MiVoice

Monday morning, bright and relatively early, we were all seated in the Prof. Kwabena Nketia Seminar Room listening to some of the fellows deliver presentations on their lives, their jobs and their aspirations. Simply enlightening.

The first presentation of the day was by Angela Dwamena-Aboagye who spoke to the fellows about advocacy skills. She described advocacy as speaking up, drawing a community’s attention to a particular issue and then directing the attention of decision makers/policy makers/ duty bearers to an alternative or solution to the issue. She also referred to advocacy as simply a political process designed to influence policy change at national and international levels. Mrs. Dwamena-Aboagye pointed out that, despite popular belief, Raising Awareness, Education and Sensitization, Behavioral Change, Giving Information, Social Marketing, Public Relations, Consensus building are NOT forms of advocacy because they do not involve a decision-maker. However, she added, these tools can be used as part of a strategy to influence policy change.

During her presentation, Mrs. Dwamena-Aboagye, included some entertainment in the form of an action song:

“Peter, hammer with 1/2/3/4 hammer(s). Hammer with 1/2/3/4 hammer(s). Hammer with 1/2/3/4 hammer(s). We all do the same.”

It would be completely futile for us to even try to describe how ridiculous (sorry, no offence) they all looked, swinging their arms, stomping their feet and nodding their heads vigorously as hammers. Classic.

The fellows, now re-energized, listed characteristics of a good advocate:
• Amina: Good communication skills, patience, articulate (if not, they do the research bit-Angela
• Asmau: Influencing Skills
• Densua (what is she doing : Comprehensive knowledge of issue at hand , thick skin
• Esther: Consistency
• Rosemary: Firmness
• Jane: Dynamism, Good team workers
• Ettamba: Confidence
• Catherine: Compromise when neccessary
• Neema: Creativity, Strategic
• Astrid: Persuasive
• Ettamba: Good listeners, open to suggestions
• Angela: People of integrity
• Mary: Visionary
• Amie: Good negotiation skills
• Memory: Reliable.

According to Mawuli, it’s advisable to build your own database of people to be able to invite or involve the right people in your movement, depending on what your movement is about. This can be done by finding out people’s interests, fields, focuses, etc. to ensure that the right people who can help or influence are part of your cause.

After lunch, the fellows had some team-building exercises including enquiring as to “Who stole cookies from the cookie jar?”
Then Amie delivered her presentation, talking about her job as well as
her quest to know her rights and responsibilities in society. Jane also discussed her struggles as an albino in her community and her determination to help all those like her.

After this short presentation session, the fellows received a surprise visit from Prof. Molaka from Nigeria (Esther’s face lit up with excitement when she saw this great woman). Prof. Molaka delivered a few words of encouragement and advice to the fellows and urged them to carry on with their wonderful and impressive work in their communities to continue to help improve our Africa.

After this, the fellows had a talk on Rights Based Advocacy (a subset of Angela Dwamena-Aboagye’s talk ) by Hilary Gbedemah from the Law Institute. She first tested the ladies’ on how well they had been paying attention to Mrs. Dwamena-Aboagye, who would have been proud to hear these girls practically reproduce her presentation, and with obvious understanding (and flair) too!

She then went on to describe an advocate as: An advocate is a person who feel strongly about an issue he/she identifies with within a community/ society/environment and believes that he/she can influence others to see the issue from their point of view and take the necessary action to bring about changes in the situation.

After going through the advocacy process, Angela Dwamena-Aboagye had outlined, she also added fundraising, auditing and support building to the steps in the advocacy process. Ms. Hilary Gbedemah also metioned the Policy instruments in society- by-laws, laws, policy documents, conventions, declarations, resolutions, edicts, statements, etc and linked them to their corresponding levels of policy making- the community, local, national, sub-regional, regional and international. According to her, we need human rights advocacy because first of all, we need to uphold people’s human rights (naturally). Also, human rights advocacy will lead to economic and social development, and bring about gender equality.

After this talk, there were more self-presentationsby Ettamba, Anthonia, Nancy and Asmau.
And that, dear readers ends the 14th Day of the MILEAD 2010/2011 summer programme.

Yaa & Debbie

Every meeting presumes that there shall be a parting; every hello heralds a good-bye and these are the Fellows’ Famous Last Words:

Eyram: I just want to say it was nice to be among honest and frank people.

