Who's your "Change Maker"?

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Kristen Coughlar

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EMC News - We all know onea woman who has made a difference in her own life, our lives, or the lives of others.

To honour and celebrate these women, We Don't Stop Kingston, a feminist coalition of local organizations dedicated to promoting equality through community events and public education, is launching The Change Makers Project.

"What we would like people to do is identify somebody, a womanwhether that's somebody they know personally or just know of, or they've kind of heard of and want to research a bitwho has made a difference in her own life, or in the lives of others," said Michelle LaMarche, education and communications coordinator with Kingston Interval House.

"Every International Women's Day or week we focused on women's needs and women's challenges...we wanted to focus on the positive side. Women are also creating and they're also making changes and doing amazing things people are not even aware of," Gamila Abdalla said of part of the inspiration for the project.

What constitutes a "Change Maker"?

According to LaMarche, a "Change Maker" can be anyone from Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee to Canadian feminist and member of the "The Famous Five" Nellie McClung to someone's mother, teacher or neighbour.

"Maybe somebody started a female hockey team. (It can be) anything that is significant that changed anybody's life in any way, small or big."

In her own life LaMarche has known many a "Change Maker".

"Arundhati Roy is my No. 1 change maker. I've had her picture on my fridge for years, it's all tattered now...She's an novelistshe's written The God of Small Things and she writes as well for newspapers and magazinesbut she's also very much an activist, and a grass roots activist. She works a lot with other women and the disenfranchised or marginalized people in India, more recently working with indigenous people whose land was being taken away because a dam was being built. She's my change maker because she thinks globally and acts locally."

At home, the list of "Change Makers" LaMarche knows is endless.

"Every single woman that I work withI work quite a bit in collaboration with other women, both individuals as well as women who represent other organizations or groupseach single one of them make a change every single day, not only in their own lives, but in the lives of others," she said.

Once you have chosen a "Change Maker" you would like to recognize, you are to portray that individual in some sort of artistic medium, whether it is photography, painting, sculpture, etc., along with a brief description detailing why you chose the woman you did, and what that woman has done or continues to do to make change in her own life or the lives of others.

"We really want to emphasize that people don't need to be artists, they don't have to be professional artists, nor do they have to even call themselves artists to participate," LaMarche said. The idea is for all people: children, youth, women and men to participate regardless of their artistic talents.

Abdalla is particularly hopeful that a large selection of youth will participate in the project.

"It (International Women's Week) has become an event for women, and usually older women, so we'd like the younger generation to be part of it."

All submissions will be showcased during the She Creates...One of a Kind Show, which will be held March 3 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, which will kick off a full week of events celebrating International Women's Week.

Submissions to The Change Makers Project are to be dropped off the week of Feb. 13-17 at HIV/AIDS Regional Services at 844a Princess St. To make alternate arrangements or for further information e-mail wedontstopkingston@gmail.com




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