Meet the YOWLI 2010 Participants (I)

Noreen Mukhwana Mutoro - Kenya - 22 years
My name is Noreen Mukhwana Mutoro and I come from Nairobi, Kenya. I am a 3^rd year student at the University of Nairobi doing Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife Management and Conservation. I am 22 years old, vivacious and with a joie de vivre attitude. I was born on the 24^th of May 1988 and I am the 6^th born in a family of seven. 

My true passion lies in languages and nature. I enjoy learning new languages, new vocabulary and writing or reading quotes. So far, my favorite foreign language is French. I also speak Swahili which is our national language, English and a bit of my mother tongue, Luhya. Everything about nature fascinates me. 

The current project I am working on, together with my community group, involves the making of traditional baskets and all purpose bags, using eco-friendly materials and labor from the locals. This project would help to reduce the use of plastic bags in our community which have become one of the leading causes of environmental pollution. It was also provide job employment for the youth who we plan to train to make our products and last but not least, it will preserve the culture in our community as people would return to use traditional baskets like in the olden days. From our profits, we plan to set recycling bins in designated areas around the town. 

David Takawira - Zimbabwe - 25 years

I am a realist driven by facts, values and ethics as embroilment of character. I value the sanctity of life and equal opportunities in life. I am conscious of the existence, meaning, purpose, potential and destiny of humankind, people, and self. I am motivated by a self-felt, self-accepted calling to the cause of good, growth, and gain in the lives of others. Influential communication of ideas is a primary way of achieving those objectives. My perception and thinking tend to be holistic and conceptual, by seeing the big picture and moving strategically towards it.

My mission is to nurture, contribute to and initiate actions that lead to empowerment and a sense of purpose in my life and that of others. I therefore undertake to promote, inspire and partner with others in striving for development and equality in all cultures, classes, genders and ages. I am thus committed to transforming people and building the capacity of organizations for better development implementation to benefit deprived communities in Zimbabwe, Africa and ultimately the world.

I have a niche for Democracy, Governance, Leadership, Partner Engagement and Human Rights especially Economic, Social and Cultural rights. 

Eunice Kirunda Nsaire - Uganda - 24 years

As principle researcher at Uganda Development Link, Eunice Nsaire works on gender, human traficking and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) issues with youth in Uganda's slums. She has worked in collaboration with some U.N. agencies as a social worker and helped launch a drug and substance abuse project targeting youth in schools. Additionally, she trains youth on HIV/AIDS and provides them with practical vocational skills and knowledge.

Official YOWLI 2010 Agenda

Dear YOWLI 2010 Participants,

Please find below the official YOWLI 2010 Agenda. You can follow the link to download the agenda and start doing some basic research on the modules. We should send you additional information shortly with course descriptions and some resources to help you prepare.

Best,
YOWLI 2010 Committee

Yowli 2010 Agenda

Creating space for women - Interview with Talent Jumo (YOWLI '08) on YOWLI Zimbabwe

Talent Jumo, YOWLI '08 Grad

What inspired the formation of the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative?

In 2007 a group of young women came together to discuss issues, things that were happening around us. We realised that spaces were getting smaller and most young women weren’t able to participate because of the environment - it was getting volatile. It had also been unfriendly out there for young women to come out and speak. So we thought we should create our own space.

Our focus is young women and leadership, but we have also decided to look at sexual and reproductive health and rights. We felt that it was important for young women to be able to relate to themselves, to know their bodies so that they can gain some form of control over their bodies and their sexuality. It’s only when we are comfortable that we can then manoeuvre into the public space and assert ourselves in those spaces. 

Given all the things that young women are ordinarily concerned about; school, getting a husband, a job, etc; how does YOWLI get young women to think about and actively participate?

The fact that we are talking about our bodies and sexuality is what makes it possible for us to maintain that interest. We are talking about things that are happening to us everyday. In really addressing issues that are affecting us now, and also trying to see how we can live a more meaningful life and be able to participate more fully in other spaces.

So sexuality is an interesting topic for people?

It is. You know people get excited, and when you start talking you never finish. For us we thought we would start talking about issues, which have been deemed ‘sacred cows’. We have players who have been looking at this thematic area for a long time, but not talking about abortion for example. We know that women are aborting. And we know that if a woman wants an abortion they will go ahead and have one. These are the real issues that young women are facing. Issues of lesbianism, bisexuality and being gay, those are issues that we thought we have to talk about it. Issues of sex work: we have a programme where we are helping sex workers to organise through the sisterhood agenda. 

How does the subject of Feminism relate to YOWLI’s work amongst young women?

YOWLI is a feminist organisation. We share the same principles [as feminism], we believe that women have rights; women’s rights are human rights. Human rights are indivisible and they are universal. These are all issues we are pushing through. But because we are at different levels we felt that it would be important to continuously build our own capacities, to strengthen our understanding of feminism, and also to reflect on our lives.

The feminist circle that YOWLI is currently hosting is called the Chimurenga Sisterhood. It’s unique in that it’s not just an academic space. We look at feminism from our lived realities. We want to bring it into our homes and our lives.

Is there a brand of Feminism that may be considered uniquely African?

As a feminist circle we have just started exploring what feminism should be for Africans. I think this feminism for me would be a feminism that [understands] that there is need for us to look at our background and traditions and see the good therein, and be able to build on that, rather than labelling all traditional practices as negative. Take for example the practice of roora, personally I feel that if we do away with roora, we may have trouble. Women may find themselves in huge trouble, where men may feel that women today are worthless. Creating a balance would be for people to be able to exchange gifts. The imbalance comes in because a woman is being equated to a herd of cattle and some cash. 

