REPORTS FROM YWCA WORLD COUNCIL, KENYA, 1st-11th July 2007
REPORT #11 - 12/7/07
The new World YWCA General Secretary is Nyaradzi Gumbonzvanda, 39 years old, from Zimbabwe . Nyaradzi has spent the last 6 years leading UNIFEM's work in east Africa . She takes up her new post in November 2007.
THE WORLD YWCA BOARD 2007
Susan Brennan President (37 years old) Australia / Pacific
Maureen Bell Treasurer Canada / North America
Comfort Nwadi Ani Board, Vice Prseident Africa / Nigeria
Alice Mirimo Kabetsi Board, U30 Africa / Congo
Constance Shumba Board, U30 Africa / Zimbabwe
Maria Morena Galvelo Board, U30 Asia / Philippines
Ping Lee Board, Vice President Asia / Taiwan
Juliate Malakar Board, U30 Asia / Bangladesh
Icilda Humes Board, U30 Caribbean / Belize
Deborah Thomas Board, Vice President Caribbean / Trinidad & Tobago
Anna-Kaisa Ikonen Board, U30, Vice President Europe / Finland
Kirsty Kelly Board, U30 Europe / GB
Geeske Zanen Board Europe / Netherlands
Silvanna Ayaipoma Board Latin America / Peru
Valeria Mejia Board, U30 Latin America / Honduras
Arda Aghazarian Board, U30 Middle East / Palestine
Reem Najjar Board, Vice President Middle East / Jordan
Carolyn Flowers Board North America / USA
Jessica Notwell Board, U30, Vice President North America / Canada
Sepora Tagaloa Board, U30 Samoa / Pacific
REPORT #10 - 11/7/07
KIRSTY KELLY, YWCA SCOTLAND PRESIDENT, HAS BEEN ELECTED TO WORLD YWCA BOARD
Last thoughts from Clare....
Today the Nominations Committee announced who has been nominated on to the new World YWCA Board and our very own Kirsty Kelly was successful! You may also be interested to hear that just over 50% of the World Board members are young women aged 30 and under, which I'm sure you'll all agree is terrific news and signifies a new energy in the World YWCA .
Yesterday afternoon Sarah and I (along with Liz from Brisbane , Australia ) led information sessions on YWCA Scotland's 104 Pairs of Shoes exhibition. Women from Kenya , Uganda , New Zealand and Zimbabwe (to name only a few) attended and were so impressed with the concept and success of the exhibition that they were inspired to start up their own Shoes exhibition in their own country. So watch this space - 104 Pairs of Shoes might go global!
Today is the last day of World Council. It has been a truly amazing experience - not only meeting so many amazing women, but it has really strengthened my appreciation of the YWCA and the good work that we all do. All our respective YWCA s may have differences (whether that is the actual work carried out, how it organises itself, the number of members etc) but we all share common values and aims. I am so proud to belong to this fantastic global organisation that really changes people's lives. I urge all of you to consider applying for World Council in 2011 - you won't regret it! We are all looking forward to feeding back to you all at the AGM in September.
Bye for now,
Clare
REPORT #9 - 11/7/07
Hi everyone, a few snippets from Gill ...
9 July -
Regional Meetings
Europe met together and those countries present included - Georgia , Greece , Belarus , Ireland , Germany , Holland , Italy , Finland , Scotland , Denmark , Norway , Ukraine , Russia , England , Albania , Romania , France , Estonia , Sweden , Czech Republic , Poland , Switzerland , Belgium , Iceland .
We were focusing on the strategic plan for 2008-2012 and discussed three things -
1) regional input on World Strategic Framework,
2) Sharing resources / good practice exchange and
3) Regional input on ERM and opportunities on training.
There were many objectives and practical ideas to get us working more effectively as a region including - aim for 100% European countries with effective governance and management; mentoring system for young women's leadership; make the strategic plan SMART; website particularly for Europe; calendar of national events on world website; internships for young women; European newsletter; focus on staff management. The candidates for the World YWCA Board were introduced and asked to say a few words and then we had an update from the European committee - HIV seminar planned for Spring 2008 in Albania; Summer School (Adelheid); Oct 2008 next ERM venue still to be confirmed; registration in Belgium proving difficult so need to find and EU country to be registered in.
