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In the picture (from left) Natalia Encolpio, Loretta Lorenzini, Hanifa Mezoui (Chief Ngo Section, United Nations, New York)

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The Summer Session of Art in Lizori: something special happened in my life

by Katarina Nestorovic*

From Belgrade to Rome. I was sitting in my house in a little village near Belgrade. It was night, but electricity was gone half an hour ago. I was sitting like bewitched with my legs ceased without moving any part of my body. I was listening to the airplanes fling constantly over my house and, from time to time but frequently, I heard very hard detonations. At the beginning I felt fear, but after sometime I stopped being afraid and felt nothing.Sometimes I asked myself if something would change tomorrow, although I knew it wouldn't. Hopelessness lasted for weeks…. The only wish I hadand the only wish that could come true was to see the light of the dayso that I could go for a sleep, because there was no bombing during theday.

After that terrible night telephone woke me up at noon. My aunt called me from Belgrade to tell me that I had got an E-mail from Natalia Encolpio. She was reading me the letter and I couldn't believe that its meaning was the invitation to Italy on Summer Session course. The idea was that I gave lessons on Byzantine art and culture. Realization of my eternal wish to visit Rome was, half a second before that call an abstraction. I started toprepare lessons in English and I also started reviewing my Italian withmy grandfather because he speaks it like maternal language.

Suddenly anaim appeared in front of me and I wished for something that was morethan sleeping. I worked to reach that aim. Few days before my flight the bombing stopped. The joy and excitement was growing in me more and more. I entered the bus for Sofia's airport,because ours was closed for months. During the trip I was thinking what would happen there and if I was ready enough for the course.On the Rome's airport one young nice girl Patricia came to pick me up.We were talking in the car about the course. She was explaining me everything about Il Cenacolo organization. I couldn't wait for course to start and to meet all those people. I had the feeling that that experience would be unforgettable in the best way and useful in everyway. Before the course started I had met almost every student so I hadn't so big stage fright of the first lesson.

Everybody was sohelpful, kind, patient with my Italian, but in the same time very curious what we would do on the lessons. For me that was also very important because I wondered how they would accept Byzantine art and culture knowing that those days it was not so common topic. We were together for the whole day until the end of the wonderful diners.The relation between us became friendlier than official, which we all liked. After the first week we spent near Rome in Scandriglia we moved toanother place in Umbria, called Lizori. There we started with practicalwork, we started to paint. Everybody had his own material for it andpossibility to chose whatever he wanted to paint, from Byzantine icons to modern paintings.

The place for that kind of work wasn't defined soyou could see people drawing and painting all over that charming place.The result was even better than I expected. I was happy to teach other people the things I knew. Those weeks were very effective and interesting, active but at the same time relaxing. The friendship grew, the ideas were being exchanged, memories collected, while my Italian was getting better.The two weeks, which were no boring even for one minute, passed so quickly. Reality appeared again.On my way home in the airplane I remembered one American, Charles, whom I met there and who was like me in love with Italy. He told me that the first time he was leaving Italy he said to himself: "You'll be backhere! You know you will!" I did the same. Since I came to Belgrade I've already started to talk with Natalia about the next summer. After all I realized that the things we consider miracles or impossible can happen, but only if we believe in them.

* Artist and art Historian, expert in Byzantine Art

In the picture the partecipants to the Summer Session of Art organized by Il Cenacolo: above Katarina with her students

Women, how discover our potentialities

by Irina Sukhorebra*

When I received an invitation to participate in the Il Cenacolo summer session of art, I did not know anything about Iso Ontism and ontoart. So, I decided to learn about mysterious topics from the Internet. I opened the site and started to read. As I absorbed the first two paragraphs of information, I immediately realized that this was something I was always looking for. From my childhood I loved painting and later got very interested in psychology. However, I never imagined that these two concepts could be united in such a natural way.

 

Being currently employed by Winrock International in Ukraine, I work under the Trafficking Prevention Program. My year experience in working with various women’s NGOs has shown me that women possess tremendous potential, but are not always aware of it. Empowerment of women is a very significant task in establishing a stable democratic society. Ukraine is one of the New Independent States that appeared after Soviet Union collapsed. Needless to say, lots of economic and social hardships exist in this part of the world. Women are the most prone to these difficulties, since they are in the first-fired and last-hired category. Finding new economic opportunities for women can improve the situation. Nevertheless, women also need to realize that they are capable of taking advantage of these opportunities to be successful.