Vanessa: The 3 weeks was great. And it was nice to meet different people with different characteristics

Jayne: I got 25 sisters from all over Africa. And I want to thank you all for remembering my birthday. It was the most special one… and I even think that I can now forgive my mother perhaps I will even go and look for her just to meet with my mother. It was lovely with the exception of unresolved issues.

Memory: It was great for me to meet all of you and I want to say thank to Mawuli for hosting us and always being there for us. And we want to appreciate Densua and all the volunteers and we appreciate the gifts as well. Thank you for sharing you lives and views.

Catherine: When I first heard that I would spending 3 weeks with strangers, it wasn’t a thrill for me and I thought you would be so plastic and fake but you were so real and down to earth. Live up to your expectations and don’t let us down.

Neema: Everything was good. I love you and I will miss you

Rumbidzai: I enjoyed the 3 weeks and most of the learning was from the stories we shared with one another. I love structure and a schedule but I was always a bit disoriented. I love being in control

Rosemary: Thanks to Mawuli for the exposure because it was not easy to cope with my kind of personality. And thanks to you girls, coming from different characters and backgrounds. Thank you for putting up without me.

Aime: Thank you all and I’m so happy that I’ll be going home but it’s so sad that I will be living without all of my sisters. We cannot be close to everybody but I know I have 25 sisters and I know I can count on you. Thank you all.

Nancy: I think I’m gonna cry, I was a bit stressed out because I have a different skin colour and all but I was so surprised because I have never gotten along with so many people all at once… Thanks Mawuli for all the organisation and Densua for all the fun… I don’t wanna leave you guys

Gifty: (crying) I’ll miss you and I love everyone

SatAng: basically (her favourite word), I’ve been to several programmes and on any platform I’ll be able to say, this is the best ever, it has been exciting and meeting you guys, you were great. When I saw the schedule I was thinking it would be boring and we had fun though.. going clubbing and interacting with new people

Winnie: I am grateful to the organisers of Moremi Intiative. It takes time, passion and dedication to invest their time and resources. Thanks to all of you especially the President Zazalicious and a special thanks to all of you including the volunteers

Esther: For me it was like 3 weeks was too long and I saw the programme and I thought it would be boring. Knowing you all has been a great experience and meeting people making an impact from different backgrounds. I will miss you all.

Ettamba: Thanks to the organisers for getting me here and Mawuli for taking all the stress…. at first it felt like I was an outsider and I thought I wasn’t fitting in. I will miss you all.

Tonia: Thanks to Moremi for making it flexible… (crying)

Astrid: Thank you for all the staff of MILEAD and 2010 particular thank you to Mawuli for all he did for allowing me to participate. For the lectures and all the organization and the other activities that we did and I want to say a great thank you to all the fellows. I’d never seen a Namibian or a Gambian or other nationality before.

Mary: It’s been amazing. It was really nice and we’ve been inspired. I have over 25 new friends and all the ladies all of them have their own colours. Don’t think of it as good bye because I love travelling, thanks to
Mawuli and I am grateful that he allowed me to come again.

Theresa: Thanks to everyone for showing love and even though I was under a lot of stress I’m glad I came… nobody knew I was going through something but I am now happy and I feel loved and thanks for the birthday surprise and thanks to Mawuli for taking me to see a counsellor to talk about my problems (crying)

Amina: I will take the wakawaka baby song home with me. I now love taking photos ever since I came here. Thanks to Mawuli and Densua and we are grateful for all the effort. I am looking forward to going home but I hope to be able to take Moremi to another stage. I will miss you (especially my roommate)

Sheila: (crying) I want to say thank you and I resonate with what everyone has said and after reading (the laminated farewell messages) this I know that I have 25 friends.

Asmou: I won’t say anything to Mawuli and the volunteers, I really appreciate all of you. I am going to miss every one of you (referring to the baby she is expecting)… I will tell him all about you

Zaza: Thanks to everyone and I felt so much love and warmth inside… I am really comfortable with myself and I’m gonna take that back home and I got a senior advertising executive to come on board my project. And I hope we all do what we promised. Thanks to Mawuli and Densua and all the other volunteers.

The morning started on a pounding note, yes pounding. The pounding of Mawuli’s fists on the doors of the fellow’s rooms, fellows who had overslept and were now keeping a whole bus waiting on them.

