In November 1995 the European Parliament again agreed a budget for 1996 for "Measures to assist the elderly". This is the budget line that has founded our Network in previous years.
Up until May 1996 grants were being made from this budget. Nearly all of the 1996 budget has been spent. The UK Government challenged the legal basis on which this money had been voted and also asked for an injunction to stop the spending of any more of the 1996 budget. We understand that there will be deliberations throughout 1997 but the judgement is not expected before the end of 1997. This has serious consequences for our network - and many others - as we were due to apply for funds from November 1996 - December 1997. As from 1st December there have been minimal resources to fund our work. Maria Teresa as co-ordinator, the board members and supporters have been making approaches to other funding sources within the European Commission and Foundations. In the meantime we will try and find ways to keep some communication and exchange going. Perhaps for some of us this could be an opportunity to strengthen our national contacts. I will also be trying to keep up contacts with European Ageing and Women's Organisations and with International Organisations so that we can find a way to participate in the planning for 1999. Sadly I am no longer given any work time to do this so I have to do it in my spare time. Fortunately I can use E-mail at work so this is a great help. It is up to us not to let the political games being played by some member states to make us lose our vision, I am sure we will come up with new and innovative ways of carrying our work forward. May I wish you a peaceful and fulfilled New Year!

Munster is a provincial town in the north of Germany with a definite flavour of the Nordic atmosphere (cycle track and many bicycles in use even in the well-to-do districts where our hotel stood on the outskirts of the town.)
We were 16 accommodated in this modern hotel: the eight board members, three supporters, three interpreters and Liz, our facilitator.
The first session was to affirm the role of the board members and the supporters and study in turn the problem of each member in trying to achieve the ideal situation.
Some of the members expressed difficulty in making contact with groups nationally, some found the short supply of funding a problem and the support they should expect was not always forthcoming
As the member for UK, I certainly did not complain about the lack of support, but even with the great help given by Elisabeth, we found it difficult to establish a national network.
Each board member was asked to make a report on their work in their own country and it was stated that we all have to combat the same prejudices against older women ,
The conclusion of this exercise was that we must keep on the work we started and although we suffer from teething problem, being a young organisation, we must make sure we all pull in the same direction.
A word of advice regarding going to conferences: We must do our homework on the subject covered and if possible participate, and of course report to our group.

The key themes for our work are:

- Promoting equal opportunities
- Health issues
- Exploring new technology

1. The situation of migrant older women
   
2. Building links with Eastern Europe
   
3. The environment.
   

The draft constitution will be revised again.
The venue or date of the next board meeting has not been decided The date of this meeting had been changed at very short notice before and neither Elisabeth nor myself could stay for the last day

The whole stay was made very comfortable by the organisation of Hiltrud and her friends, who also organised a short visit of the town centre, in particular, a day centre for old people where an exhibition of pictures from the Beijing conference was an education for us all.

In order to promote the aims of OWN Europe to a wide audience we have developed a set of eight postcards and wallet from the photographs of the banner that OWN Europe contributed to the Women Weaving the World Together project. This Project enabled millions of women across the world to share their hopes and aspirations at the Fourth world Conference on Women, Beijing, China 1995.
OWN Europe contributed 55 metres to the overall 2.5 km eventually sewn together, paraded at the NGO Forum and hung on the great wall of China. The contributions came from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
The collection of postcards:
- registers the presence at, and the contribution of older women to, the Fourth World Conference of Women
- promotes the aims of OWN, Europe and the contributions older women make to their families, communities and society.
- will reach a wide audience of all ages in an easily accessible manner

In addition to the wallet of eight postcards a set of four additional postcards has been printed from the work of Francesca Angelici. This is a mixed media collage which vividly depicts aspects of older women's lives and compliments the wallet.

The postcards are available through Board Members in each country and/or through the Co-ordination Offices in Corciano.

The reason for holding this Conference, attended by delegates from 150 governments and 3000 NG0s plus numerous journalists, was premised on the prediction that by the end of this century half the world's population will be living in cities. Perhaps 1 billion of these will be inadequately housed and in poverty. This was the challenge that Habitat 11 hoped to address.
Mary Lynch Community involvement Head, Elisabeth Sclater Principal Officer for Pensioners and Yours truly representing the Older Women's Network, Lewisham and Lewisham Tenants arrived in Istanbul on June the first. Our expenses were paid by the Older Women's Network, Europe and our main purpose was to run a workshop on Housing for Older Women and to take copies of our recently published report of the Conference held in Lewisham on International Women's day March 8th.
Several hours were spent being photographed for registration, getting coach permits and finding our hotel which was out of the city centre near the famous St Sophia Museum and the Blue Mosque. We discovered that our workshop was at 9 am on Monday which left no time to advertise or arrange an interpreter (although we did get one ). By the time we had travelled to the NGO Building, an immense structure, and found our classroom we were quite prepared to face the fact that nobody would turn up. However, we had a good mix of nationalities, about 40 to 50, and everyone spoke English. We talked about the difficulties facing older women living in different types of tenure due to poor pensions, low income, homes in disrepair, and what happens when you can no longer live alone. We included the ways in which we organised ourselves through the Pensioners, Older Women and Tenants movements. Several women then spoke about problems in their own countries. We were interviewed by a Turkish TV crew but failed to get any details as to who they were, apart from the fact they were making a programme about older people. Judging by the comments, questions and enthusiasm of those who attended the work shop was a success. The most important aspect of an international conference is the networking so there was much swapping of addresses.
The building where the Governmental delegations were meeting was at the top of a very steep cliff. How the disabled or elderly managed the climb twice a day 1 don't know. The whole Conference was overshadowed by heavy security. Our NGO building was full of uniformed and not so secret police, who paraded the Korridors and generally made everyone very uneasy. We were constantly searched, even underneath the coaches we travelled in, and in the first four days 1 was told that 100 Turkish delegates had been detained. The political situation is very unstable and a cafe proprietor told me that they had spent millions on doing cosmetic work on the road which would be as bad as ever in three months. They had shot all the stray dogs and cats and rounded up all the street children. No one knew what happened to them. The Conference probably made several instant millionaires in a city where near starvation, pollution and unemployment levels are only too obvious.