Launch of Global Campaign
$10.4 million raised
Susan Packard Orr spoke about what was needed for successful campaign fundraising:
1 - Compelling Vision
2 - Institutional advocates
3 - Dedicated volunteer leadership with connections and high profile
4 - Fine professional fundraising staff
5 - Prospects including individual prospects
She talked about thinking big and that big gifts needed concern, connection and capacity
Monica (President) then officially opened the Power to Change Fund. Guidelines for the fund will be ready for national associations in Spring 2008
Gill
REPORT #8 - 11/7/07
Dear all,
I should like to add that even though it is winter in Malawi it was boiling for me. I was very aware of what would be appropriate dress on my visits and ensured I was well covered up in spite of the heat. However we were always seated in the shade and the women and girls had been sitting on mats in front of us visitors in the sun! Drinking water to keep re-hydrated was an exercise in self restraint as I never knew when I would be able to find a loo! I forgot to mention in my earlier email that when we were in Mulanje and we were having lunch at the local president's home I couldn't wait any longer. Bearing in mind this house in the village had a tv, cd player, phone and dvd player I thought I would be safe. However, I was led to a small hut outside and had the pleasure of experiencing true village life and I'll leave it at that...
So, our final day was a trip to YWCA Chapananga Branch. I was a bit apprehensive about this visit as I had been warned that this was the poorest village the Y Malawi is working in. I was glad it was at the end of the safari (literal meaning is "journey") as at least i had got used to some of the culture and local traditions and knew some of what to expect. I knew that all the women and girls would be in skirts as none of them where trousers. They have long wrap type cloths they tie around themselves. Even the women volunteers who were accompanying us from the city brought wraps to put on over their business dress when we arrived at the village. As I was now used to travelling in a dusty, bumpy landrover I stuck to my trousers and as I was all covered up in a T-shirt and cardigan this seemed to be fine. I should also add that at the very beginning of my trip I had taken out my tiny blue stud earrings, taken off my 5 pound watch from Argos and my shell bracelet. All of these very non-expensive items still seemed too vulgar to me in the villages.
We got to Chapananga branch and saw children playing football as you do everywhere in the world. The difference here was that the football looked like a rag they had tied together but it still served its purpose. The children wore very old, torn, dusty clothes and seemed more wary of us than in the other villages. They soon came round however and we did the usual "hi-bye" exchanges much to their (and my) delight. Very young children were helping carry wood with their families and I was astounded and shocked at how much they could and had to carry.
This visit also involved more wonderful welcome songs and dances, this time under two large trees in the shade as there was no actual centre as such. We were extremely privileged to have the village elders join us for what was to be an important meeting.
Firstly we were delighted with more drama from the youth (young women), again many of whom had children.
The subject was the issue of HIV and AIDS and literacy. The literacy classes the Y provide in the community and beyond in the region were promoted and the issue women face when their husbands are unfaithful was highlighted as a huge HIV transmission problem.
Two older women stood up and read in front of the group which was amazing as they had just learnt to read from their local Y programme.
The elders acknowledged and celebrated the work of the Y in the region in terms of literacy and HIV awareness raising. They explained however that although these were wonderful achievements the people in the village were still hungry and every year their land is decimated by horrendous floods so they lose all their crops, also making some income generating schemes involved with growing seriously problematic.
The discussion then turned to the issue of some traditional practices which encourage the spread of HIV. These include wife inheritance, where for example when a husband dies his widow marries his brother who may well be infected. (I have since learnt that this can also happen with husbands so they have to marry their wife's female relative in the case of their wife's death - again spreading the virus.)
Thankfully the elders said they were trying to phase out this practice but as with anything of this nature it will take considerable time to eradicate.
Other practices include "cleansing". This can happen if a young women has a child and is not married. She then has to have sex with another man to be "cleansed"
- the man is not tested to see if he is HIV positive.
A tradition that the elders actively promote is that of "child spacing". This is actually meant to protect women in the village to ensure that they are not pregnant all the time and at risk of losing at lot of blood and also simply so families can afford to feed their children. When a married couple have had a child they then have to wait for "permission" from the elders before they can have any more. As birth control is not used in the villages (a whole other issue and no room to discuss here) the couple can not have sex.
However, as it can take some time for the elders to give the go-ahead the husband goes off to find another sexual partner in the mean time - again not testing for HIV which he may then come back and pass on to his wife, putting her in an extremely vulnerable position.
I mentioned in my earlier email that there is a myth that having sex with a virgin will cure an infected person with HIV - this is another horrendous factor that contributes to increased transmission of the virus.
