Posted to Sister Zeph’s Journal
By Sister Zeph
On 16 April, 2013
By Zephaniah
Caryn Dudarevitch is the founder of “Women for the Edge Foundation” and a writer at “Focus on Insight”. She is also administrator of the World Wide Women’s community page. She is working for the rights of single mothers and female senior citizens. She realized in 2012 that she was writing less to heal herself and more to heal society. Angered by the condition of women globally, she founded “Women on the Edge” foundation. Since then, she has been educating women society by writing articles and blogs on how to protect single mothers’ and senior women’s rights. Her goal is to get them all that is necessary to live a good life. I am proud to introduce Caryn Dudarevitch as a voice of voiceless and overlooked women.
Caryn, how did you start the “Women on the Edge” foundation ?
I started Women on the Edge Foundation in August 2012. After almost of year of serious writing, I realized that I was writing less to heal myself and more to heal society. I also realized that I was angry about the condition of women, globally, of course, but also in the United States. Yes, the U.S. has social programs in place to help people. But in order to get that help, you have to be extremely poor to qualify for that assistance and if you earn just $1 more, you do not qualify for assistance. But they cannot afford to live either so they become stuck in poverty. And the children suffer in the end. So my intention was to start a charity to give to these women and children. I cannot afford the fees to make Women on the Edge Foundation a legal charity yet, so, for now, I wish to educate and to encourage people to contribute to charities that are helping women and children.
Most of the women’s organizations focus on women’s education, health mental and physical torture by the spouse, why did you decide to work for single mothers and seniors?
I guess the best answer is that I focus on what I know and what I have seen. I had a great childhood and was well-educated. I have been married and divorced twice. Both divorces were my choice and not because of abuse. I have two children. My son is 20 and is a serious college student. My daughter is 29. So I’m 51 and have been a single mother for most of my adult life. And my daughter became a single mother 5 years ago. Our experiences as single mothers and the people in her situation is why I am so passionate about helping single mothers. There are SO many reasons why single mothers and senior women are the two groups that tend to suffer the most in the U.S. and I could never explain them all. But the reasons are similar and connected. Dealing with social programs is ridiculously slow, very frustrating and mostly useless. The legal system is the same so child support is often not received from the father of the child. Safe and affordable child care for women who need to work is rare. Often women must pay more in child care than they earn at their job. If a single mother is young and uneducated, improving her situation is next to impossible. Equal pay for equal work is a problem in the U.S. still and men make more than women (I could go on forever about that!). This issue is similar for seniors because over their lifetime, if they did work (in their generation it was not normal to work), they surely did not make enough money to support themselves now. And, again, social programs do little to help. Basically, my interest is inequality. And THAT affects every part of women’s lives in the U.S. and across the world.
How do you support the single mothers and seniors?
At this point, I can only support women through education using my writing and my Face book pages and websites to spread my messages
You are doing so many things at a time, personal life, a single mother, writer at Focus on Insight, founder of the women of edge foundation and admin at the world wide women how do you manage all of this all alone ? To be honest, I do not get as much done as I want to do. I just can’t. But I do not have a job right now (which I need), my son is busy with his school, my daughter and grandson Need I a bit less these days (she got married in February) and my mom and I hang out often enough. Otherwise, I work on my pages and writing assignments by Ruth and World Pulse these days! My Focus on Insight blog is meant as a site for inspirational messages and I can use quotes rather than personal writing most of the time. I can use the WWW assignments for blog posts on Women on the Edge and World Pulse. One way or another, I am almost always on my computer!
What is your achievement till now and what is your future plan about your cause?
I think my greatest achievement so far has been that people are actually READING what I post, especially on Women on the Edge Foundation. People actually come back to read the articles I post each day. These are almost always very difficult articles, similar to those on WWW. But they are making a difference and educating women who do not usually read global women’s news. I am proud of that! The future may include a legal charity when I can afford it or it may remain educational only. I always keep my mind open because you never know what opportunities will appear. More than anything, I want to share the stories of women. Strong women are an inspiration and I have many that inspired me (even though I did not realize it at the time!). We all need to look up to someone!
What challenges you are facing in this cause?
Personally, money and time Otherwise, the U.S. economy and the current desire of many people in government to take away the freedoms of women
How women around the world can join you?
Women can join me by sharing their stories! But now I have found World Pulse! It is amazing. And, really, women can join my vision by sharing their stories there! I will be sharing it on my women’s page and asking for people to submit their stories!
What is your message for the single mothers and seniors all around the world?
This makes me want to cry. Mostly because my message for single mothers is that your children will always understand that you did the best you could in your situation. My message for seniors is that you made a difference!