Group of international women marks 25 years
Since 1993, the International Women’s Association of Pittsburgh has cultivated family, communion and friendship by welcoming a community of women that represent more than 40 countries. The organization will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Saturday.
And the nonprofit has become even more essential during the current national political climate, providing camaraderie and emotional support for those whose travels back to their home countries have become limited due to relatively new government restrictions.
The association, known as IWAP, was formed under the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors in 1967. After the PCIV could no longer sponsor the Women’s Program, its organizers split from the the larger group and formed the International Women’s Association.
“PCIV did not see our meetings as effective and did not want to continue giving us sponsorship,” says Sheila Savits, a founding member of the association. Pittsburgh attorney Lori Capone did pro bono work to help get it started.
Membership of the nonprofit, which is run and organized by volunteers, ranges from 120 to 170 people between ages 20 and 94; one of the founding members is 94.
“It feels like what [the] U.S should feel like,” says Sharon Deacon, the association’s head of outreach. “It always interests me that the younger women are happy to mix with the older women and the
older women are always happy to help the younger members.”
The organization hosts its meetings every Thursday morning from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the First United Methodist Church in Shadyside, though the organization has no religious ties. The first part of the meeting is social and the second part is the scheduled program.
When they first arrived, these women were the wives of executives who were coming to work in Pittsburgh. Now they are medical residents and students.
“Most of the Americans had the positions in [the Women’s Program],” says Ms. Savits. In the association “we have international women leading our chairs, field trips, and cooking classes.”
Veronica Trimmino, an association vice chair, came to Pittsburgh from Bogota, Colombia with her former spouse, who received a scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh. She learned about the group through the university’s international orientation.
“At first I wasn’t really sure what it was about,” Ms. Trimmino says. She couldn’t work “so this seemed like a good opportunity for me to meet people. I wanted to have my own space and my own circle. I thought it was a good way to meet people in my same situation.”
In addition to being vice chair, Ms. Trimmino is obtaining her master’s in international development at Pitt. She plans to graduate next May. She has come to appreciate all that the Steel City has to offer.
“I think it has all the advantages of the big city — cultural life, theater, museums, parks, nature — in a smaller place,” she says.
The association has allowed women to find a purpose and help them develop valuable skills for employment.
“Most people can’t work with visas or because of language issues,” says vice chair Bhawna Jeni of Delhi, India. “Even though I can’t work on my visa, [my IWAP role] is a really good thing to put on my resume because we learn so much.”
The association offers free English courses to its members and regularly hosts cooking lessons, Pittsburgh tourist outings, book club meetings and volunteering activities at various organizations. This year, it created “mini IWAP” for moms and toddlers.
The association has accomplished something that could be considered quite impossible in the current harrowing political climate. Some members have been affected.
“There are members from the Middle East that are currently on the travel ban, so it is hard to see these people that can’t go back home and their families can’t come and visit because they can’t get a visa,” says Ms. Trimmino. “You start hearing more discrimination and people being harassed. It makes you wonder if you want to stay here or go back home where you feel more welcome.”
Simin, who asked that her last name not be used, is a longtime member from Iran. In her five years with the association, she has spent six months in Iran and six months in Pittsburgh each year. She is now applying for citizenship and intends to stay in Pittsburgh, a place she has found welcoming.
“I do not know about other people or places but the people here are kind and forthcoming,” says Simin. “My daughter is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. It’s a place that is safe. I find everything that is good in Pittsburgh.”
Sharon Deacon calls the association a “mini America,” stating that “the women who become involved go home with a more nuanced view of America than what anyone looking at the news would in a foreign country.”
The same could be said of mini-IWAP. Elizabeth Birru, head of the book club, says the children represent a more genuine representation of America.
“The children playing together — children of different nationalities and backgrounds — teach us adults how to act,” Ms. Birru says. “This is what America should be like.”
The International Women’s Association of Pittsburgh has 35 weekly programs that run from September through mid-May. The cost of membership for the season is $25. For details, go to iwap-home.blogspot.com.