Donation for WTB activities
Dear friends,
After six years of hard work, Women and Their Bodies (WTB) is proud to have just released our two ground-breaking women’s health guides in Hebrew and Arabic, Nashim LeGufan and Al Mara wa Kayanaha.
The books have already started to make a splash, and we are certain that this is just the beginning! Nashim LeGufan has received extensive coverage in the Israeli press including several TV interviews, an article in the women’s magazine La’Isha (“For Women”), and a listing in the Ha’aretz book recommendations. An article in English appeared in this week’s edition of the Forward. In addition, we have received countless calls, messages and postings with words of support, thanks, and appreciation.
We were also honored to have been recently chosen by Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS) as their 2011 Women’s Health Hero, and to send two respresentatives to participate in their 40th anniversary celebration.
Unfortuantely, there are also downsides to all the public attention WTB has attracted. In the last month alone, our website has been hacked into twice. We are currently trying to restore the contents and upgrade the site to protect it against future hackers. It is particularly a shame since so many women are now visiting our site for the first time after having being exposed to the book.
Alongside the release of our books, WTB continues its ongoing efforts to lead community education workshops on reproductive health and health rights for women thoughout Israel, exposing them to information and perspectives to which they otherwise do not have access. Recent and current groups with whom we have held workshops include the following;
- Women in the Arab communities of Jaffa, Furedis, Kfar Kara, and Arara;
- Three groups of nurses from Mother and Child clinics in the Jerusalem area;
- Several groups of older women in the northern community of Afula including a group of immigrants from Ethiopia. These workshops were made possible with funding from Hugla, the Israeli branch of Kimberly-Clark, a partnership we hope to expand in the coming year.
We are also working to develop a booklet on navigating the health care system and organizing to create social change in the realm of women’s health. We had planned for these two crucial topics to be included in Nashim LeGufan, but were ultimately forced to leave them out due to space restrictions imposed by our publisher. We have received a grant to cover most of the cost of producing a stand-alone booklet on these topics, thousands of copies of which will be distributed through our workshops, online and through our fellow NGOs.
And so, we call on you to join WTB as a partner as we stand at this important crossroads. We need your help in order to take the next steps following the publication of our landmark women’s health guides – spreading the word about these new resources and developing additional materials that empower women to make informed choices and advocate for their rights.
- A donation of $50 will enable us to provide a copy of the book to an Israeli woman who would be unable to afford it otherwise.
- $500 will fund a workshop session introducing twenty women to our health guides and facilitating their ability to make use of these and other health resources.
- $3,000 will help us restore the hundreds of pages of our website and insitute increased security measures.
- $4,000 will cover the remaining costs of creating a booklet on navigating the health care system and organizing for change.
- $10,000 will enable us to create a web-based guide on reproductive health and sexuality for adolescent girls.
US tax deductible donations can be marked as “donor-advised to Women and Their Bodies” and sent to the New Israel Fund, P.O. Box 91588, Washington, D.C. 20090-1588. Credit card donations can be made through the Israel Gives website.
We thank you in advance for your support and hope you will help spread the word by passing on this request to others interested in taking part in the effort to advance women’s health in Israel.
Sincerely,
Michal Lester-Levy and Nabila Mana Dana Weinberg
Co-Chairs of the WTB Board Executive Director