To explain why the fellows were late would require a recap of their previous day’s hectic and thrill-filled schedule. This being the case, I shall oblige the reader in a summary of a crazy Friday.

Friday: The fellows woke up like it was any other ordinary day, except it was not.

There is nothing ordinary about a day in which one gets to meet one of the most powerful female politicians in a country and we had a date with none other than the Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice. The lady was a true inspiration and her words of advice were simple and profound – humility.

“Remember where you come from. Do not ever forget who you are. No matter where you go or what you achieve, you must never forget your people, your background or your roots. Finally work hard. Hard work is the only thing that will get you where you want to go,” said Miss Betty Mould-Iddrissu.

As if that was not enough, the fellows managed to squeeze into the tight schedule of none other than Mrs Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, former UN Commissioner of Human Rights and a member of the illustrious Council of Elders.

She is the founder and President of Realizing Rights a global ethical initiative and she generously spared 45 minutes from her hectic schedule to discuss some of Africa’s most pressing concerns with the Fellows.

Her remarkable and intimate knowledge of the continent was evident in that she took time to deliberate on each of the fellow’s nation during introduction which highlighted the extent of her commitment to the development of Africa.

Suffice to say, the fellows where totally inspired!

But the day was far from over as a tough debate battle awaited them at the Commonwealth Hall where the fellows would pit their ideas against those of the University of Ghana’s Debate Society.

A rushed supper and the fellows made their way to the Commonwealth Hall, literally walking into the lair of their rivals determined to put up a good fight.

And they did just that. They won the debate but lost the contest, and the less said of that the better. Suffice to say, we were extremely proud of their performance as they even had the opponents quoting them verbatim – don’t they say imitation is the best form of flattery?

Our team comprised of the eloquent and poised Eyram Adedavoh, the articulate and confident Catherine Kiama as well as Delta Ndou who had the audience hanging on to her every word.

Friday was capped off with a victory party by some of the fellows while others retired to relax as best as they could in anticipation of a road trip the next day.

Karaoke night at the Champs club was the destination of the fellows who put up a spirited rendition of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” with ‘Zazalicious’ Zaza bringing down the house as lead singer.

Backing her up with vigorous dance moves and gyrations, were Zimbabwe’s Rumbidzai and Delta, while Ghana’s Densua, Gifty, Rosemary, Eyram and Canadian volunteer Rebecca Ying were supporting acts.

So Saturday crept up stealthily on the unsuspecting fellows who found their way back to residence in the wee hours of Saturday morning to find that most of their colleagues were still wide awake with SataAng from the Gambia prowling the stairs.

Saturday: The morning started on a pounding note, yes pounding. The pounding of Mawuli’s fists on the doors of the fellow’s rooms, fellows who had overslept and were now keeping a whole bus waiting on them.

It took a good 40 minutes for last sleepy Fellow to present herself at the bus stop and Mawuli found himself having to cajole fellows to hurry up so as to avoid the traffic.

Needless to say, the fellows’ lateness was not well received by the driver especially since everyone missed the 5am timeline with the exception of Malawian fellow Vanessa who was on time.

The fellows set of for the Cape Coast and Kakum nearly an hour behind schedule and the driver had to contend with the traffic jam but since most of the passengers had promptly gone back to sleep – no one was particularly inconvenienced.

The journey to Cape Coast was uneventful; most of the fellows were drowsy and slipped in and out of the arms of Morpheus (the Greek god of sleep)!

Almost two hours later, the fellows arrived at the National Park in Kakum’s rainforest a little bit puzzled because they had been expecting to see a beach and not to trudge up the steep terrain of a mountainous rainforest range.

But the bewilderment soon gave way to excitement when they were told they would have a chance to go on a canopy walk (which is not for the faint-hearted) and the fellows showed their mettle by braving the 350metre dizzying height of walking above a forest on a narrow plank supported by wobbly ropes.

The adrenaline rush was evident and soon the sleepiness was gone as the fellows posed for photos and enjoyed the refreshing mountain air.

As they journeyed to their next destination – the Cape Coast Castle, the heat was becoming unbearable and the prospect of going to the beach was growing more appealing by the minute.

So when they got to the Cape Coast Castle, most of the fellows were unprepared for how emotionally draining the experience would prove to be as they came face to face with the reality of what slavery had wrought on the African people.

