Join us for a Twilight Meditation honoring International Women's Day, with a focus on the unique challenges that displaced refugee women face throughout the world. Women who are refugees and immigrants will share their personal stories and testimonies. The evening will close with a community conversation about the importance of individual and collective efforts to advocate for and support just and equitable policies in support of refugees and immigrants.

Musical performance by Mohammad Sheikh Horo, Saz player Meditation and prayers led by Rev. Hannah Atkins from Trinity Episcopal Reflections by Asinja Badeel and Chloe Krane on the challenges and opportunities faced by displaced women Information on resources for assisting and advocating for refugees from Wafa Abdin, Vice President of Immigration and Refugee Services at the Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance at Catholic Charities

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. IWD has been observed since in the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. For more information, visit www.internationalwomensday.com

About the Presenters Wafa Abdin is Vice President for Immigration and Refugee Services at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. She oversees the Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance, the largest non-profit provider of immigration legal services for low-income and indigent non-citizens as well as the Refugee Resettlement Program. The Refugee Resettlement program assists refugees escaping persecution become self-sufficient through cultural orientation, job development, family reunification and resettlement. Ms. Abdin has more than sixteen years’ experience in representing vulnerable immigrants and refugees including detained adults and children, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking and other crimes. Ms. Abdin is an advocate and a frequent lecturer on Immigration law topics and refugee issues. In recognition of her outstanding work and dedication, Ms. Abdin was awarded the Chrys Dougherty Legal Services Award in 2010 by the Texas State Bar. She is a former President of the Arab American Cultural Center and currently serves on the Sheriff Gonzalez Transition Team’s Policy Committee.

The Rev. Hannah E. Atkins became Trinity's fifteenth rector in September of 2007. To prepare herself as a third generation Episcopal priest, the Reverend Atkins earned a bachelor of arts degree in history at Douglass College, Rutgers University and a masters degree in divinity at the General Theological Seminary in New York in May 1996, with additional studies in theology at Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas in El Salvador. The Reverend Atkins previously served as Senior Assistant Rector at St. John's Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. Before joining St. John's Church, she served as Director of Theological and Christian Education in the Diocese of the Episcopal/Anglican Church of El Salvador, Associate Priest at St. John the Evangelist San Salvador, Priest-in-Charge at Holy Trinity Church Santa Teresa in San Martin, and as Interim Priest-in-Charge at St. Andrew's Church in Amatepec, Soyapango.

Asinja Bedeel was born and raised in the small Northern Iraqi village of Behzani. Badeel had been living with her husband and two children in Baghdad when they received word in 2003 that her husband was in danger because he was working for an American company. Since Badeel and her family arrived in Houston in 2008, she has accomplished not only academic accolades at Houston Community College and University of Houston, but has also been pro-active on issues facing the refugee population and refugee women in particular. Badeel currently works as a medical-case worker in Refugee Services at Interfaith Ministries and she is engaged with YAZADA – A Global Yizidi Organization. You can read more about her story by visiting www.imgh.org/our-blog/our-blog/refugee-spotlight-asinja-badeel

Chloe Krane worked as a reporter in the Middle East for many years and moved to Houston from England for her husband’s job. Jim Krane, Ph.D., is the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute. Chloe is passionate about refugees and is the lead volunteer for the Interfaith Ministries Women’s Initiative Project, a group of Arabic-speaking refugee women that meet on a weekly basis for networking and support. Chloe is an active and well-informed voice in the community - advocating for refugees and engaging the local community in supporting refugees in Houston. She has two young children, and prior to being a mom she was a TV Producer for about 10 years. Based mainly in the Middle East, she worked on hard news, documentaries, investigative programs and commercials.