Today is International Women’s Day. I’m reflecting on the significance of this day having just returned from two weeks in Sri Lanka with the Partners in Trauma Healing project. My work took me to a program site in a remote village in Eastern Sri Lanka. As I sat on the ground, among a group of women in brightly colored saris, their stories conveyed to me the depth of anguish faced by the women of this village. The immeasurable tragedy they endured throughout the 26-year-long war, compounded by the 2004 tsunami, has left significant challenges in its wake. These women, all bearing sole responsibility for their families, still have a large burden to bear. Survivor’s Associated, a local organization providing psychosocial services to torture survivors and their families, is one of CVT’s partners in the PATH project. The primarily female staff is helping local women face their futures. They meet together week after week to provide and receive a rare but valuable service: counseling. As the group rose to say good-bye, the women voiced their affirmation of the visit: they wouldn’t be able to get through the week without the support.		Ann Willhoite is an international clinical advisor with CVT's Partners in Trauma Healing (PATH) project.
As an international clinical advisor for our global mental health projects, I feel fortunate to have the chance to visit CVT projects and partners around the world and work closely with them, their mental health workers, and the torture survivors they serve. In this world we share, women and children make up an estimated 80 percent of the 50 million people affected by violent conflicts, civil wars, disasters, and displacement, according to the World Health Organization. As International Women’s Day comes to us again, I found it especially poignant to be spending time in Sri Lanka surrounded by dedicated women serving women, reminding me why we need to support each other in this work.
With warm regards, Ann Willhoite International Clinical Advisor
Partners in Trauma Healing is made possible through the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development and the American people’s support.

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