ST. PETERSBURG - First it was on, then it was off.
But it turns out the world's activists against domestic violence, including Linda Osmundson of St. Petersburg, don't need official sanction to get together and share information.
The World Congress on Family Violence had been scheduled for June 21 to 26 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Concerns about SARS - some delegates were coming from Asia - and general worry about security alerts in an uneasy world prompted the event's cancellation, Osmundson said.
She got the notice on May 25, the Sunday before Memorial Day. It came after months of planning, paying fees and buying airline tickets.
Osmundson, executive director of Community Action Stops Abuse (formerly called Center Against Spouse Abuse), was scheduled to make a presentation.
"You cancel a conference for a lot of advocates, it's not a good thing," Osmundson said.
So the advocates decided to their own thing during roughly the same time period.
"Originally, it was a six-day conference; now it's four," Osmundson said.
Women in Prague arranged a conference center. Perhaps 200 women from around the world will come, and 100 or so from the Czech Republic plan to participate.
Osmundson will have her international forum, after all.
She will talk about what the future holds for the people who try to stop violence and who take care of its victims.
Osmundson said the elements of her 20-minute presentation will include the growth of Internet counseling, making shelter choices from the Internet, a likely increase in the number of victims with substance abuse and mental health problems and the need to prepare for helping a more diverse group of victims.
She'll also talk about the importance of "keeping, or being, the voices of battered women at the table when policy is made...not forgetting where our roots are."
While there, Osmundson will visit shelters and investigate other programs for women.
And much of the benefit comes from networking with other activists, she said.
"We find each other and wind up talking about issues," she said.
