The 3rd Annual TAWA Friendship and Dialog Dinner was held on September the 18th at the Turquoise Center. With over one hundred guests in attendance, the night started with a brief introduction of TAWA and TAWA activities. This informative talk was followed by the speech from the keynote speaker of the night, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. She talked about her peace building efforts among women across the world in conflict or war zone areas such as Bosnia and Afghanistan.
She mentioned how she initiated Bosnian women neighbors from different ethnic backgrounds to come together to listen, understand each other and heal in time from their war memories.She helped Afghan women write (prepare) their constitutional laws. Also she visited with Bahrain’s women leaders during her visit. Her speech was very personal and touching referring to women all over the world including African American women in the US who have gone through many difficulties.Her speech was very hopeful. She said the democracy is not an overnight process but needs many years to be established in a society so we should not get discouraged when the things are not working well but be hopeful and work for the future. She warned us that every country including the US has to work on their democracy either to keep it or improve it to higher standards.She talked about her experience in the Congress, how she worked across party lines to get work done. She said even if we do not agree with each other, we can still be friends and respect each other.
