It was eight o�clock at night and we were standing in a slightly run down park at the center of Atacames. We were all tired and needed a bottle of water and some food, but Efren (Efren is my younger brother�s best friend who is from Ecuador) kept saying we needed to visit his Aunt. Five minutes later we were standing at the bottom of a flight stairs outside a gate, and a small Nun was approaching with keys. This lady was Efren�s Aunt. Standing on the porch it was astonishing to see her and two other Sisters standing among my brothers. She and the other Sisters were so short that I could look over their neatly covered heads. The expressions on the nun�s faces and the accent with which they spoke Spanish made me smile. After spending four grimy and uncomfortable days in a small fishing village called Monpichu, coming into the nuns� home was an unexpected joy. Things we had done without for the last four days such as flushing toilets, hand washing soap and glasses full of drinkable water instantly relieved a little bit of the stress we all had been feeling as we got off our first bus ride of the night and prepared to take the next 8 hour trip up 3000 meters of mountains to Ibarra.

As we all sat politely in the sitting room of the Sisters and listened to Efren talk to his Aunt, the simplicity and knowing and kindness of the women captivated me. I began asking questions through my sister, Sarah, who speaks Spanish, and impatiently tugged on her to tell me what they were saying. One Sister, who was originally from Columbia, had bright sparkling blue eyes that were so young, even though she was probably 60 years old. She answered my questions frankly with joy and hope. My questions were hard questions too. I am studying the anthropological side of the HIV epidemic, an area of research that has been under-funded and ignored by much of the scientific world until recently, and I wanted to know many things. I asked through my sister �How are the women treated? Do women have good jobs?, How long do girls remain in school?, Have you seen many HIV cases?� There has not been a time in my life when I wanted to be able to speak Spanish more.

I wanted to know what they saw in the hospital they worked in daily. At first I think they might have been startled by my questions but all three Sisters were happy to tell me about the work they did day after day, and they answered without any cynicism and with hope. The Sisters agreed that gender inequality and economic dependency are a reason why many women had more children than they could manage and became infected with HIV. They told me stories of thirteen year old girls being prostituted out by family members. This happens all over the world in very poor communities, even in the United States, but it is always upsetting to hear.

Throughout the trip I experienced small losses of independence at times and I found it annoying and inconvenient. This is common in all traveling, but at points in Ecuador it was more exaggerated than expected � I was frustrated that I was a �girl� at points. It was decided that females should not walk around alone at night, and so every time I or the other female in the group wanted to leave to go and do something one of the male members of our group had to go with us. I wondered if this decision was based upon foolish western fear, but I observed that all the Ecudorian women were accompanied by a male counterpart at night. However there was one exception to this - the Nuns.

At one point during our brief two hour stay in Atacames, I lost my party for a few minutes and waited patiently and a little nervously on a street corner for one of them to come and find me. At the moment when I decided I was really lost, had no idea where the bus station was, and wondered seriously what to do, I saw a Sister walking back home. She saw me instantly and came over and took me by the hand and led me to the restaurant where everyone was waiting for me. It was a small thing to have happened, but upon reflection, a powerful biblical example of Christ�s care, love and protection � a lost sheep found.

As I spent a sleepless night in a bus flying up and down the Andes Mountains around tractors, fuel tankards and the occasional horse, salsa music blaring in my ears, I began thinking about the Sisters and the �inconveniences� of the trip. The trip experiences certainly call attention to gender roles and gender inequality, but they also remind me of the beautiful and hopeful work of the church for all people all around the world - the blessed work we all have to do.

I am 24 years old and have just spent 10 days in Ecuador with my two brothers, my sister, and two friends. We visited Quito, Monpichu, Atacames, Ibarra and Banos during our trip. I am a summer intern in the Women�s Ministries area of the National Church in New York.

Experiencing the 52nd United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was an amazing learning process of non-governmental advocacy, held February 22-March 2 in New York City. The 125 Anglican Women, including myself as a first time Episcopal Church delegate and Province 4 representative, joined other faith-based non governmental organizations (NGOs) to empower women to strengthen world wide communities through equality and justice for all women and men, of all faiths and walks of life.

As a young Lakota woman from South Dakota and proud member of the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, I have to tell you it was difficult to express the words to describe the UNCSW event. The organizations and topics were wide ranging as well as extremely important. There were three different organizations (the UN, the UN Church Center, and The Episcopal Church Women�s Ministries) holding events simultaneously for 10 days straight. The best advice was from previous women, who said choose events that call to you. So I did carefully, often running from place to place, once eating dinner in the hallway before a popular meeting, as you had to get there early to ensure a seat.

The primary theme was �Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women�. Financing for gender equity calls on us to care for the poor and work for economic justice with the equitable distribution of society�s resources through the analysis of gender budgeting. Gender equality has many dimensions:  health and well being, educational attainment, political empowerment, and economic participation. The NGO Anglican Women�s Empowerment states, �By paying attention to all aspects of gender equality, including economic participation, faith communities such as diocese and churches can do God�s work of helping the poor.�

Many issues were addressed including through the emerging theme: �Gender Perspectives on Climate Change�. As well as review themes: �Women�s Equal Participation in Conflict Prevention, Management and Conflict Resolution and in Post-conflict Peacebuilding�, and �Indicators on Violence against Women and Children�. These themes influence agreed conclusions containing priority recommendations for governments, intergovernmental bodies and other institutions, civil society actors and other stakeholders, to be implemented at the international, national, regional, and local level. Additionally, the Commission adopts resolutions on a range of issues during this time.