 

Il Cenacolo is approaching this issue through discovering human creativity. Through creativity women are able to discover new aspects of their personality, and learn the positive qualities of their inner beings. Things like starting a small business and starting to draw at first seem quite unrelated. However, they have a similarity - it is difficult to start if you never did it before. The majority of people say they cannot draw. This comes from our stereotypes because when one thinks of drawing it is drawing like Michelangelo or some other genius master of art.

 

Rarely does one think of just using a pencil to express his / her emotions. Perhaps Van Gouge also could not draw like Michelangelo, but he could draw according to his feelings and ideas. This does not mean that every human being is capable of being an outstanding master, but this certainly shows that each of us can be creative and unique in expressing his / her creativity. The same way not everyone will be Bill Gates, but it is not the reason for never starting your enterprise. Iso Ontism has designed a very unique methodology for helping people to open and fulfill their potential. Techniques like imagnostics, melolystics, and psychodrama prove to be very efficient in this work.

 

In my opinion, activities held by Il Cenacolo can help lots of people to discover their potential and improve their social or economic conditions. I hope the Il Cenacolo experience will be implementated in Ukraine and other countries as well.

*Kyiv 252001, Ukraine

UPDATE ON BEIJING PLUS FIVE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS

The UN Division for the Advancement of Women (UN/DAW) has

announced that, due to a meeting conflict, the UN Commission on

the Status of Women (CSW)/Second Preparatory Committee for

the GA Special Session on Beijing/Women 2000 (PrepCom 2) will

now be held from February 28 to March 17, 2000, and not March 6

to 24 as previously reported. This means that the NGO

Consultation will now be held on February 27, 2000, and not

March 5, 2000.

NGO Planning for Beijing Plus Five:

An International NGO Committee is being set up to facilitate

communication about the year-long process leading up to

"Women 2000." Participants will include representatives of 1)

CONGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Status with the UN)

and the three NGO Committees on the Status of Women in New

York, Vienna and Geneva; 2) regional NGOs; 3) large NGO

networks; and 4) NGO issue-based caucuses. Ability to

disseminate information broadly will be a crucial function of NGOs

serving on the international committee. Further participation will

include serving on a subcommittee to work on issues such as

funding, the alternative global report, accreditation issues, and

logistics. Participation on the International NGO Committee will be

mainly through electronic media, with a meeting planned at the

time of the CSW/PrepCom 2 in February/March 2000.

The International NGO Committee will assemble a Coordinating

Committee to coordinate the flow of communication, to facilitate

discussion of issues as they arise, to track the UN process, and

encourage the broad participation of NGOs in the Beijing+5

process. As part of an effort to keep all interested NGOs in contact

with preparations for Beijing Plus Five, an Interim Working Group

sent out a letter last month to more than 2,500 accredited NGOs

worldwide. For further information, contact: Sudha Acharya,

or Rebecca Nichols, CONGO Executive Director

Will There Be a UN World Conference on Women in 2005? 2010?

Does the Platform for Action continue on after 2000?

These are important questions facing women as we approach the

Special Session in June 2000. To date, there has been no word

from the UN regarding any future world conferences. If NGOs

believe that a world conference on women is needed to continue

the momentum of the past 20 years towards improving the status

of women worldwide, they should lobby and advocate for this

within their own countries. Additionally, input from NGOs into a

"Women 2000 Declaration" is encouraged. As the mandate for the

Platform for Action runs out in the year 2000, many NGOs believe

that it should be renewed and strongly reaffirmed at the Special

Session in June 2000, and given a mandate that will take it through

the next ten years. If you are interested in having input into this

WomenAction 2000:

At the time of PrepCom 1 (March 1999), a group of NGO

information and communication network women met to discuss the

setting up of a global communications network for Beijing Plus

Five information. Out of these meetings came WomenAction 2000.

A global website has now been established, beginning with a

copy of IWTC's Preview 2000 #2, which outlines many of the plans

and preparations coming out of the March PrepCom, along with contacts

and resources for those interested in Beijing plus Five. You can find

this at

regional and issue-oriented websites, to WomenWatch (the UN

Internet Gateway to information on women's and gender issues)

and to websites such as Mapping the World, the IIAV/Netherlands

site containing information on women's information and resource

centres worldwide. Websites containing regional and national

Beijing Plus Five information have already been set up in

Asia/Pacific, Africa and Latin America, with future sites planned

for Europe and North America. (See GlobalNet #126). For further

Additions/ Corrections to Beijing Plus Five Websites Listed in

Women's Globalnet #126:

A. Global web-sites:

Center for Women's Global Leadership site, with special B + 5

section.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). IISD is

the producer of the well-known Earth Negotiations Bulletin, and

this website contains coverage of the 43rd Session of CSW

(March 1999)

Again IISD, containing the final report from Beijing Plus Five PrepCom

1

(March 1999)

B. Africa:

International Women's Forum website, Morocco

E. North America:

United Nations Platform for Action Committee, Manitoba, Canada.

