March 2009
MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Dr. Bhaswati Bhattachariya discusses Ayurvedic Medicine

For our final Women’s History Month segment, join us for a very special interview with renowned physician and holistic health practitioner Dr. Bhaswati Bhattachariya as she discusses the origins, principles, and application of Ayurvedic Medicine, the oldest continuously practiced system of medicine in the world. Find out healthy and affordable ways to independently manage your health and well-being as Dr. Bhattachariya shares techniques to help you achieve your health care goals—such as the benefits of incorporating things like herbs, energy work, homeopathy, and body movement into your daily life and how making better lifestyle choices can be the best preventative measure for improving health and staving off disease.

Dr. Bhattachariya, whose natural proclivity toward healing manifested early in her adolescence, studied and trained in conventional medicine, but was quickly dissatisfied with the traditional method of merely prescribing drugs and offering invasive and often unnecessary procedures. She felt a deep need to explore alternative healing methods, and being of Indian heritage, she naturally gravitated to the field of Ayuredic Medicine. She feels that although her methodology and approach to healing may be less profitable for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, the benefit to her patients in both the short and long term is the more important factor.

Dr. Bhattachariya is currently an attending physician in Internal Medicine in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Wykoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, and serves as Director of its Division of Complementary and Alternative Medicines, where she provides care to underserved patients and teaches holistic medicine. She is also an assistant professor at both Weil-Cornell Medical College and Mt. Sanai School of Medicine. With over 22 years of experience in clinical research, she has contributed her passion, talents, and vision to the realms of academia, the non-profit sector, and the corporate world.
http://www.archive.org/details/IR-08-31A

Women's History Month/4th Show March 09
WaterAid America—Interview with President and CEO Patricia Dandonoli
(Part II of a special two-part edition)

This week we continue our in-depth and inspiring interview with WaterAid America President and CEO Patricia Dandonoli. In this segment, we delve deeper into the crisis of unclean water and inadequate sanitation in the underdeveloped world, and discuss how it impacts in particular the lives of women and girls in these poor countries. In many of these remote, impoverished communities, women and girls are primarily responsible for gathering water for their families, spending an inordinate and unreasonable amount of time in the process — this to the exclusion and often tortuous sacrifice of their health and emotional well-being, as well as other meaningful life pursuits. Many do not work or even attend school. Moreover, improper hygiene and lack of access to safe latrine facilities put these women and girls at increased and extreme risk not only for disease but also for physical abuse and/or rape. WaterAid America works in conjunction with women’s organizations all over the world, as well as the women within these developing nations, to create results oriented solutions to overcoming these problems.

WaterAid also utilizes World Water Day as an impetus for enlightenment. World Water Day was spawned from the United Nations' efforts to raise worldwide awareness of this issue and address the challenges of providing clean and safe drinking water to all who need it. Find out how you can do your part. Get involved in your local community to help support this work.
http://www.archive.org/details/IR-08-31

WaterAid America—Interview with President and CEO Patricia Dandonoli
(Part I of a special two-part edition)

Patricia Dandonoli is a woman on a mission. Dedicating over 25 years of her life to working for mission driven organizations, in both senior management and consulting capacities, she is currently the President and CEO of WaterAid America, a New York City based non-profit and development-focused organization, and the leading charity for clean and safe water and sanitation in Africa and Asia. There are nearly a billion people living without access to clean water, and over 2 1/2 billion people who live without a safe sanitation infrastructure. Nearly 5000 children per day die from diarrhea and other sanitation and safe water issues.

"People without power are often the ones who are most neglected." The daughter of a butcher from Waterbury CT, Dandonoli was instilled at an early age with strong family values and an appreciation for the struggles of working class people. After an initial stint in the performing arts arena, she turned her attention to the world of academia, but was quickly dissatisfied with the lack of real impact. She began her professional career at the Russell Sage Foundation, where she helped to shape several grant-making programs, and also where she found her bridge between the worlds of academia and the non-profit sector. She has a diverse professional background in higher education, strategic and business planning, the arts, and the non-profit sector – both nationally and abroad. Dandonoli was appointed to her current position at WaterAid America in February 2006.

WaterAid America supports the worldwide WaterAid initiative to help bring safe drinking water and effective sanitation to some of the poorest and most marginalized communities around the globe. WaterAid, founded in 1981 and based in the UK, works in 17 countries providing water, adequate latrine facilities, and hygiene education. WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone (regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, geographic location, or political or religious affiliation) has access to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation. They give a voice to the voiceless and empowerment to the powerless.
Be inspired to make a difference—join us for this compelling interview.
http://www.archive.org/details/IR-08-30_538

Interview with author Binka Le Breton

Initiative Radio continues its tribute to Women’s History Month with a fascinating conversation with author and lecturer Binka Le Breton. Le Breton is an Englishwoman who was raised in Europe where she studied and trained as a classical concert pianist. While touring, she met her husband whose work in sustainable development led them both to the Rainforests of Brazil. Unable to work as a concert pianist for lack of an audiendce, it was in the midst of this dense forest land that Le Breton found her true life’s work and calling as a supporter of human rights and environmental issues. The research for her first book took her on a perilous journey through the Amazonian back country, speaking to the indigenous people there about their plight, and fending off threats of danger from the powers that be.

She has authored several books, including Voices from the Amazon (Kumarian Press), Land to Die For (Clarity Press), and Trapped—Modern-day Slavery in the Brazilian Amazon (Kumarian Press). Her latest book, The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang (Doubleday) is an inspiring account of the life, divine calling, and legacy of Sister Dorothy Mae Stang, devout nun and member of the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Somewhat of a maverick, Stang was highly outspoken in her efforts on behalf of the poor and the environment. Her work as an advocate for the rural farmers and migrant workers in the back country of Brazil eventually led to her murder. Le Breton presents an enthralling tale of Brazilian frontier land grabbers and government corruption under shadowing the unrelenting commitment and impact of this brave woman who gave her life making a difference.

Currently, Le Breton lives on a rainforest farm, runs the Iracambi Rainforest Research Center, and is President of Amigos de Iracambi, a Brazilian registered non-profit association that works to promote the conservation of the Atlantic Rainforest.
http://www.archive.org/details/IR-08-29

Co- authors Janet Braun Reinitz & Jane Weissman on history of community murals in NYC

How often have you passed by an awe-inspiring or visually captivating wall mural and wondered who created it, or what its significance or social relevance might be? Perhaps you never realized there was much more to its creation than mere brushes on bricks. Initiative Radio begins it’s celebration of Women’s History Month with a delightful interview with Janet Braun Reinitz and Jane Weissman, co-authors of the book “On The Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City” (University Press of Mississippi). In addition to being two of NYC’s strongest mural enthusiasts, these two women have a unique and kindred connection to the history and legacy of community muraling throughout some of New York’s most culturally rich neighborhoods in Brooklyn, The East Village, Harlem, and beyond. Discover the implicit connection of community muraling to political activism and such issues as environmentalism, housing and gentrification, city infrastructure. Learn also how it differs greatly from graffiti or “aerosol” art. Join us for this enlightening discussion, as we learn more about the social genesis and implicit relevance of this ephemeral and often underappreciated art form.
http://www.archive.org/details/IR-08-28