LASTING PEACE IN COMMEMORATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2005

In commemoration of International Women's Day, WFWP, USA and IIFWP co-hosted an afternoon tea, entitled "Women Creating Lasting Peace", on March 8, 2005, at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC. Keynote speakers included Dr. Katrin Michael, an Iraqi woman leader who met with President Bush last April, and Ms. Carole Brookins, Former US Executive Director to the World Bank, who was appointed
to that position by President Bush.

Alexa Fish Ward, WFWP, USA President, and WFWPI, Vice President, and Karen Judd Smith, IIFWP Vice President, made some remarks. Caroline Betancourt, WFWP, USA Vice President, served as the master of ceremonies. Tomiko Duggan, Director of Foreign Aid and Development for the Washington, DC Region of WFWP, USA, and Susan Fefferman, Member of the Board of Directors of WFWP, USA, officiated over the Bridge of Peace Ceremony.

Fifty guests attended the program, including representatives from the World Bank, the Federally Employed Women, the National Education Association, the Islamic Information Center, the academic community; as well as distinguished members of the diplomatic community, including the lady ambassador of Uganda, a representative of the Iraqi embassy, wives of ambassadors from Qatar, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Chad, Malaysia, and women diplomats from Egypt, the Philippines, Mauritius, Yemen and Jordan. 

The highlight of the afternoon was the Bridge of Peace Ceremony. With ongoing tensions in the Middle East, another stepping stone toward reconciliation and peace was laid through this event.