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Gathering
 Read about our 2009 gathering. Help a mountain woman attend our next gathering. What is a gathering? In Praise of Mountain Women holds regular gatherings to bring together women from a wide range of backgrounds to share their stories, to draw strength from their cultural experience, and to celebrate the rising of women's spirit. Why gather? Women in Appalachia, like women throughout the world, have lived in isolation and not been allowed to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. These women have typically been without economic, social, or personal power. Although they nurture faith in their families and communities, they have little voice in the policies or celebrations of their institutional churches and belief systems. Unspoken but well-enforced cultural taboos have also kept women silent in situations of physical and emotional abuse. A woman who attended the first gathering of 160 women said, "In the past, if this many women had gotten together they would have burned us as witches."  What's in a name?There is a reason these gatherings are called "gatherings" and not meetings, conferences, or workshops. All those names sound for too businesslike for these free-spirited and spontaneous celebrations. Listening to the women describe the gathering calls to mind images like "the warm cooperation of a quilting bee," the soul-cleansing comfort of an old fashioned revival, the inspired energy of a political rally, and the sweet joy that comes of being with friends. In Praise of Mountain Women is both an event and a process where women come together to ask themselves new questions. As women gain new strength from their common shared experiences they move outward to make changes in their personal lives, their community, and in their world. In Praise of Mountain Women promotes self determination in low income women through the leadership development process of planning and hosting the gathering, the training of 20 women as faciliators of small groups, and the participatory process of the event itself. In praise of Mountain Women is the rising of woman's spirit in the mountains. Visitors since July 2008:
Last updated 7/09.
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