Handing the pen to sisters: sister theologians in Myanmar

The multi-day online workshop also included time for small group editing and coaching. (GSR photo)

by Melanie Lidman

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Editor's note: You can read more of sisters' work here at the Writing Workshop series page.

"Can you see me?"

The dozen sisters sat in a wood-paneled room in Yangon, Myanmar, fuzzy at first and then slowly coming into focus. These were Myanmar's leading sister theologians, brought together for a conference to celebrate and strengthen local theological thought in Myanmar. The Women of Wisdom and Action initiative, part of Santa Clara University's Jesuit School of Theology and the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, organized the conference, held Oct. 16-20, 2018. (Women of Wisdom in Action is partially sponsored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which also sponsors Global Sisters Report.)

Global Sisters Report took advantage of the unique meeting to offer our first multiday online writing workshop for sisters.

"Write what you know," I told the sisters from my home in Israel, 6,300 kilometers (4,000 miles) away. "There is no one who can tell your story better than you."

Writing is an essential tool, the way sister theologians in Myanmar can share their thoughts and ideas with people around the world and ensure the diversity of theological thought. But sometimes it takes a little bit of encouragement for sisters who never considered themselves writers to discover that writing voice. Here, five sisters who participated in the writing workshop share their stories.

Read their stories at Global Sisters Report

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