Suddenly, they were retracing steps in history, walking down the dungeons were our ancestors were held captive and most of the fellows found the whole experience upsetting because they had to confront the magnitude of the cruelty, inhumanity and brutality of Africa’s history of slavery truly meant.

The drone of the tour guide, the flash of the cameras, the heat and the noise of the fishing community all made the reality of slavery seem surreal and distant but deep down we all knew that horrible things had happened and that our continent still suffered the legacy of that tragic past.

Hunger pangs and the roller-coaster of emotions took their toll and as the fellows trudged to the bus, they were inundated by vendors who managed to make a quick buck as the fellows bought some snacks.

And the last leg of the journey was to the beach, finally.

We arrived at Anomabo Beach Resort to the pleasant sight of rolling waves and sandy beach that was so inviting that in no time at all most of the fellows were happily frolicking in the water and playing soccer on the sandy beach.

Lunch was served and the fellows happily chatted, ate, sipped on their drinks and relaxed in the cool breeze.

But like all good things, the fun came to an end too soon with Setor marshalling the fellows out of the water to hit the showers and return to the bus for the journey back to Accra.

Invigorated, refreshed and very happy, the fellows found their way back to Volta Hall to await a pizza supper that had been bought by two fellows who kindly volunteered, namely Malawi’s Vanessa and Benin’s Astrid.

Lights out: Saturday comes to an end and fellows sleep with smiles on their faces.

Delta Ndou: http://itsdelta.wordpress.com

*Sigh* Well, there you have it. A post from a professional, experienced and well-renowned blogger. Makes all our posts seem so… (no we will not succumb to the feeling of inferiority)… so, AMAZING! Thanks, all of you who keep updated on this blog. Ciao!

Yaa & Debbie

Hamjambo rafiki zangus!

Your response: Hatujambo!

Let’s try that again. Hamjambo rafiki zangus!

…

Good

Thursday was one of the ‘early start’ days for all for all of us. It was field trip day! Everyone looked dressed up, excited to be visiting the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) The World Bank Office and Parliament House.

At AWDF the fellows were given an overview of the work than is done at the organization, who they work with an how they do their work as well as how funds are raised in aid of their activities. We presume that, at that point, most of the fellows were recollecting their talk on fundraising skills and techniques the previous day. Safe presumption? We think so too.

The visit to the World Bank, we think, was the highlight of the day for a lot of us, not just because that is where we had lunch J. On arrival, we were ushered into a relatively small room in which grants were being awarded to NGOs and CBOs to do projects in various communities. The theme for this year’s programme, which apparently takes place annually, was in line with Women and Sanitation i.e., improving sanitation through the involvement of women (well, some added the youth too. J). After a representative of each NGO/CBO gave a outline of their proposed line of action, there was question time and this is when the fellows did their stuff. They threw questions, suggestions, queries, comments, disagreements and whatnot at all these groups after the group reps had spoken. They drilled the grant winners thoroughly, as though to make sure that the money they were given was put to good use effectively such that the best of results would be achieved.

After lunch at the World Bank, we took a trip to Parliament House where… hold on, did we say our visit to the World Bank was the highlight of the day? Scratch that. Meeting Honorable Samia Nkrumah was THE highlight of our day. Everyone took pictures with her. (She must have felt like a statue at Mme Toussaud’s.J) And then after one clumsy group photo, we were ushered into the Parliament Hall where we observed Parliament in session for a short while. Honorable Samia Nkrumah met us in the lobby after the session had been adjourned and promised to try (the operative word here being ‘try’) to be at our Closing Ceremony.

Next stop: WISE offices then home bound (Yes, home. We can call Volta Hall home, can’t we?). While some were winding down for the night, others (names withheld for um… security reasons. Hehe) were getting ready for a night on the town. Party!

Yaa & Debbie

Wednesday began with a lecture from Afua Ansre of UNIFEM on two topics: Femininity and Gender Budgeting. To begin, she asked the fellows to describe exactly what they though femininity was. Delta answered and said described feminity as comprising of social concepts, traits, behavioural concepts that are specific to societies that outline one as a female. Ms. Ansre highlighted that femininity affects one’s role as a leader, citing that several prominent women in Africa have showed that women can be and are great leaders, examples being Moremi, Yaa Asantewaa, Hawa Yakubu, Esther Ocloo, etc.