The positive outcome of the discussion was that people in the villages are now more aware of how the virus is transmitted and can identify risks in terms of their own behaviour. The elders are included in this and they have much of the decision making power.
The challenge however across the country is that women are generally not in control of their sexual and reproductive health and are not always able to negotiate safer sex. Being aware of how they can stay safe and remain healthy is a huge step in the right direction but there is still so far to go.
Women in Mulanje branch expressed how many pregnant women are now refusing to go to hospital to give birth as they are scared of the HIV testing they will have to have. There is an issue around testing as many people feel forced into it when they access health services so they would rather not go in the first place.
People only know of their HIV status when they are so sick they have to seek medical attention and are then tested to access treatment for TB or similar AIDS related conditions.
Stigma and discrimination are massive obstacles to overcome as people are not getting tested as they would rather not know their status in case of them then having to disclose to family and friends. Women may well be abandoned and thrown out of their homes even if their husband is the one who infected them but he refuses to go for testing.
Other stories involve men taking their wives HIV medication for themselves as they know their status but do not want anyone else to know but they still want the treatment.
Some women who may want to be tested can not get permission from their husbands to go to hospital and therefore have no access to funds to make the journey.
Mother to child transmission is not the most prevalent form of HIV transmission but it is still an issue in the pandemic. When preparing for my trip to Africa I did a lot of background reading on HIV and AIDS and learnt all about the measures HIV positive women can put in place when expecting a child, during childbirth and afterwards. However when I got to the villages I soon realised that these may work in the cities but not here. The key barrier I could see was breast feeding. (breast feeding is a transmission risk)It is such a part of daily life. Women were feeding their children throughout all the activities that had been arranged for us, in our groups and openly. Imagine a baby bottle appearing, everyone would immediately know the woman's HIV status. This does not even begin to address the other practical issues of sterilised bottles, clean water for powdered milk or the money to pay for milk.
It was a real learning experience in terms of being able to compare theory to reality. It just emphasised again the need to address the stigma and discrimination issues around the pandemic in order to make any progress. Literacy has a significant part to play in this and so the programmes YWCA Malawi are running in the villages are all contributing to the fight against HIV and AIDS.
I hope this gives you an idea of some of the issues the women, young women and girls face in the country I visited. However don't make the mistake that life is always miserable in these places. I have never met such happy, generous people. If the YWCA members in some of the villages I visited did not have their religion they would have absolutely nothing. Singing and dancing is such a huge part of the culture and no one can escape the joy and hope their worship and prayer bring. I saw such a positive side of Christianity in these villages I even surprised myself!
Having seen the resources and conditions that YWCA Malawi are working with/in I am completely bowled over by their achievements in their local branches for women and young women in terms of empowerment and leadership. The commitment of the volunteers and members alike is phenomenal. I have not just witnessed the "sisterhood" of the YWCA I have personally experienced it and felt the power it has to bring about change in the most unlikely places.....
sarah
REPORT #7 - 9/7/07
Hi everyone,
It's been a very busy week!
On Friday I attended a workshop on "women's human rights- violence against women and HIV and AIDS". It was very interesting and really opened my eyes to the issue as I really had very little knowledge on it.
Friday night saw everybody getting dressed up for the gala evening and I have to say that GB looked good! The evening was great fun with a special tribute being made to YWCA World General Secretary, Musimbi Kanyoro. She knew nothing about it so it was a lovely surprise for her but very overwhelming for everyone. After dancing the night away, Julie presented me with a special election tie for good luck. When we were in Brisbane , I gave Julie a tie and it definitely brought her good luck so hopefully mine will too. Mine is very trendy - bright pink with stars all over it.
Saturday saw the last day of the IWS. We listened to many speakers including Musimbi and Sono Abile from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (this is where Musimbi is moving to). In the afternoon I was interviewed by Betty Tatham from the USA on some of the projects we are running in Scotland . She was very enthused with the work we are doing and will be running a feature in her magazine and website.
I was an invited guest to the American Embassy on Saturday night and it was good fun. Julie Dickson was there too and it was a chance to network and to get to know the other candidates standing for election.
I spent Sunday morning writing my young women's pre-council report and speech before heading off to an intercultural evening at "Bomas". Bomas is a recreated African village with numerous homesteads reflecting Kenya 's cocktail of cultures. We got to see how a typical African tribe would live with mud huts for wife 1, 2, and 3 - It was very interesting!
