Fostering Ways-of-Giving Within Communities

In May 1987 I lay in a hotel room in Montreal, waking to the excitement of my participation in the formation of a Canadian Women’s Health Network, a forum of 20 women meeting to establish a national coalition to promote women’s health. I would represent the voice of rural women— one voice among 20 talented women, feminists, from across the country. Imbued with the sense of responsibility and opportunity in representing Canadian rural women, I experienced an image arising from my connection to a body that was more than my body; my connection to a mind that was more than my mind. Like an angel embodying the collective potential of women isolated by their geographic context, I was part of (embraced by) an awakening body, a body of political, economic, social, and cultural power that existed in the health, knowledge, willingness, creativity, and generosity of rural women. A focus on efficient use of scarce resources was irrelevant in the emergent force of this massive, abundant potentiality. I experienced an awesome sense of connection that has remained with me ever since. I experienced the embodiment of an awakening prosperity, the potential of including the once marginalized, undervalued, unrecognized, and trivialized, economic value of rural women. I knew my focus needed to remain with the radical and immediate harvest of this ripe potentiality and not be snared by a limiting mind-set that emphasized competition, scarcity, and constraint.