She defined leadership as the capacity to establish direction, and to influence people to a particular goal, whilst making them responsible for their action. Some qualities of a good leader that she stated were,

• Vision
• Be able to communicate effectively, be able to both talk and listen
• Have ppl skills, be able to interact
• Have character, good values, integrity.
• See yourself as a servant
• Modesty.

She explained that as women, it was important for the fellows to not only have all these qualities but to know how to use them in tune with their feminity. Being a female leader did not mean that one had to lead their feminity. She urged the fellows to learn how to work efficiently while still acting as women.

On the issue of women participation in the affairs of a country, Delta said that although Gender equity is advancing the public sphere, in the private sphere, in people’s homes, it’s as if time just stood still. Ms. Ansre explained that domestically, women needed to know how to be leaders as well. She also gave tips on how one became a good woman leader:

• Use the media and other public resources
• Document experiences
• Monitor and demand accountability: self and institutional
• Know your strengths (build) and weaknesses (work on)
• Identify and build alliances with existing powers
• Resource mobilization
• Always seek knowledge: research and generate data to back your claims to sound more legit.

After Ms. Ansre ended the talk on feminity, she moved on to the subject of budgeting. To begin, Mrs. Ansre explained that even in budgeting, women affairs were not of extremely high importance. According to her, the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs gets less than 1% of the national budget in Ghana. She continued to stress that even the third MDG goal, Gender Inequality, got 0.08% of the budget cut the Ghanaian government set aside for the MDGs. Ms. Ansre explained that the reason the budget for these issues were so low was that people often refused to see the extent to which they negatively affected the society. She told the fellows that in order to fight low budgeting, especially for women, statistics were necessary, so that there would be a tangible reference to support a higher budget allocation.

After Ms. Ansre’s talk, the girls had the rest of day off to relax and go around Accra, sight-seeing (where huh?) and shopping. We, the bloggers, wished that we could hang out with them too, but of course, we had work to do…blog! Yay!

Yaa & Debbie

‘Twas a full day, full room, with representatives of  FIDA, Police Service, Sister watch, ARK Foundation, Gender Centre, SWAA Ghana, Darlings Human Development Foundation.

The day began with a talk on the Violations of sexual nature, given by Nortey Dua, a Clinical Psychologist from the Ghana Medical School. He first of all, touched on child abuse, describing it as “Any act or failure to act that endangers a child’s physical or emotional health and development.” In his words, a person caring for a child is abusive if he or she fails to nurture a child leading to physical, emotional or psychological scaring.

Mr Nortey explained that child abuse should be thought of as viral.

“When someone has been abused, chances are that they will abuse another person also. It perpetuates itself.”

Commenting on how the problem was to be solved, he said that there was difficulty in measuring the prevalence of abuse in our society, as no attempts to measure so far have been able to overcome the basic issue of underreporting.  Mr Nortey then zoned in to talk about sexual abuse of children. He defined it as any act between an adult and a child. According to statistics, 10% of people who abuse children were strangers, 30%, relatives and 60% non-relative acquaintances like babysitters, family friends and the like. In concluding, Mr. Dua firmly made it clear that sexual abuse was NEVER the child’s fault.

After this session, there was the second summit of the MILEAD programme: Women’s Health & Safety- Gender Based Violence. The first speaker was Dr. James Clayman, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, who talked about violence against women. He stated that 75% of eye trauma among women who visit his hospital are caused by slaps. He said that it has been observed that many women who were being abused often slept at the very edge of their beds whenever they were admitted to the hospital; even when they were encouraged to sleep in the middle so they would not fall off, they complied but went  right back to the edge soon after. He highlighted that abuse could affect a woman psychologically, emotionally and even put a strain on her anatomical functions.

Mrs. Victoria Williams from ARK Foundation was the next speaker. Her opening comment was a quote from the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon’s speech, which he gave on 8th March, International Women’s Day. He said,

“Violence against women remains a cause for global shame.”

Mrs. Williams said that there were two main issues that cause violence against women: male entitlement and policies that are gender-blind. She described gender blind policies as policies that took into consideration only the man. She said this was because we live in a patriarchal society, where men are the dominating factor. She talked about the forms of violence against women such as physical and psychological abuse, emotional abuse, economical abuse (where the man makes you depend on him solely and you were not allowed to work) and sexual abuse. She then gave useful tips on how to prevent and avoid abuse, emphasising that women should love with not only their hearts, but heads also, and should be able to say “no” to any form of abuse.

