The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.
"Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities."
Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia.
International Outreach in Strasbourg, Venice and Spain
On May 29, the Roma quilt was presented to Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe at the Council headquarters in Strasbourg (left). The quilt then moved to the Biennale, in Venice, to be exhibited at Call the Witness, a project of the Roma Pavilion that featured testimonies and works of art on Roma. Ms. de Boer- Buquicchio was one of the speakers, and praised the Roma quiltmakers (below). The quilt will be exhibited at the Roma Pavilion until October. The Council of Europe is the foremost international agency working on Roma rights. It has launched a campaign against Roma discrimination, Dosta! which is depicted in the quilt. Robert Palmer, director of the Council’s Directorate for Culture, Cultural and Natural Heritage was one of the opening speakers at the Roma Pavilio
"This quilt is a way of rendering the invisible
Roma women's lives visible" - Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
Roxana Neda (above) used the quilt to express appreciation for the Council of Europe's Dosta! program, which seeks to end discrimination against Roma.
QUILTING TOGETHER
The Roma quilters present their quilt to Deputy Secretary-General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio at the Council of Europe. Left to right: Roxana Neda, Vesna Boti, Dominica Nicola, Ecaterina Neda, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Ramona Stancu, Florea Neda, Mihela Moldovan.
FIRST SHOWING AT AN INTERNATIONAL ROMA MEETING
In late October 2011, the Dosta! Roma quilt was displayed in Granada, Spain at the 3rd International Conference of Roma Women. The Conference was organized by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Instituto de Cultura Gitana of the Ministry of Culture, the Spanish Government and the International Network of Roma Women (IRWN). The quilt was one of four Roma quilts presented by Mimoza Pachuku, the coordinator of PROGRAEK in Kosovo, and Emilie Horackova, from the village of Mimon in the Czech Republic. Above: AP's film, The Fabric of Life, shows the four Roma quilts on display at the conference and contains interviews with Mimoza and Emilie.
For more information, and to participate in a Roma quilting project in 2012, contact eburdick@advocacynet.org.
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