Monday was the start of the actual world council and was very exciting as we had to vote for our new president whom you will now know is Susan Brennan. The GB delegation voted for her and I know that she will make a great president with her enthusiasm and vision for the organisation.
The Global campaign was launched in the afternoon with balloons being launched into the sky. The power to change fund is now sitting at $10.4 million dollars and from next year, every YWCA can start tapping into the interest of the fund to help run leadership programmes. In Scotland , we helped the world "Y" reach this figure through local and national fundraising so we should share in the joy and excitement as there was definitely a buzz in the air yesterday.
Today was the reporting part of the council and I gave the report on the young women's pre-council. I was very nervous as there were nearly 1,000 women in the room but I did it and I was very proud of myself!
This afternoon we voted for who we wish to be on the new world board with the results being announced tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed for me.
Can you imagine 1000 women from many different countries in the world posing for one photograph?? Well that is what we did today - the official YWCA world council photograph. I think it will be an achievement to try and find us in it as my goodness there were a lot of women.
Tonight I have a rehearsal for morning worship tomorrow. I have been asked to sing so that is quite a nice ending to my time at world council.
I will let you know right away when the announcements are made tomorrow about the new board.
See you all next week when I get back.
Kirsty
Kenya news - election of World YWCA President - 9/7/07
Hi Everyone, Susan Brennan from YWCA Australia has been elected World YWCA President. You can read her profile and vision for YWCA by clicking on http://www.ywca.org.au/pdfs/SusanBrennan.pdf
REPORT #6 - 9/7/07
Good morning!
I will keep this one brief!
So day two was a trip to Mulanje branch. This was a bit further away and the roads were even more special! The area is beautiful and surrounded by huge mountains. It seemed to be undergoing some sort of development; possibly the building of new roads from what we could see. There were fields and fields of what I found out to be tea which is apparently a huge export for Africa .
As we pulled up in front of another small, white building in the village we could see women and children singing and dancing to welcome us. I was a bit more prepared for it this time and was able to join in more easily!
Myself and Sade (from Finland ), the YWCA Malawi volunteers and a representative from a civil rights organisation were invited to sit in the shade on the porch type area. (The president, general secretary and two young women volunteers had left for the World Council in Nairobi )
More wonderful songs and dancing followed and I even managed to get some photos! The youth (young women's group) then sang a song about how their health was their responsibility and that they must look after themselves so as to not be at risk of HIV. They then did a drama piece on the dangers of poor girls exchanging sexual favours for material gifts from men in the towns and cities and the risks of becoming ill and having to go to hospital where you would then have to be tested. Many of these wonderful young women who were not far out of childhood themselves had their babies strapped to their backs during the singing and drama.
The women then did a piece on the importance of education and how the Y has helped them in terms of literacy and income generating projects where microcredit is used to enable the women to set up small businesses to support themselves to become economically empowered.
The message of HIV and AIDS and how the virus is transmitted is spread through song and drama. This was a very powerful way of educating and raising awareness in the villages which is a common theme on my visit.
YWCA Malawi recognise 3 fundamental issues the women and young women face in the villages; Illiteracy, poverty and the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Through literacy projects they endeavour to tackle the other two as women become empowered and able to take more control over their own lives.
What followed was a discussion on the women's civil rights. The representative was explaining what the women were "entitled" to in terms of what they could complain about and try to change. The challenge for the women is that sometimes it's all very well knowing your rights but actually being able to exercise them or have them respected in a patriarchal community is another matter. One of the issues that arose was domestic abuse. The women were encouraged to tell the village chief and the police but they did not seem convinced. Another problem was husbands leaving their wife and children and going off to another village to marry another woman. This seemed to be quite common and would leave the first wife extremely vulnerable.
The women do all the domestic work in terms of collecting water, fire wood and looking after the home and children. They resent this and really wish their husbands would help them more.
The women were also concerned about many of the older men who are marrying very young women which is another factor in the spread of HIV.
Aside from this a very scary common myth is that if you have sex with a virgin it will cure you of HIV. This has meant that even children have been raped in the country to this end as infected men want to make sure the girl is a virgin.
Throughout the morning, prayers were said and hallelujahs were shouted. A Y volunteer called Srena Khofi really got the women enthused and involved in the session. She is an incredibly strong woman at ease in the city and the villages alike (as were all the volunteers actually). She was a real motivator and empowered women where-ever we went.