The third speaker was our very own  Herlyn Gu-Dao, who spoke about her life. Herlyn has been living with HIV for 10 years now, and told us about how she contracted the disease, how she dealt with it and what she has done to help young people; educating them on the causes, effects and prevention methods of HIV. She felt that she should be able to teach others about her experience. She decided to go around to schools and counsel the youth and inform them, giving them awareness and advice so that they didn’t end up like her. “In hospital”, Herlyn said, when she discovered her HIV status, “I considered suicide but was scared.”

At the end of her presentation, Herlyn spoke to the fellows:

“You guys are going to become leaders. Change doesn’t come easily but we can all make change with our hard work, no matter how small it is and still bring development to Africa.”

Herlyn’s emotional talk left many people deep in though and after it, people had things to say. Delta said that she came here wondering what she was going to be taught but finds herself learning because

“You can forget what you are taught but you never forget what you learn.”

She said that the talks were inspirational, and would love to celebrate women like Herlyn. She said,

“If we haven’t learnt anything at all from all the declarations, theories, conventions, skills here, at least, we have learnt that we are stronger than we know.”

Eyram talked about injustice, saying that it thrived in silence, like the “elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.” Zaza said that Moremi is a programme of action and advised the fellows not to end it with taking notes and meeting new people. She said that when each fellow went back to their room, they should think about the projects and what they could do to help Africa.

After all this, Inspector Sadongo from the Ghana Police Service, talked about the need for more advocacies to increase awareness. He talked about publicising the J-11 form (from South Africa) which helps victims of rape get access to immediate medication. He explained that there were so many difficulties working in Africa. He concluded by telling the fellows:

“You are not alone; there are people from various levels in society who are with you, in your struggle, in your pain. There are several people who share their story with you.”

After a long lunch, Mr. Kwasi Pratt was the next speaker who graced us with his presence. His talk was on Pan-Africanism and its importance to the development of Africa. His talk was so extensive that it’s been really hard for us to condense it. However, he did describe Pan-Africanism as “The body of ideas to shape the dreams for Africa to work together wherever they are to liberate the continent and create a new Africa.” A lot more on him later. Definitely.

To relieve themselves of all the stress and emotion of the day, and get some play into the day, the fellows had a fun night out and got to Volta Hall so late, we thought (we hoped, actually) that the next day might be a day off  We’ll see how that goes.

Yaa and Debbie

Day 7 begun with four of the fellows giving presentations on what they do. Magnificent Mary, Determined Delta, Wonderful Winnie, Sexy Satang described their jobs, projects, difficulties and ideas.

Delta talked about being a journalist in Zimbabwe, and how there was “Freedom of speech but not freedom after speech.” She told us about how she almost quit her job because people thought her articles were “too controversial.” Her job is to highlight issues that people do not usually talk about in Zimbabwe such as gay rights. She told us about her struggles as a female journalist, the only one in her news room. But she writes in her capacity about things that she feels strongly about.
She talked about the sexuality of women and how women should not let their husbands and boyfriends own their bodies

Winnie described the gender gap in Liberia, explaining that

“Young Liberian females have embraced education as a way of eliminating the gap that may exist between them and their male counterparts.”

Satang spoke about her radio show in the Gambia and  talked about the importance of helping the youth get their voice across.

After the fellows gave their speeches, the first official speaker of the day, Ilene gave a talk on Project Management. She provided insight on the fundamental steps and  of undertaking a project, which are:

• Roles
• Resources
• Implementing
• Time Frame
• Monitoring
• Specific Event

She elaborated on the rudiments, taking them apart, showing their importance in the planning process and the ways in which they should be handled.

Abigail Burgesson from the African Women Development Fund came later on in the day to give a talk on fundraising. She said,

“Fundraising is not about getting money from people but about enabling people to realise their aspirations to make the world a better place.”

Together with the fellows, she outlined the principles of fundraising:

• Building relationships with donors
• There must be direct asking (60% of funds come from individuals)
• Be personal in your appearance
• Leadership in fundraising starts with your governing body
• Effective long term fundraising has to be planned
• Fundraise for extra support not all: Donors are hesitant to give if you are desperate
• Tell the truth: Give correct information about your project, what you are fundraising for etc.

