#15

Elections are over & the King has picked his 15th wife. 

This was announced following the so-famous Umhlanga Ceremony (Reed dance), where she took part for the last time as a maiden. The dance itself takes place on the last day of a 5-day ceremony including over 100,000 young girls and women (virgins and un-married) to walk for miles cutting and bringing reeds to present to the Queen Mother. The dance is well-attended as all the girls dance in attire (nude) in front of thousands including the King and the royal family.
I can't stop asking myself why another wife? Why. This young girl of 18 years was chosen to now live a life she may have never aspired to live. The father of the girl spoke about how she was set to attend University next year, yet now that is no longer the case. Having been working in an NGO surrounded by issues of gender and empowering women; this case does not support anything that we set out to achieve; such as providing the necessary skills for young women to dream and pursuit their opportunities. Highly controversial in regards to the support Swaziland may receive internationally; if the leaders of the country don't support the notion of empowering women, how can we progress. There are tremendous challenges with women and young girls in the country in regards to having men (older men) act as "providers" or "sugar-daddy's" in return of often sexual favours. Men give the impression that if they can support a child to pay for school fees, or provide air time or a source of income, then the women don't need to stand on their own two feet and pursuit the vast opportunities they may have.


          At the Reed dance      

In Swazi attire

Winter is over.

Now that we are well into September, I've packed my winter coats, boots and scarves far far away. Yesterday it was a roasting 38 degrees Celsius, hardly able to get from A to B without sweating buckets. With the day off from work, I roasted in the sun at a nearby hotel just to relax and unwind from all that is going on. Everyone needs a little down-time eh..that was my excuse anyway ;) On the other hand, I've seen rain today for the first time in months, and it's actually quite refreshing! We are now moving into the hot and rainy summer months, so I'm looking forward to start getting my tan back ;)

In the Bush at Mbuluzi

View of Maguga Dam

On route to Milwane

At Malendala's Farm

Girls Empowerment Clubs

The girls clubs I've been helping with at SWAGAA (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse) are well established going into the school's third term before they break for the year in December. We now have over 25 clubs established, each with a minimum of 40-70 girls, across all four regions of the country. As we are well into our monitoring phase, the clubs are proving to be highly successful and with lots of room for improvement. Such as bringing a counsellor in to the schools for direct easy support; involving boys in the discussions or creating their own clubs and continuing to work on the sustainability aspects moving forward and creating stronger relationships with the various stakeholders we have interested...ie. Ministry of Education. We have had our coordinator move on to a new position, though have quickly filled the role and are looking forward to strengthening the clubs and growing them next year. Part of my role was to establish libraries in 5 of the new schools so that has been achieved through generous donations, and we also have an organization coming from Botswana (King's Foundation) to teach our mentors activity based-games that they can use with their girls. (I'm very excited about this - using sport and activities to empower young women can only be a good thing!) I was also involved with facilitating our SWAGAA team building retreat which was a great success, and certainly a skill I look forward to using more often.

Girls Empowerment Clubs

Saying good-bye to Doreen

At Siphumelele Primary

 

Few girls at Malkerns Valley and our new banner

And some more pics...

do you remember your first bubble bath? :)

Fun day out, thanks again Sabine for the pics!

Starring..

Hiking Sheba's Breast, Ezulwini

Skipping boys at Manzini Trade Fair

Visiting with friends

..full of smiles

Banana's & Boda-boda's

Snapshots from a whirlwind trip in and around 

Kampala, Uganda

United with Miss Clarke! Jayne brought a group of her students to Uganda under a project known as Fields of Life

Plenty of bananas in this place

Last time I saw these shades..

My boda-boda ride

At the top of our street..

Over-looking Lake Victoria

Nice day at the pool

Plenty of furniture on the sides of the road

Traffic was hectic

Around Kampala

Traffic!

