Saturday, 28 May 2016

Lighting Other Women's Candle



There are women born to and willing to light other people's candle and shine a light for humanity. One such woman is Rev Mrs Ijeoma Emeribe, the President and Founder of Woman Africa Foundation and Touching Lives TV.  When Maria Powerson met her at some point she stood looking outside the window...deep in thought then looked deeply at her and said, 'No one comes into my life and remains the same.Their lives must be one better than l found them,' She said.

She is in Kenya to do what she does best...empower women through an upcoming event later in the year. The event will be a triple edged one a fashion show,conference and concert.  The fashion show will include, exhibitors displaying their products mainly geared at displaying classic decent wear for the Christian woman. There will also be a day for a women's empowerment conference and finally, full fledged concert with leading musicians drawn from Kenya and Nigeria.

Even though she is a Reverend, her approach is wholistic when it comes to addressing the issues some face.Women Missionaries to African Nations also known as WOMAN Africa Foundation is a faith based organization whose aim is to teach,inspire and to make women become the best they can be.WOMAN Africa benefits women who are from different religious backgrounds.

She is sharply aware that her organization is getting into a world where development aid has been offered without much of a difference.That they will change."l keep in mind that the people who finance me together with my contribution want results.You can actually make one a Christian through your deeds,"she says.
WOMAN Africa had its first conference earlier in the year in Nigeria with over 800 women in attendance. A good number of them got financial help to start off or upscale their small scale businesses. She adds,"That's what it is all about. Women with small scale businesses must be able to go to the next level without being stopped by the fact they lack collateral." The organization has also been providing business training for the women and in some cases readily available markets for their businesses.

Why is she so passionate about giving practical help to those who need it?Simple," In Bible school l was taught faith without works is dead.I must not only be able to able to preach the gospel to the world but l must go further and meet their needs,"she emphasizes.
To women she notes that they need to take their rightful place in their families and in the world by being leaders wherever they find themselves.

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

More Needs to be Done in Kenya to uplift women

By Marceline Nyambala
Even as the 60th edition of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) starts in New York, one will agree that the Kenyan woman has come a long way. She is no longer the face of poverty but of “tenacity and resilience”. This is best exemplified by efforts women from all classes of society demonstrate at household and community level; to make something out of nearly nothing. When travelling to Northern parts of Kenya, it amazes me to watch women herd camels and goats even up to very late at night. I always wonder about gender roles and the safety of the women as they are exposed to all elements of nature, from animals to bandits to Al Shabaab. Perhaps they have found a way around the situation. Access to water remains an issue for many women in Kenya. Indeed, women in Kenya, like in many parts of the world, “hold up half the sky”. Grandmothers hold up half of Kenya’s sky. Without the many grandmothers in the villages who take care of their grandchildren as their daughters seek employment in the cities as domestic workers, many offices would not run. See also: Too many proposals on gender rule slowing process, says AG The education sector best exemplifies efforts that have been invested to keep the girl-child in school and improve transition levels. The transition rates of boys over the last five years have been above the national aggregate (between 60-72 per cent), that of girls between 44-50 per cent. According to the just released 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary School exam results, out of the 522,870 candidates who sat the exams 279,289 were boys while 243,581 were girls. Boys outperformed girls in 22 out of the 29 subjects. Female students did better in English, Kiswahili, Christian Religious Education, Home Science, Art and Design, German and French. Some of the greatest achievements for Kenyan women in history are gains contained in the Constitution 2010. There are huge gains in representation, protection from harmful cultural practices, access to justice, freedom of information, privacy, ownership of property and land. Dispersing power to the devolved units means services moved nearer to the villages where most women eke out a living. Yet despite that, Kenyan women perform dismally compared to regional peers in terms of political representation. Kenya is at 19.7 per cent compared to Uganda's 35 per cent, Tanzania's 36 per cent, Rwanda's 63.8 per cent and South Africa's 41.9 per cent. The two-thirds gender rule has remained elusive partly because there is lack of political will to make it a reality. A constitutional crisis looms in August 2016 unless a consensus is reached now. Kenya remains largely a patriarchal society resulting in not many women getting elected into politics or offering themselves for elective or appointive posts. Only 16 women were elected to the National Assembly in 2013. More than 100 competed for the 290 seats, but no woman was elected to the Senate and or as a governor.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000194054/we-need-to-do-more-to-uplift-women?articleID=2000194054&story_title=we-need-to-do-more-to-uplift-women&pageNo=2