Focuses on current and upcoming activities, conferences and

events, local, Canadian and worldwide, related to follow-up to the

Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995.

G. United Nations:

UNIFEM's website (UN Development Fund for Women)

Electronic Dialogues Facilitated by the UN:

Beginning in July 1999 and running through November 1999,

electronic dialogues on the critical areas of concern from the

Platform for Action are planned by Womenwatch, (the UN Internet

Gateway to information on women's and gender issues).

Information on these dialogues is available at

<www.un.org/womenwatch/daw> by clicking on the Beijing+5

page.

NGO Letter Re Registration for Women 2000: The UN Division for

the Advancement of Women (UN/DAW) will be sending out a letter

to accredited NGOs detailing the mechanics of NGO registration

for Women 2000. For further information on this, contact: UN/DAW

Information

As part of the NGO Global Communications Network project (WomenAction

2000), an outcome of meetings between national, regional and

international women's media networks during PrepCom I for Beijing Plus

Five in March 1999, we are making efforts to locate web-sites that

carry

information on the Beijing Plus Five review process.

Here is a preliminary listing of web-sites that we are currently aware

of. Please note that it is a beginning list only and some sites are

still under construction. Let us know of other sites that would be of

interest to people looking for Beijing Plus Five information, and we

will add these to this listing.

A. Global web-sites:

WomenAction site for Beijing Plus Five planning (currently under

construction). However, the second issue of IWTC's special bulletin on

B+5 info entitled Preview 2000 is already available at:

More sections will be added as funds and information become available.

Women's Human Rights site still under construction, but some

information

already available.

Center for Women's Global Leadership site, with special B + 5 section.

B. Africa:

Website for WomensNet, South Africa, including regular updates on all

matters related to gender (including Beijing Plus Five) in Africa, also

international news

FEMNET Africa site out of Kenya, in English and French.

Brand new web-site of Isis WICCE (Women's International Cross Cultural

Exchange) based in Kampala, Uganda.

Web-site of ENDA-Synfev, Senegal. The following 4 web-sites are also

part of ENDA-Synfev, which is part of the APC Women's Network Support

Programme.

Famafrique : web site for francophone African women

Electronic information service in French about women in Africa

La toile d'elles: Bimonthly liaison bulletin for francophone African

women

Femmes2000: Information in French about the preparations of Beijing+5

in

Africa and worldwide

C. Asia/Pacific:

Isis International/Manila's site for Asia/Pacific women.

This site is run by the Asian Women's Resource Exchange (AWORC) for

Asia/Pacific Beijing Plus Five planning.

Part of the AWORC site for Asia/Pacific, includes good coverage of the

Beijing Plus Five PrepCom and the beginnings of the Global

Communications project (WomenAction 2000).

D. Latin America:

ALAI web site out of Ecuador. English, French and Spanish

Fempress web-site out of Chile. Contains articles and other materials

about women in LA, many related to Beijing Plus Five plans and

preparations. Spanish.

Brand new web-site of Isis International/Santiago, with plans for a

Beijing Plus Five section later. Spanish.

E. North America:

Association for Women in Development, based in Washington, DC. AWID

also

has a regular e-mail bulletin entitled AWID Exchange. Contact: <awid

@awid.org>

CRIAW (Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement). Has section

for

Beijing Plus Five plans and preparations in Canada.

F. Europe:

International Archives for the Women's Movement in Amsterdam. There

will soon be a new European B + 5 site launched through them that will

feature lots of information on NGO organizing around Beijing plus Five

in Eastern and Western Europe.

The GreenNet/APC (Association for Progressive Communications) women's

site, UK .

G. United Nations:

The site for UN follow-up to Beijing activities and events

Division for the Advancement of Women

Web-site for UN Commission on the Status of Women

H. UN Regional Commissions:

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia/Pacific.

UN Economic Commission for Europe

UN Economic Commission for Africa

UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carribean