Women Who Hope: Rosemarie
Commissioner Rosemarie (r
etired) served as a Salvation Army delegate at the NGO Forum on Women in Beijing, lobbying for women’s rights, in 1995. The international delegations’ visit to Beijing was not without its challenges, but it was a critical time of learning, sharing and paving the way for a better future with women and global women’s rights campaigners.
During my time in Beijing, I spent many hours with women from all over the world. Women’s groups, including Salvation Army Home Leagues from all over the world, worked together on a patchwork banner that represented communities from home. In the end, it was about one mile long.
Just sitting with the women and listening to them, loving them, feeling their hurts and fears was such a privilege. I was deeply moved by their stories and felt their sense of hopelessness, so I prayed that they would receive new hope. I also spoke with people who were just beginning to understand the injustices women faced at the time. We did a lot of talking, encouraging and we tried to give them hope, too. Hope needs to have something to hold on to and, as Christians, we have to give people that.
Later, in retirement, my husband Frank and I would experience this when we volunteered as ‘listening ears’ in The Light – our church’s community café. People would come because they were lonely and just wanted someone to talk to. Very often, after chatting for a time, I would say, ‘Can I pray with you?’ and they would respond, ‘Yes please.’ It became a very important ministry for us and I realised how necessary this was. It met a real need. It is not only the big acts and grand gestures that count, and there is much we can do simply by spending time with someone and sensitively listening to them.
My prayer for the next generation of women and girls is that God will put a care for women on their heart. Through a vibrant relationship with God, he will grant them his vision and reveal how hopelessness can turn into a life worth living by faith in a loving, merciful God.