Kenyan Pundit

I meant to link to this project a while back after I met the one of the founders at TED. Better late than never…Imagining Ourselves is “a platform for young women to create positive change in their lives, their communities, and the world. The project includes not only this groundbreaking online exhibit, but also a series of global events, a celebrity blog on Yahoo!, and a dazzling book published by New World Library. The goals of Imagining Ourselves are to increase young women in leadership positions, to connect our esteemed partners (such as the Global Fund for Women and the World YWCA) to a broad audience, and to increase international community among this first global generation of women. The magic happens when young women are able to form connections across international boundaries—and use those connections to improve each other’slives.”

Please visit the site…lots of wonderful stories and images and a great list of action resources.

AOB:

- For Aspiring writers Kwani? invites your applications to participate in an interactive 8-sessions of The Writing Process. Starting April 2006, the sessions will be held twice a month Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the British Council. This forum shall explore essentials of the progression of writing i.e. characterization, plot, story arc and the narrative universe among other elements.
If you are interested, please give us the following details by 12th April 2006: Your name, Telephone number, Cell, E-mail, Submit a three paragraph intro about yourself and what compels you to write to Annette Majanja info-at-kwani.org

- My condolences to those who lost loved ones in yesterday’s tragic airplane crash. I am especially saddened by the death of Bonaya Godana,. There is very little that is admirable about Kenyan politicians, but Godana was one of the few exceptions. I have always admired him because of the challenges he overcame to get to where he was and his brilliance - he was one of the few politicians in Kenya who you could listen to without cringing, very smart and articulate and he was always trying to keep the government on toes as the deputy leader of the opposition.

What did we used to do before RSS again???

- So Charles Taylor has been captured and that’s excellent news but I would have liked to see more balanced coverage of the story as far as Nigeria’s role. As Chippla points out, “Without a doubt, the Nigerian government was pissed off by such a move and seemed to say “come get him if you want him.” After all, the Nigerian president allowed Taylor to come live in Calabar as part of a [U.S brokered] deal to end the Liberian civil war. This is a fact that must not be overlooked in any discussion on the current state of Liberia. Had Charles Taylor not left Liberia, the civil war would not have ended at the time it did.”

- Newish and supposedly the biggest job-search database; it searches message boards as well.

- African women reshaping the continent.

- A case of the pot calling the kettle black.

- Wyclef Jean using his celebrity to do good in Haiti.

Stuck in meetings all day so this is a bit late. Thanks Mshairi for being the catalyst.

This International Women’s Day, I’d like to celebrate all the women who both ran for political seats and won political seats in the last year - from local government, to parliamentary bodies, to high office. The high profile victories we read about include: Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia - the first elected female President in Africa; Michelle Bachelet former defense minister and first female President of Chile; Portia Simpson-Miller, a former minister of local government in Jamaica, won the presidency of the ruling People’s National Party and who will take over the premiership from retiring P.J. Patterson in Jamaica; Angela Merkel first female chancellor in Germany. Not only did these women break new ground in terms of being “first” they cover a wide range of backgrounds from grandmother to single mother of three - hopefully these represents a start to the end of the “non-traditional’ label that is pinned on female candidates who don’t fit into a mold that somehow doesn’t exist for men (does anyone describe Italy’s Berlusconi as non-traditional?).

Electoral politics remains one of the strongest bastions of male domination - according to the latest statistics from the IPU women represent only 16.5% of all lawmakers. Without political representation our voices will continue to be ignored and issues affecting women will continue to be marginalized. Besides we have a helluva a lot to offer don’t we? So today I honor all those women who have stepped forward to change the face of politics.

Run women. Run.