By the end of the Conference there had been five main references to the right to housing, but getting the final wording of the document was a long and painstaking process, mainly due to the US standing out for a week against housing as a basic human right. The UN High Commissioner for Human rights,

Jose Ayala Lasso commented about the final agreement. "The establishment to the right to housing as a distinct and separate right cannot be reversed".
We managed a short visit to the Grand Bazaar and the St Sophia Museum and were invited to a surprise lunch at a restaurant on the bank of the Bosphorus by a group of Moslem Women who ran an organisation called Autumn and worked with youth, in prisons, visiting the sick and elderly.

The person who made the deepest impression on me was a young woman who spoke at the workshop about the plight of the elderly women in refugee camps. She had managed to get to Nairobi but two of her four children still had no school place. She formed an organisation and left her family to continue work in the camps. She described 20-30 people living in tents, which were now in tatters, and the old lady sitting outside in the rain who said: "At least I have a little peace here from the noise of the children, and inside the tent is almost as wet as outside". I was determined to organise some fund raising to help them buy new tents. If anyone has any ideas I'd welcome the help. The other thing which "impressed me " was the wonderful type of toilet seat of thick foam rubber and washable, a boon to the frail or disabled.

Mary and I returned after 5 days to a heatwave far hotter than Turkey so the journey home by car exhausted us completely.

The next day 1 immersed myself in the new "Housing Bill". It is frightening to think that my government was still out there signing a document which - for the most part - is negated by this infamous bill. This very expensive Conference is only worth the money if Governments implement their commitment to the provision of sustainable human developments into the next century. It is up to the NG0s and the Local Agenda 21 Committees to make sure they do

"We'll be in Florence for breakfast," Hiltrud Wessling told us reassuringly when we left Düsseldorf airport at night. Our plane arrived punctually in Florence, where splendid sunshine welcomed us. It was easy to find the old centre of the city - we only had to follow the mass of tourists.. We visited the most important sights such as the duomo (cathedral) and the baptistery and Piazza della Signoria. Florence is a beautiful city with many palazzos and marvellous churches. Above all we were able to admire the Italians' special sense of proportion. And we found a lovely café where we could relax before leaving for Perugia.

At Perugia station nine women from AIDA met us and gave us a very warm welcome. The President of AIDA, Antonietta Ganci, took us to the La Rosetta hotel and showed us the programme for our stay.. The first day ended with an excellent dinner at the house of the lady who Mrs. Baumann and Mrs. Gröll were staying with.
The next morning we walked along Corso Vannucci, practically the only street on the level in the city. All the other streets and alleys go up and down. Motorists can only go forward or backward - it's impossible to turn. For us it was an incredible way to drive. We wondered how they manage to transport sick people or how those with leg disabilities get around.

Perugia is a medieval city, which is beautiful and well-kept. The war didn't destroy anything and no contemporary architect has attempted to "improve" the old centre of the city. There are very many really interesting architectural features such as stairways, bridges, arches and passages, terraces and - from every point - a fine view of the surrounding countryside. A system of long escalators link the lower parts of the city with the old centre, a brilliant way of solving the problem, and we often used them as well. In the afternoon we visited the Basilica in Assisi and Antonietta did a marvellous job of explaining the art and architecture to us. A walk in the town, which is set on the foothills of Monte Subasio, then followed.

One evening we went to a country festival which included dancing. The day after we met with Maria Teresa Marziali, the Co-ordinator of OWN, Europe, at Corciano, and after being received by the mayor and other representatives from the Corciano town council we visited the Museo della Casa Contadina, a typical country house. A woman resident donated the house with all its rural equipment and furnishings; the custodian is an older woman. Our young interpreter then took us to lunch at Antonietta's.

On Sunday we took part in a day's seminar organised by AIDA on Isola Polvese in Lake Trasimeno. The seminar was to present the European project Spider Women to all its partners, and also to exchange ideas on the project and its objectives. Women from other parts of Italy were there as well. Unfortunately none of the interpreters were able to come that day and so we couldn't understand the presentations and debates. However, the opportunity to get together and exchange ideas during the breaks helped us to take part. Communicating through gestures and expressions demonstrated once again that older women know how to adapt and cope.

The last meeting with women from AIDA was organised at Antonietta's house, when twenty members came along and, thanks to the fact interpreters were present, we were able to exchange experiences and get to know each other.
It came out of this meeting that we older women are taking our own lives in hand. But in both our countries we need to reflect and work on this. We received so many presents and friendly words - even if we should have been the ones to give presents. We hope that women from AIDA will soon be coming to visit us in Münster, where we'll do our best to make them feel at home.
Our leave-taking, which was organised by Antonietta, was made less sad by a dinner, and also by the fact that Antonietta Ganci and Maria Teresa Marziali came to the station to see us off the next day - even though it was very early in the morning.

We had a wonderful time in Perugia, full of sights to see, friendliness and friendship. We think of those days with great affection, hoping that other older women will be able to experience similar times of meeting together. When we were young we didn't have the opportunity to travel because of the war, and after the war there was work, family and home, which meant that we couldn't visit other countries. Now we're trying to make up for what young people take for granted.

Many many heartfelt thanks to the women of AIDA, and special thanks to Antonietta and Pino Ganci for the lovely time we had.

Back to the General Contents