At the end of the talk, the fellows had a group activity, where they were to build the tallest tower, using anything they found lying around, with the exception of bags and purses (we are not sure why! ). After about 10 minutes of building, the winners were proclaimed but unfortunately their “building” fell as soon as they were made winners because its foundation, (of water bottles) was extremely weak . All that hard work. I guess we don’t need to tell you what that means. Weak foundation, quickly built structure, short-term. String it all together and you’ll understand.

There was one group which called their building “The leaning tower of snack” because:

1. It was made of digestives, rich tea, milk, soda and
2. It was leaning forward, (obviously)

The group then played ‘The Trust Game’, in which one fellow was to trust another and fall backwards into her arms. Each fall was followed by the catcher taking one step back and saying “I’m ready to catch” after the ‘faller’ (correct?) had declared, “I’m ready to fall!” Mucho fun!

After the team building activities, the fellows had some free time before dinner and the evening discussion session. A very interesting ‘forum’ with the help of Ms. Christabel Dadzie. At the end of the day, and with all the talk on managing projects and raising funds we’re pretty sure that each fellow was already dreaming of the ways in which she were going to make a change in her community.

Yaa & Debbie

Sunday… nothing much.

Chilling, relaxing, chilling,  reflecting, chilling, football, chilling … That’s all folks!

Yaa & Debbie

Donmale, representing Nigeria, Panama and the US says:

An opportunity does not blossom into a stepping stone until you put forth the work and effort and choose to take hold of it, grasp it, and glean all you can from it until it becomes your stepping stone to your next level. I challenge you to really use MILEAD, your project, the lectures, other Fellows and inspirational leaders around you as stepping stones to really bring change and further refine the natural leader birthed within.

Muthoni from Kenya says:

Take the time to discover who you really are and what you want to do to change another girl/woman’s life. By discovering the area you want to delve in, you will have at your disposal the best of trainers, mentors and advisers.
There is no greater asset than that.

Ruth from Uganda and Rahab from Kenya send you some important areas you might concentrate on:

Patriarchy, climate change, political unrest, domestic violence and FGM. Each area is vast and your own role may be small, but it is only though small steps that we can change the big picture.

Yvonne from Uganda says,

The three weeks in Accra are great but the reality of life will weigh you down when you get back home. Things will not be as easy as they seemed when you were together so make the most of your time now.

Seun from Nigeria encourages that,

overcome the differences that cultural diversity bring because tolerance is part of leadership. Change doesn’t just happen, she says, we collectively make it happen.

Martha, representing Zambia and Canada says:

Good luck, capture memories, and let your heart be open to new experiences and adventures. Educate yourself, educate others, God bless, but most of all have fun!

Sofiat representing Nigeria and Switzerland says,

really get to know one another. She says “Everyone has a story to tell -I had read and watched about the Rwandan Genocide but I had the first opportunity to meet a survivor and hear her inspiring story firsthand.”

Finally Rama, representing Senegal and France says,

do your best, to remember that you are here with a common cause. This is all about self-commitment and self-involvement first in order for the UBUNTU spirit to work.

These words of advice and encouragement, we believe are not solely directed at this years candidates. We can all learn a lot from what these women have to say. We hope that as you continue to follow our blog entries for the next few weeks, you will learn a alot about what you can do for yourself as a person, for your community and for our beloved continent, Africa.

Yaa & Debbie

Madame Chairperson, Her Excellency the High Commissioner of South Africa, Honorable Minister for Women and Children, Honorable Member of Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen, my fellow MILEAD sisters,

I have to start by saying what a privilege it is for me to be here representing the first ever group of MILEAD fellows, now the MILEAD alumnae network. It’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I began my own MILEAD journey with twenty three other women from about nineteen African countries. We started off as strangers to one another. Some of us parted as dear friends, others as colleagues with a common purpose, to create change in our own small ways for women in Africa and beyond. As current MILEAD fellows, we believe that you ladies share this purpose and we cannot wait to join hands with you to expand our network and consequently our sphere of influence.

Although our time spent together last year was certainly exciting and eventful, I’m not really here to share those experiences because I don’t want to influence or colour your own experiences here. I would like you to plunge into this adventure without prejudice or bias. But if you meet me outside after the ceremony, I could certainly regale you with interesting stories of Mawuli at the beach or in the club.

