Adventures of an accidental activist

Like many ten-year-old girls, I dreamed of becoming a ballerina, but like other practical-minded 20-something young women, I took a more conventional path and trained to be a teacher. Certainly I had no idea that teaching and raising kids, an ordinary enough life, would lead to becoming a parent advocate and, though CIVICUS, to taking the message of parent peer support to an international audience.

CIVICUS, founded about the same time as PARENTS FORUM, the early 1990s, seemed to be an ideal point of contact with others, eager as was I, to take a larger role in promoting positive social change. The World Assemblies in Manila, Vancouver and Gabarone confirmed for me both the power of one and the power of many.

At each Assembly I met passionate and committed individuals of varied backgrounds who shared interests and, more important, goals for collaborative and preventive programs to enhance community life.

PARENTS FORUM is happy to invite CIVICUS members and friends to visit our website, read about our partners in Boston, Mass. USA and Kampala, Uganda, and see our handbook Where the Heart Listens, soon to be published for free download under a Creative Commons license.

I send this with gratitude to CIVICUS members around the world and to the hard-working staff, directors and donors who keep the organization going for all of us. I invite you to subscribe to our occasional newsletter, download our handbook and join in our powerful and transformative effort to support healthy family life, a microcosm of the CIVICUS mission to enhance community life!

Eve Sullivan
Founder, PARENTS FORUM
 

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