The Week of Prayer Observed in the Virgin Islands
The World YWCA and the World Alliance of YMCAs Week of Prayer and World Fellowship took place from November 14 – 20, 2010. Throughout the week, many YWCAs within the movement used this time as an opportunity to pray and reflect upon the ways in which they can act towards creating a safer world. One such Association was the YWCA of the US Virgin Islands (USVI).
The YWCA USVI has been bustling with activities for the entire month of November. Their activities for the Week of Prayer and World Fellowship began on November 13, 2010, at the Roy Lester Schneider Medical Centre (RLS) where the YWCA had an information booth on the association and their work. The RLS, which is the local hospital and cancer centre, celebrated its 4th anniversary with a rally, a display and a multimedia open air event. The day was filled with food, music and prayer. As an organisation that works with the All Faith Chapel of the hospital, the YWCA was one of the organisations on the island participating in the event, offering them the opportunity to share information on their current and future projects within the community.
Following the event, the YWCA and the YMCA USVI held their opening worship for the Week of Prayer. This year marks the 4th year that the movements held their opening worship together, and according to Mrs. Donnalie Cabey, President of the YWCA USVI, “it was a really positive engagement and has proven to be a good way of engaging the wider community around the theme of the Week of Prayer.” This year, as in the last 4 years, the YWCA has opened the worship using the Week of Prayer booklet as a guide, and has held daily mediations on two religious radio stations within the country. This was a great success and the Association was invited by the Episcopal Forum on WGOD Radio to speak about the Week of Prayer, to share and expand on the notion of women creating a safe world, to talk about the World YWCA Word Council 2011, and to discuss the YWCA and its work. The Week of Prayer activities, which involved the wider community, were also seen as an opportune time for the members to come together as a team and to reflect. A special time was set aside at their general meeting for this reflection.
As the YWCA USVI prepares to become affiliated in 2011, they have used the platform that these activities provide to get support locally for their organisation, and to share information on World Council 2011 and the work of the movement locally and globally. The YWCA USVI will conclude their activities on December 11, with a Youth Rally and a Cultural Extravaganza.
