International Women's Day

Today, the people of Kyrgyzstan are celebrating International Women's Day in a BIG way. Everybody has the day off and the shops and roads were frenetic with shoppers and cars yesterday as people bought gifts for their wives, mothers and daughters. It is a bit like Mothers Day but everywhere men great you with a "congratulations!"

The children have had a day off school so we headed for a snowy walk in the mountains with two other families. On Wednesday we were in t-shirts and it was 25 degrees centigrade and within a day it was minus 3 and snowing hard.

We have had two mornings of fantastic strategic planning with our team this week, thinking about how Oasis might best enable young people to make a positive and successful transition from institutional life into society and a community of their own. It has been great to have a colleague from Oasis UK here for the week to journey with us through this process.

But the highlight of the week for me (Jane) was hearing from two Kyrgyz women at the International Women's Club on Tuesday morning.

One woman told us her story of being bride-napped 15 years ago and how she escaped. Another told us about being a mother in law and having daughters in law in this culture. Their stories were a stark and very real reminder to me of the situation of many young women here who face the threat of bride-napping every day, as it is such a prevalent practice in Kyrgyzstan. It has also made me appreciate that I have grown up with a lot of freedom and many great opportunities as a woman in my own culture.

So to all you women out there: you are awesome! Speak out, be who you are, have courage...you are beautiful!