Ann Jones spent two years traveling to five countries - Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, DRC and Thailand - giving cameras to women who had no other means of telling the world what war had done to their lives. In collaboration with International Rescue Committee (IRC), Ann captured the full consequences of modern warfare through the eyes of women survivors. Even after the definitive moments of military victory, women and children remain blighted by injury and displacement and are the most affected by the destruction of communities and social institutions. And along with peace often comes worsening violence against women, both domestic and sexual. The World Bank has supported this project in Cote d'Ivoire through the State and Peacebuilding Fund.

This BBL invites Ann Jones who has written up this experience into a book War Is Not Over When It's Over that was just published. Dramatic and compelling, animated by the voices of brave and resourceful women, War Is Not Over When It's Over shines a powerful light on a phenomenon that has long been cast in shadow. Abigail Erikson, Caring for Child Survivors Specialist at IRC, shares her experiences with the project.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:

• Ann Jones 
  A writer and photographer, is the author of seven previous books, including Kabul in Winter, Women Who Kill, Next Time She’ll Be Dead and Looking for Lovedu. Since 9/11, Jones has worked with women in conflict and post-conflict zones, principally Afghanistan, and reported on their concerns. An authority on violence against women, she has served as a gender adviser to the United Nations. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Nation. In 2007-08, Ann worked in post-conflict countries with the International Rescue Committee on a special project of the Gender-Based Violence Unit, encouraging women through photography to document their lives and speak up for change. That project and her independent research among Iraqi refugees in the Middle East are described in her new book War Is Not Over When It’s Over.
  
  
• Abigail Erikson
  Ms. Erikson has extensive experience in sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence programming, in the United States and Southeast Asia. Most recently, Abby has worked for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) managing gender-based violence (GBV) response and prevention programming in two refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border and Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand implementing community based HIV/AIDS prevention projects. Currently, Abby is working with the IRC as the Caring for Child Survivors Specialist, developing specific tools and resources for field staff working with child survivors of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings. Abby is a licensed clinical social worker and is based in Washington D.C.

If you cannot join us for the BBL, please join the The International Rescue Committee for a reading with Ann Jones: Tuesday, December 7, 2010 || 5:30 – 7:30 pm Busboys and Poets 1025 5th Street NW Washington, DC