Anglican Women join the Ecumenical Women which brings women of faith from around the world to tell their stories and address government delegates. The Ecumenical Women advocate for governments to fully implement the Beijing Platform for Action, agreed upon at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, held in China in 1995. The Beijing Platform for Actions addresses Millennium Development Goal #3-Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women. The Ecumenical Women coalition trains religious women on UN procedures and effective advocacy techniques. As well as provide time for fellowship, prayer, and discussion during the Commission. Services were held daily at the United Nations Church Center. Orientations, trainings, and reporting for the delegates (Provincial and US) were held at the Episcopal Church Center every evening.

A highlight of the opening plenary was the launch of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon multi-year campaign to intensify action to end violence against women and girls. �Violence against women and girls makes its hideous imprint on every continent, country and culture,� said the Secretary-General. �It is time to focus on the concrete actions that all of us can and must take to prevent and eliminate this scourge -- Member States, the United Nations family, civil society and individuals -- women and men. It is time to break through the walls of silence, and make legal norms a reality in women�s lives.� Another inspiring speaker was Kevin Powell, MTV�s Real World Star turned activist and author of �The Confessions of a Recovering Misogynist�, discussed the Role and Responsibility of Men to Prevent Violence against Women. I was ecstatic to see the unity across cultures and genders to stop violence again women.

The CSW Bureau plays a crucial role in preparing and ensuring the successful outcome of annual sessions of the Commission. CSW�s Future Program of Work � Annual Priority Themes and Review Themes � is based around the outcome of the ten-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 2005 World Summit and the work of the Commission on the Status of Women since 1996.  2009 Priority Theme and 2011 Review Theme: �Sharing of responsibilities for home and family, including care-giving in the context of HIV/AIDS.� For more information on the current membership of the commission by country and Bureau officers, as well as this year�s agreed conclusions published on March 13, please visit http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/index.html.

A personal highlight was �Envisioning a 5th UN Women�s World Conference� with Gloria Steinem, and Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD. The goal of this conference is about the need for women to participate in peacemaking at every level. A UN sponsored conference would allow women to attend who otherwise would not be able to get visas and support from their countries. Women would share information about what has worked and find role models, mentors, and allies. The book �Urgent Message from Mother:  Gather the Women and Save the World� written by Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, resonated with me. I received an indigenous elder�s meditation a week prior to the event reading: �At an Elders gathering, held in July 1991, we were told the Indian woman would play an instrumental part in leading the healing of Indian nations. The old people said we were to look up to her in a sacred manner. They said the Earth Mother would give the woman special gifts of love. The woman and the Earth Mother are connected in a special way. Women should pay attention to the lessons coming from the earth. Men should treat the women with respect, dignity and honor.� This was a message from the Creator as the meditation was sent on February 16, which would�ve been my deceased great grandmother�s (Emma Brave Hawk) birthday. Old Grandma, as we called her, was the first generation in my family to become involved in the Episcopal Church and was leader in our native community. This connection led to a meeting with Office of Native American Missioner Janine Tinsley-Roe and other Episcopal delegates to plan advocacy events in the next year.

Another network born from the 52nd UNCSW, is Young Anglican Women. A group dedicated to the global network of Young Episcopal and Anglican Women to share information and support one another in our endeavors. We are on Facebook, as well as began a blog site at http://younganglicanwomen.wordpress.com/.

I am incredibly inspired by so many great women making an impact in our world from the grassroots levels, as wells as witnessing our women leaders in action. We also must partner with men to help everyone understand the message. I see true unity can be reality! I�m not saying I�m an expert, just a young Lakota woman with a true passion for advocacy and hoping that others will hear my story get inspired into action.

Overall what I learned is for change to happen, we must begin to step out of our boxes and do it. Yes, you will encounter resistance. Yes, you will encounter politics. Yes, it will be difficult at times. But, we must remember all good things come from struggle. You will find local allies (they�ve been here working all along!). You will find answers if you search. Search for the tools you need to make change! Don�t wait for someone to come to you with an idea, time passes quickly and passion can be forgotten. It can be on any issue that the Creator calls you to do�pray for guidance and open your heart to seeing the signs. But you have to make it reality.

Wakan Tanka Kici Un (May God Bless You).

Sarah Eagle Heart is a member of the Oglala Sioux (Lakota) Tribe from South Dakota and has lived in Pensacola, Florida for five years. Ms. Eagle Heart is a member of St. Anna�s Episcopal Church on the Poarch Creek Indian Reservation in Atmore, Alabama and is Administrator for Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Pensacola, Florida. She is on The Episcopal Church national Standing Commission for Lifelong Christian Education and Formation, a mentor for Pastoral Leadership Search Effort, and is involved with Native American Ministry. She will be making educational presentations to Central Gulf Coast�s Episcopal Church Women and Campus Ministry and the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, as well as for Native American Ministries, Indigenous Women�s Ministries, and local  Christian Education meetings. Ms. Eagle Heart can be contacted at seagleheart@plse-episcopal.org.