MADISON CITY COUNCIL TO HEAR FROM TIMORESE VISITOR
Women's health advocate works with
Madison's sister city of Ainaro, Timor-Leste
For immediate release
Contact - Diane
Farsetta,
madison@etan.org or 608-241-2473
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| Sidalia do Rego
tours family farm, Madison, WI. |
September 6, 2016 - At the beginning of the Tuesday,
September 6 Madison Common Council meeting (6:30 pm
in room 201 of the City-County Building, 210 Martin
Luther King Jr Blvd), Sidalia do Rego from
Timor-Leste will address the Council about her work
with women's health programs in Madison's sister
city of Ainaro, Timor-Leste (East Timor).
Sidalia is the Coordinator of Women's Health and
Social Care at
Bairo Pite Clinic, a free health care provider
in Dili, the capital city of the Southeast Asian
island nation. The Madison chapter of the East Timor
Action Network has supported Bairo Pite Clinic since
its founding in 1998. Madison and Ainaro became
official sister cities in 2001.
"My time in
Madison has strengthened my foundation to work for
women's health and women"s rights," said Sidalia do
Rego, who is visiting for two weeks. "The community
birth attendants in Ainaro are amazing women. They
inspire me. They do so much, but sometimes need help
advocating for their own rights. I want to make sure
they have the support and information they need.”
Last week, Sidalia participated in the
University of Wisconsin-Madison Global Health
Institute's 2016 Quality Improvement (QI) Leadership
Institute. The QI Institute brings together people
working in low-resource settings in Wisconsin and
around the world, to learn from UW faculty and staff
experts and from each other about strengthening
healthcare systems.
In addition to addressing
the Madison City Council, this week Sidalia will
meet with Domestic Abuse Intervention Services,
local midwives and Representative Mark Pocan's
office. She will also speak with nursing students at
UW-Madison and anthropology students at Madison
College, and be interviewed by WORT 89.9 FM. Over
the holiday weekend, she toured local farms and met
with farmers and cheesemakers affiliated with Family
Farm Defenders.
"We are thrilled to host
Sidalia in Madison and sponsor her U.S. visit," said
Diane Farsetta, coordinator of the
Madison-Ainaro Sister-City Alliance. "She is
incredibly passionate about her work for women's
health and women's rights. During her visit, she's
been able to learn and teach others. It shows how
much our sister communities have in common and how
we benefit from each other."
Madison has a
long history of solidarity with Timor-Leste. The
Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network
formed in the early 1990s, during the U.S. supported
Indonesian military occupation of the country. In
August 1999, the Timorese voted for independence in
a United Nations-organized referendum, bringing an
end to the brutal, quarter-century-long occupation.
The Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network
(ETAN-Madison)
established a sister-city relationship with Ainaro,
to help the rural community rebuild and recover.