After these discussions we went back to the local president's house for lunch and experienced wonderful Malawian hospitality. We then visited local missionary projects before making the bumpy journey home.
Every evening we were looked after by volunteers and their families and welcomed into their homes for an evening meal and chat.
bye for now
sarah
REPORT #5 - 8/7/07
Hi everyone, Sarah Cross, YWCA Lochend Centre manager made a 3 day visit to YWCA Malawi as part of the YWCA Partnership safari before heading to Kenya for World Council. Here are her recollections of the first part of that journey.
Hi Everyone,
Where do I start so much has happened since I left!
During my epic journey to Malawi I flew to the international airport of Lilongwe (capital city although still under going development)and then had a five hour car journey to the commercial capital of Blantyre . It was my first time in Africa so everything I was hearing and seeing was new. I had flown all night and had not been able to sleep so was shattered but I could not help but feel re-energised and amazed by what I was seeing.
In a way I am so glad I had gone to the wrong airport as had I flown directly to Blantyre I would never have seen the country in the way that I did with just me and the driver on the dusty road.
We passed village after village and people carrying things to and from market, either on their head or on the back of a push bike. All at the side of the road where much of the action seems to be with buying and selling goods either made or grown. I have never seen anything like it.
The country is vast, beautiful, with mountains and surprisingly green, although very dry at the same time.
So eventually I get to Blantyre in the evening, about 26hrs after I left Edinburgh . YWCA Malawi had left messages for me in the hotel to contact them and we agreed I would be picked up first thing in the morning to start my "Partnership Safari". We would be joined by a lady called Sade from YWCA Finland who would also be visiting the projects.
We started with a visit to the main office of YWCA Malawi which is in Blantyre and is basically the back rooms of Nettie's pharmacy where she works. There is a small office, and narrow reception area with a desk, one slightly larger room which looks like a store room, a couple of loos and a kitchen area. From here all the work I was about to see in practice was organised. From what I could gather this was a vast improvement to meeting in someone's lounge in their house!
After meeting everyone and having a discussion about similarities and differences between our three countries we had lunch together (having had a jug of water and a bowl passed round to wash our hands which we will do every meal time from now on) and waited for our transport to arrive to take us to a local branch.
After an hour's wait they got a call to say the driver had been arrested so would not be able to pick us up! We eventually got another driver to come and collect us in his very dusty, and well used (!)land rover. The drive to Namiango branch was not long as it is not far out of the city but it was very bumpy along what were essentially mud tracks the closer we got to the community where the Y were working. I was pointed out a water hole/pump, a project which was organised by the YWCA Malawi and which was partly funded by a donation made by YWCA Scotland staff. So I have seen this wonderful development in the village which now means the women can attend literacy classes as they are not having to walk for miles to collect water. Apparently it was easy to co-ordinate once the funds were in place.
Bearing this in mind later on in my travels when people have no water and all it would take is funding.
So we arrive at a small white building and a group of women, girls and children are all singing and dancing to welcome us. At this point I am completely overwhelmed and could quite easily burst into tears.
(Thankfully I manage to keep it together). They lead us in song and dance into one of what seems to be two small rooms which is the branch. We are invited to go in first and sit on the chairs arranged with a small wooden table in front. There are just enough chairs for us visitors and the YWCA Malawi volunteers and all the women and girls sit on a mat on the floor. There is NO other furniture in the room at all. Small children are cramming in the doorway to see these funny white women, in funny clothes!
We have introductions and more songs. Each branch has its own committee and president made up of local women and young women who are referred to as "youth" but are just girls. The youth projects are co-ordinated by youth volunteers who are based at the YWCA Malawi office but visit their own branches to work with the youth groups. Remembering the Y has no transport suitable for travelling to these villages the volunteers take pick up truck buses and sit in the back along with everyone else. The Landrover was special for us.
AT this Namiango branch as well as literacy classes for women and girls, the members run Home Based Care programmes (HBC) for local people very ill with AIDS related illnesses. (Men or women whoever is in most need) When they can they take food and toiletries to the people but more often than not it is their time they give which costs nothing). They pray with the sick, they talk to them, they bathe them and they clean their houses to try to minimise the risk of further infection. We visited two people at their homes who had TB. On this occasion the Y Malawi had been able to bring rice and toiletries which we took with us. We only stayed a short while and we prayed with the women and the people we were visiting. I am still not really able to articulate how this felt. It was not a comfortable visit. We are treated as honoured guests just for coming to visit. All I could do was thank them for welcoming us strangers into their homes and tell them that I was so glad to meet them.
