March is Women’s History Month, and March 8th was International Women’s Day. We want to celebrate the strength, beauty, and courage of all the asylum-seeking women in our Jonathan House community!
IAFR staff and the asylum-seeking women of Jonathan House marked International Women’s Day by drawing pictures that celebrated who we are as women or that represented a time when we felt strong as a woman. Our friends had some important things to say, so we want to share them with you! Click through the slideshow to view them all. (Slideshow includes both Jonathan House resident and staff contributions.)
In my country, you’re supposed to have rights, but you don’t. I’ve come through so much: from darkness to light, to a colorful world. I’m proud of myself and my parenting skills. I’m grateful for my daughter and my good health. I’m a warrior woman – strong & brave. 
I lived in Alaska as a young woman. It was my first time living alone. The cabin didn’t have plumbing; I hauled water from a natural spring. It was cold and dark for many months. I learned to be strong. I learned the beauty of being alone in Nature with God. 
As a woman, God gave me respect from the beginning. Everything that can be for men can also be for women. We are not less; we can even be more! I believe in and trust myself. I drew a mother because mothers are queens. Where do the kings of the earth come from, if not from their mother’s womb? I am a queen of kings and queens; that’s how I know myself. 
My wife is a strong woman. I drew a picture of her when she was pregnant. She gave birth to all six of our children at home, the natural way. She gardens and she built a brick oven where she cooks delicious bread, pizza, and other things. Even when she was very pregnant, she worked hard gardening and providing for our family. I love and respect her. 
In the Bible it talks about how all of Creation groans in labor… In this time of my pregnancy, I have seen how the laboring I do as a mother is similar to the labor I do in growing a garden (another activity I enjoy!) or the laboring I do in my work at Jonathan House. And all these things connect to the work of God’s Spirit in the world. I also included all the other pregnant mothers in the world, who I feel kinship with and hold in prayer. 
This is my garden. In my country, I could farm as well as any man. I planted all the seeds, and I could harvest the plants equal to a man. When a cow got sick, I didn’t need to take them to the vet, because I knew what to do. I could give the medicine myself. My nickname was ‘like a man.’ 
I want to share about my friend. I am proud of this friend who came to set me free when I was in bondage. My friend accepts me just as I am, just as I present myself, so I can be proud of myself. He stands with women and girls, and so I am proud to stand with him. 
As a woman there are a lot of voices saying what you should be like. I’m learning to ignore the voices telling me who I should be and just be my true self, who God created me to be. One of the times when I’m happiest and feel most like myself is when I am with animals.
Standing with Asylum-Seeking Women
We believe, as our sister at Jonathan House shared, that “As a woman, God gave me respect from the beginning.” God affirms the worth and value of women everywhere as divine Image-bearers. And as another sister shared, “My friend [Jesus] stands with women and girls, and so I am proud to stand with him.”
We want to work for the security, opportunity, and flourishing of asylum-seeking women, because God sees, hears, and cares for women, and women’s rights are human rights!
Who is an influential or strong woman in your life? What do you celebrate about your womanhood?