The Assistant Minister for Women, Children, and Poverty Alleviation, Sashi Kiran applauded the commitment of volunteers of the Women’s Federation for World Peace Fiji who has been dedicating their time to help build peace in Fiji and serve the women in need to give them relief and peace of mind.

At the commemoration of International Women’s Day at their office in Suva yesterday, Kiran shared her own journey of healing and peace-building. She thanked Roko Tui Dreketi Ro Teimumu Kepa for her vision to build bridges and enable a peace process across the ethnic divide.

Asst. Minister Kiran shared that below the surface, stereotypes and ethnic divide is real in Fiji and rears its ugly head each time we are uncomfortable especially during political events. She says it is everyone’s responsibility to take ownership of healing their own wounds before sustainable peace can be achieved. She shared that she had to face her own demons of stereotype and had to open her heart and develop patience to learn about other cultures.

According to Kiran, she meditates, undergoes reflection exercises and retreats often so she can deal with the impressions she may accumulate from her daily interactions, thereby building on her inner strength. In order to spread sustainable peace, we need to have inner peace, be secure within ourselves.

“When we are secure, we are open to trust others, others reciprocate, we build genuine relationships “.

She shared her experiences with working with hardened criminals and said she could bridge the divide because she was willing to trust.

Kiran mentioned that sustainable peace in Fiji can be achieved if we are willing to look at each other as humans, learn from the many lessons of love across divides, take time and patience to learn cultures and show respect to those who are different from us.

“The Women’s Federation for World Peace Fiji, in its their pioneering stages have been conducting seminars and reaching out to women for conversations around peace and development,” Asst. Minister said.

“Month of March marks an important month on our calendar as we the government and non-government partners join forces to commemorate International Women’s Day to take stock on how far we have reached towards gender equality and violence free society. And most importantly reaffirm our commitment towards our fight which we all strongly believe in.”

On this year’s International Women’s Day, the Asst. Minister encouraged everyone to challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out inclusion.

“Collective activism is what drives change. Please use #EmbraceEquity to join the conversation about equity issue and its impact”.