What strikes you and will continue to do so on my trip is that these Y members have nothing, they are living in the same community as the people they are helping. They are benefiting from the Y project themselves e.g. literacy but at the same time they are helping their neighbours with the HBCP. This is my first experience of what I will come to see as the true "sisterhood" of the Y.
It's actually quite emotional writing about all this so I think I will stop for now and write about the next day tomorrow. I hope that's ok.
Sarah
REPORT #4 - 5/7/07
Having the vision and the passion is not enough - you need to articulate it to other women
Today was the opening of the IWS and the president of Kenya came. There was lots of security to the point that they even brought the president's own chair with him!
I took part in the opening ceremony singing and it went well! It was utterly amazing singing in front of so many people including the president of Kenya and the first lady of Honduras - I felt very honoured and very proud of myself - not many 22 year old's can say they have been lucky enough to be given that opportunity. The president of the world YWCA Monica Zsetch told me that when she hears me sing it touches her as I really sing from my heart! Julie even had a few tears when I was singing as she was so proud!
I was approached by a company that was there about recording an album. They cut songs that have messages or can change lives so that was very exciting. There were many speakers at the opening and many choirs etc and it was amazing to be in a room with over 2000 people!
This afternoon we had break out sessions and I was asked to be a rappertoire for the session on "women and decision making". It was very interesting and there were many speakers including Yassine Fall from UNIFEM. We had lots of discussion about women and leadership and particularly that of young women and their place in society. I was asked to write up the meeting to be included in the world council report which thankfully I have just finished!
Tonight I am off to an MTV dinner as an invited guest. MTV are taking part in the council offering a group of young women the opportunity to plan, film, edit and screen their own film around HIV and AIDS in 48 hours. It is very exciting and I am looking forward to the ceremony this evening.
Kirsty
REPORT #3 - 5/7/07
There is nothing that women who are united cannot achieve
What a morning! Today was the first day of the International Women's Summit .
Our guest speakers included the President of Kenya, the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, The Director General of WHO and many more. There were some really inspiring speeches as well as great entertainment, including a local youth choir and Kirsty who sang for the 2,000 strong crowd!
We attended seminars in the afternoon - I attended one called Securing women's rights. We learnt that the key drivers to the AIDS pandemic was poverty, gender discrimination and inequality and justice. By focusing on respecting human rights (women's rights are human rights) and by mobilising together to change society's attitudes we can defeat it. We must also take responsibility to speak up and make sure we hold our countries responsible for their governance on these matters.
In other news, I am now an Election Monitor for the voting during the World Council. As well as handing out the ballot papers to voting delegates, I will be counting them too. This means that I will have a good indication of who has won before everyone else does - I think Kirsty and I will have to avoid each other before the results are announced as it will be very hard for us both because of this!!!
Clare
REPORT #2 - 4/7/07
You teach a woman, you've taught a nation
The pre-council training days were interesting, there were 7 of us on the female initiated prevention workshop and it was moving to hear people report on the lack of accessibility and availability of female condoms for a lot of countries across the world. We talked about the attitudes that prevent female condom distribution and the impact the condom can have in giving women independence and more crucially safety in terms of prevention in contracting HIV.
Then we got onto the practicals! - yes, they even asked for a volunteer and approached the GB delegation - this request we did not take up and thankfully the facilitator - a very charismatic South African woman called Maya - resorted to plastic models. We all had a go at learning how to demonstrate how to use the condom which was great fun and a really good icebreaker in getting to know the person next to you, in my case, the Vice-President of Tanzania. The two days training were hard work but well worth it and we all helped with writing flip chart notes and feeding back. Some quotes from the training included "you teach a woman, you've taught a nation" and " Who made you the judge? What about being an advocate?".
We have all learned to adapt to African time which means you add on 10 - 30 minutes to the time in the programme - you can imagine how hard this was for some of us control freaks out here, however, I have to say that we are all pretty chilled about it now.
