Women Peace Makers in Seattle

I have been working with Pangea Giving for six months now. I was attracted to the organization because of the mission and model – the commitments to listening to local leaders and communities; to sticking with partners for multiple years; and to educating our members on the issues in the countries where we work and the complexities of international grant giving.

For the last six months, I have been motivated by my own belief in these ideas. Yet, those commitments are abstract and in talking about Pangea to prospective members, friends, and others, I felt like I wasn’t able to make it real. The challenge was that I hadn’t met any of our partners – until this past week.

Last week, we at Pangea Giving were graced with the presence of Heang Kry, Executive Director of Women Peace Makers from Cambodia. Heang gave two formal presentations, one for Global Washington’s “Voices from the Field” series and another for Pangea members and friends at the Douglass-Truth Library where she discussed how WPM addresses gender and ethnic violence throughout Cambodia. Through these two events and a number of informal meetings with Heang and Seattle community groups, I saw the impact of our work for the first time.

During the presentations, Heang talked about WPM’s three core values:

Women are fundamental to positive change
Peace is now an starts from us
Mindfulness is key

She also talked about how they approach their work first with research and analysis before implementing interventions. She described how WPM addresses violence against women and inter-ethnic conflict in Cambodia through dialogue workshops, social media campaigns, theatre productions, even comic strips.

I was impressed with the particulars of WPM’s program, and I was also struck by an overall impression of how WPM and Heang approach their work. Heang speaks of WPM and her work with a calm confidence and authority. This confidence was apparent as she answered questions on the history of the organization, her personal story, and even how she handles the personal and family stresses that come with work that directly addresses gender and ethnic violence.

Heang is an expert in her field and an expert in the context in which she works. This gets to the very heart of what I believe Pangea Giving is all about – some of the most important and impactful work of social change can’t be captured by statistics, PowerPoint slides, or even organizational change models. It’s fundamentally about people and relationships. In Heang and WPM, I am confident that we have found a leader and an organization that understands that.

This post was written by Nick Dreher, Pangea Giving’s Communications and Operations Coordinator.

We encourage you to learn more about Women Peace Makers.

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For those not able to attend any events with Heang, enjoy this video from Heang’s “Voices from the Field” talk at Global Washington.