Canadian Women for Afghanistan Women will hold a two-day symposium at Banff Park Lodge, Oct. 2-3.
The event will focus on the importance of human rights, the impact of education and strategies to demonstrate active global citizenship.
“This is the first time in Banff, but not the first time for the event, we have an annual symposium in a different city every year,” said Christine Wilde, community engagement and fund development manager for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.
“We are an organization that’s made up of all volunteers except for our staff in Afghanistan. In Canada, we’re all volunteers, including our executive director, and we have 800 volunteers across the country and this is the one time throughout the year that we have an opportunity to come together, so it’s a big deal for us.”
The organization will have international workers coming to Banff to take part, including its country director from Afghanistan; and the symposium will be open to students and the public.
“We expect over 100 students and that’s new; we’ve had students come in the past, but this is the first time we’ve created a whole itinerary for a group of students over the Friday and Saturday so we’re pretty excited,” Wilde said. “We’re really about helping the next generation become global citizens and finding their place in the world and helping others who are less fortunate than we are as Canadians.”
A joint set of sessions will take place with the group’s partners from the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation.
“Part of the goal is for students to see how we run an organization, what our challenges are and what our successes have been, so they’ll be a part of the general program as well,” Wilde said.
“Long ago, we opened the symposium up to the public because there is such a huge interest. Calgary is our home base, so we’re kind of local now and with the symposium it’s important for us as an organization to grow by raising awareness in communities where we have volunteers and it’s a big part of our program.”
One of the keynote speakers will be Dr. Lauryn Oates, program director of the organization, who is a frequent traveller to Afghanistan.
“She’s probably there three to four times a year and is one of the founders; listening to her alone and her stories and her experiences is quite amazing,” Wilde said. “She’s quite young herself, so she really identifies with this age group. I think it will be amazing for students to hear from her alone, but this year we also have our country director in Afghanistan, so her experiences are tremendously moving and she’ll be talking about what life is like for staff in Kabul.
“We also have Ariana Delawari and she’s going to be talking about her life as a documentary filmmaker and her experience is going to be amazing. Students will see what it’s like in another country that has all of the challenges that Afghanistan has.”
Visit www.cw4wafghan.wix.com/banff-2015 for ticket information.