We have just concluded the two days extraordinary world council (EWC) and I know Clare and Kirsty have already detailed the opening ceremony which was an amazingly colourful spectacle with African drums and music playing us into the conference hall. We had an inspiring talk from Mary Robinson on human rights and focusing on dignity and duty to communities. She quoted from the Seamus Heaney poem "The Republic of Conscience". There is going to be a Mary Robinson Award within the YWCA movement relating to human rights work. The languages spoken in the Council were English, French and Spanish.
The first day of the EWC focused on explanations of the revised constitution and this was done really well by Susan Brennan who is one of the candidates up for election as President. People were able to express any concerns and then we broke into groups and discussed what the revised constitution would mean for us and this was really good as you were able to understand why some countries were finding the preamble and basis part of the constitution (Christian part) difficult because of the situations in their country or because they just could not see themselves working with anyone other than a Christian - so you can imagine the debates that went on but all in good spirit and with huge respect.
Today the voting began and first of all we agreed to vote new affiliations and that was great with lots of clapping, singing and a lot of joy as it was obvious how hard people had worked to become an affiliated member and how much it meant to them. Candles were lit for them and Julie and the other Vice-Presidents gave out the certificates.
We then voted on the constitution and the result was:
Main body of Constitution
Individual delegate vote For (317) Against (0) Abstain (0)
Affiliated Assoc vote For (87) Against (0) Abstain (0)
So main body was passed unanimously
Preamble and Basis
Individual delegate vote For (270) Against (32) Abstain (15)
Affiliated Assoc vote For (81) Against (8) Abstain (2)
So preamble and basis was passed as you need 234 votes and 71 votes to get it passed
Everyone was very excited about this and there was lots of dancing and singing
Best Wishes to everyone back home
Gill
And a message from Kirsty ......
Today (Wednesday) we finished the extraordinary council and the new constitution was passed. This is a massive achievement for everyone involved and for all the members. It is also so positive for young women as they have a much stronger position in the new constitution. Every affiliated association is now entitled to 6 votes at world council with 25% of each delegation's votes being for young women.
Monica Zsetch the World YWCA President gave a truly inspiring and very emotional outgoing speech at the opening of World Council. The sakoni market place also opened today and gives each association an opportunity to share information and learn and grow from one another. GB has a stall!
At the world council, all the delegates standing for the executive committee (or as the constitution was passed it shall now be known as the World Board) were introduced to everyone and we had a reception this evening so you could have a chance to ask them questions etc.
Will hopefully have more to report soon
Best Wishes,
Kirsty
REPORT #1 - 3/7/07
"I want you to keep the fire burning and the waves crashing."
I led an interactive interview with Musimbi Kanyoro, General Secretary of YWCA World Council at the start of the young women's pre-council, which was amazing. I asked her lots of questions including why there are not as many young women in the organisation as we would like and what advice she would give us on how we can continue to lead the organisation in a way that will empower young women for generations to come. She responded by asking young women " Why did you not apply for my job as General Secretary?". She wants us to keep asking ourselves this question and encouraged us to apply for leadership positions. As always, Musimbi left us with food for thought. Her last comment to us was "as I leave you as General Secretary, I want you to keep the fire burning and the waves crashing."
Clare also attended the Young Women's Forum and gave a very good report back from several of the workshops she was involved in.
"The Young Women's Leadership forum was a great space to discuss issues relevant to young women today, as well as making new friends. I reported back to 250 young women on Body Image and Empowerment - I was nervous speaking to so many people but everyone is so supportive of each other that my nerves soon went. I've had the opportunity to report back to several groups so far, which I've enjoyed." - Clare
The Young Women's Forum ended with a meal at one of Kenya 's top restaurants 'The Carnivore' where we tasted ostrich and danced late into the night..
Tonight (Tuesday) we had the opening ceremony It was absolutely fantastic walking in with lots of different countries - there was such a buzz in the air!! We started the day with the extraordinary world council looking at the new world constitution which will hopefully be passed tomorrow. We split up into discussion groups to look at where our own associations fit or don't fit. Some of the main themes for discussion were around the fact that young women have a place in the new constitution as it will be mandatory that each delegation has 25% of voting delegates in it - this will be a massive challenge for some delegations but a very positive one as the YWCA is all about young women getting their voice heard!
"The Extraordinary World Council started with the Opening Ceremony where we all lined up in our delegations to enter the plenary hall. Seeing so many women from so many countries (and in their national dress) was truly amazing and a sight to remember! "- Clare
That's all for now,
Kirsty & Clare
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