Students at Adonai Jr School

This young girl celebrated Canada Day with me :)

The skipping enthusiasts

Our bus in the countryside

The girls from Belfast

Along the way #villagelife

Views from a boarding school

Source of Light High

Fetching water to bring back to school

More boda-boda's

Feeling wealthy with the Ugandan shilling

Education & Empowerment

As part of my role with SWAGAA (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse) I've been taking part in club exchange visits in rural areas, hours away from the big cities, trekking along bumpy dirt roads. The purpose of these visits are to check in on the discussions and ensure the efficient running of the Girls Empowerment Clubs, to provide exchange visits with other students from different schools, and to allow the girls an opportunity to share their thoughts and address pressing issues.

Mabheleni Primary in particular was a unique opportunity. The school itself was built by the community and now has roughly 90 pupils (40 of which who are girls that have formed a Girls Empowerment Club). It is said that all of the children in this community are double orphans and live roughly 30km from the nearest shop, high in the mountainous countryside, without a means of transport..

@Mabheleni Primary

I know I can, I know I can, Be What I want to be

Part of the slogan, "The sky is the limit!"

This month we are also celebrating the Day of the African Child and the national theme is: "Eliminating harmful social and cultural practices affecting children: our collective responsibility." One of our members from the Girls Club spoke in front of a large crowd and was acknowledged by the Prime Minister for her positive words though faced by an unjust upbringing living in a polygamous household. 

Day of African Child Launch with one of our Girl's speaking

While the project of the Girls Clubs is blossoming and more and more girls are being empowered and educated on their rights and ways of addressing child abuse, the fact is, that it is still happening at an exponential rate. On a recent visit I felt the heart wrenching words of young girls. We did an anonymous exercise whereby the girls wrote their questions or remarks on a piece of paper. Out of 30 children aged 14-16, more than half asked questions regarding reporting abuse or issues of rape whether it was by their father, uncle, or boyfriends. Words of rape and sexual/physical abuse were hard to swallow and taking a minute to realize the severity of what is happening in rural areas. Questions about community support are critical: if girls are being educated and empowered to speak out about abuse, the community (including parents, teachers, police officers etc) need to take action and realize the position the girls are faced with. Just yesterday though, members of Parliament passed the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act of 2009 which will replace an outdated colonial legislation with stiffer sentences for perpetrators and access to legal recourse and justice for survivors. The new law is not only about increased punitive measures but provides for peace building to help mitigate the effects of domestic violence within a family (SWAGAA). The last stage in its enactment is still to come, the Royal Assent by His Majesty King Mswati II.

@Sigangeni High

Girls Empowerment Club at Sigangeni

Getting boys involved at Sigangeni High

Last month we also did a workshop to the top bras police force, "Police Gender Mainstreaming Sensitization, Gender-Based Violence." As an organisation we took the stage for a presentation on basics of what gender is to the harsh reality of gender based violence in the country. What an important topic and it will take much more work for this information to get down to the field and be heard and understood in the community. 

Police Top Bras Gender Mainstreaming Workshop - Gender-based violence

Through all these workshops and visits I've taken self-reflection time to ponder my fortunate upbringing in terms of education, my rights as a child and my empowerment as a young woman. Where did I get confidence from, through sport? How was I so fortunate to grow up in communities across the world where I was never afraid of my own dad or relatives? I am so proud to say that I am an empowered and educated woman. I don't deny that my socioeconomic status has had a substantial influence on my education, though through hard work, perseverance, dreams and having the support from a community of family and friends I've been able to accomplish what I have done to date. This opportunity to work at SWAGAA funded by Crossroads International has fostered my ambitions and work to change the face of society one day at a time.

To make a direct donation to the work of Crossroads International who funds the Girls Empowerment Clubs here in Swaziland, you can contribute to my fundraising efforts through this link: Please note it goes directly to the programs and not my personal account. http://cci.akaraisin.com/Crossroaderfundraising/99a9e5ad7c374ca29e0f8b8e242b7868

That's all from Swazi - I'll be missing home this Canada Day but thankfully there is a gentle reminder that part of home exists in Swaziland...the maple tree in Mbabane :)