With this opportunity however, I would like to share with you two main things: firstly, some of the successes we’ve had and challenges we’ve faced since leaving Ghana, and secondly, inspirational words from some of last year’s fellows.

So first, successes. Some of you may be aware of the political rally-turned-mass-rape-and-massacre in Guinea late last year. One of our MILEAD sisters, Aminata Fall, was personally touched by this tragedy. Her father, a presidential candidate, and her aunties were victims of the violence on that day. This situation truly put the strength of our alumnae network to the test. Our first response was to draft a bilingual solidarity statement, signed by each of the Fellows, which we then circulated as widely as possible through our own NGO, academic and media networks. Secondly, we drafted a petition which made several demands, including an immediate end to the violence and a call for free and fair elections. This petition, which we sent to the ECOWAS president, was signed by thirty-four NGOs, legal and religious bodies as well as 500 individuals across Africa, Europe and the Americas. I must pause here and sincerely thank Mawuli for his help and guidance as we struggled through the organizational difficulties of our first pan-African advocacy project as MILEAD alumnae. Although we may never know the extent of our action, we are truly happy and relieved that after much drama and struggle, Guinea finally held its presidential elections last month.

Beyond our joint action as MILEAD alumnae, many of the fellows have remained committed to their individual year-long community service projects and we continue to update one another regularly online. The projects range from working with African immigrant children in France, to combating human trafficking in South Africa during this past World Cup, to colloquia on black women’s identities in the US.

I promised also to share some of our challenges. A major one we have had is maintaining communication and participation among Fellows. This is understandably difficult because we are spread across a number of time zones with different schedules and sometimes not enough internet accessibility. Although we started MIVOICE, a blog and e-magazine, this fizzled out after a few months of frustration due to limited participation. This has been one of our major regrets, and I share this with you in the hope that when you join the ranks of MILEAD alumnae, you will do a better job at internal communication and will hopefully join hands with us to revive the creative and intellectual voice of MIVOICE.

Finally, I would like to end, not with my own words, but with the advice and encouragement of some of last year’s Fellows, who would very much have liked to meet you today.

Donmale, representing Nigeria, Panama and the US says:

An opportunity does not blossom into a stepping stone until you put forth the work and effort and choose to take hold of it, grasp it, and glean all you can from it until it becomes your stepping stone to your next level. I challenge you to really use MILEAD, your project, the lectures, other Fellows and inspirational leaders around you as stepping stones to really bring change and further refine the natural leader birthed within.

Muthoni from Kenya says:

Take the time to discover who you really are and what you want to do to change another girl/woman’s life. By discovering the area you want to delve in, you will have at your disposal the best of trainers, mentors and advisers.
There is no greater asset than that. 

Ruth from Uganda and Rahab from Kenya send you some important areas you might concentrate on:

Patriarchy, climate change, political unrest, domestic violence and FGM. Each area is vast and your own role may be small, but it is only though small steps that we can change the big picture.

Yvonne from Uganda says,

The three weeks in Accra are great but the reality of life will weigh you down when you get back home. Things will not be as easy as they seemed when you were together so make the most of your time now.

Seun from Nigeria encourages you to overcome the differences that cultural diversity bring because tolerance is part of leadership. Change doesn’t just happen, she says, we collectively make it happen.

Martha, representing Zambia and Canada says:

Good luck, capture memories, and let your heart be open to new experiences and adventures. Educate yourself, educate others, God bless, but most of all have fun! 

Sofiat representing Nigeria and Switzerland says encourages you to really get to know one another. She says “Everyone has a story to tell -I had read and watched about the Rwandan Genocide but I had the first opportunity to meet a survivor and hear her inspiring story firsthand.”   

Finally Rama, representing Senegal and France encourages you to do your best, to remember that you are here with a common cause. This is all about self-commitment and self-involvement first in order for the UBUNTU spirit to work.

In the truly Pan-African spirit of bridging linguistic barriers, she buttresses her words, indeed all our words, with a quote from Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, “Et surtout mon corps aussi bien que mon âme, gardez-vous de vous croiser les bras en l’attitude stérile du spectateur, car la vie n’est pas un spectacle.”

“Beware, my body and my soul, beware above all of crossing your arms and assuming the sterile attitude of the spectator, because life is not a spectacle.”

Thank you.