Would you say this is the beginning of a Zimbabwean Feminist movement?

I believe that feminism is a title that has been stigmatised for a very long time. The arrival of the gender-mainstreaming ideology swept out feminist ideologies. Most women’s groups wanted to be identified with being gender activists and not really feminists. Some people believe that feminist has something to do with being radical extremist pro-abortionists who don’t take time to think. We have had a women’s movement, we have had a gender sector, but I also believe that women’s groups have tended to mainstream gender. Most organisations have taken that approach and used it as an excuse for not really committing resources and time to look at women’s’ empowerment issues. It has watered down the struggle in a way

To find out more about YOWLI Zimbabwe's work and initiatives, check out their website: http://www.pepeta.org/

--
Interview & Photo Source: http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/women/101006inzwa2.asp?sector=WOMEN

ATT : PRE-TRAVEL MEDICATION (YOWLI PARTICIPANTS)

Summary of recommendations: YOWLI participants, you are advised to visit your personal physician or a travel health clinic  4 weeks before departure and enquire  about anti-Malaria medication. Vaccinations: pre-travel medication  Malaria in Senegal: Prophylaxis is recommended for  all travelers. Prophylaxis with Lariam (mefloquine),  Malarone (atovaquone/proguanil), or doxycycline is  recommended. Either mefloquine (Lariam), atovaquone/proguanil (Malarone), or doxycycline

 may be given. Mefloquine is taken once weekly in a dosage of 250 mg, starting 

one-to-two weeks before arrival and continuing through the trip and for four weeks 

after departure. Mefloquine may cause mild neuropsychiatric symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, dizziness, insomnia, and nightmares. Rarely, severe reactions occur, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, hallucinations, and seizures. Mefloquine should not be given to anyone with a history of seizures, psychiatric illness, cardiac conduction disorders, or allergy to quinine or quinidine.

Atovaquone/proguanil (Malarone) is a recently approved combination pill taken once daily with food starting two days before arrival and continuing through the trip and for seven days after departure. Side-effects, which are typically mild, may include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, diarrhea, or dizziness. Serious adverse reactions are rare.

 Doxycycline is effective, but may cause an exaggerated sunburn reaction.

At least 700 families living outside Kenya refugee camp face peril

SOURCE:CNN

 "A case in point of the challenge climate change presents to post-conflict reconstruction efforts, refugees and internally displaced persons"

(CNN)-- The largest refugee camp in the world, in Dadaab, Kenya, is facing an overcrowding crisis with at least 700 families now residing in "unacceptable living conditions" outside the camp and in peril with the approaching rain season, the humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said.

The overflowing refugee camp -- accommodating almost 300,000 Somali refugees though it was built for only 90,000 -- is now seeing "spontaneous settlements" of at least 3,000 people living in makeshift shelters, the group said Friday. Those 3,000 people couldn't find room in the three camps that make up the Dadaab compound, including the 700 families outside the Dagahaley camp, the group said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres on Friday called upon the international aid community and Kenyan authorities to reach an agreement to provide assistance to the families, as heavy rains the past two days have flooded the settlements.

"Hundreds of families have been living in makeshift shelters in a no-man's land over the past four months, waiting to be re-located to a proper camp," said Joke Van Peteghem, the group's head of mission in Kenya. "These refugees are in dire need of assistance given the hardships they have endured. With the onset of the rainy season, we must act now."

The dire conditions have long been documented by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which in May described services as "stretched to their limits" and unacceptable conditions that included a "growing risk of and vulnerability to disease."

"We are at a dead end," said Van Peteghem. "While we have distributed plastic sheeting to the new refugee families, it is far from enough, especially now that the rainy season has started."

Thousands of men, women and children flee by foot the war in Somalia each month, making a treacherous journey into Kenya, but they arrive to the refugee camps finding shortages of water, food, sanitation and shelter, Medecins Sans Frontieres officials said.The camp complex is so overcrowded that it cannot accept hundreds of families, group officials said.

Kenya to launch Africa's first carbon exchange

Source:BBC

Kenya is to launch a climate exchange platform to facilitate the trading of carbon credits and help tackle climate change.

The market will be the first of its kind in Africa, enabling all African countries to sell their carbon credits.

The exchange is expected to be open for business by the middle of next year.

Carbon dioxide is one of the main gases causing climate change, scientists say, and such exchanges are one way to offset carbon emissions.

Polluting industries in rich countries pay for clean development projects in poor countries.

Some forecasts warn that Africa will be badly affected by climate change, even though most of the greenhouse gases which cause it are produced in the West and Asia.

One carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide, or in some markets, carbon dioxide-equivalent gases.

The BBC's Kevin Mwachiro in Nairobi says officials hope the trade in carbon credits will open up investment in the generation of renewable energy and forestry projects.

Kenya's government estimates that its largest forest, the Mau, has the potential to earn the country close to $2bn (£1.2bn) a year over the next 15 years.

But our reporter says that before the country runs to the bank, this value would have to be certified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

YOWLI UPDATE: VISA REQUIREMENTS

Please check with the Senegalese consulate or embassy in your country. If your country does not have one you should find the nearest consulate in a neighboring country.

Please Note: If there's no Senegalese consulate in your country, also check with the French embassy about getting a visa to Senegal.



West African participants do not require a visa to visit Senegal due to ECOWAS(except for Cameroon). For the list of member states, kindly visit http://www.ecowas.int/?lang=en

Make sure you have the following

• valid passport
• 3 passport photos
• Invitation letter (to be sent to you once you confirm your participation in YOWLI 2010)

Check the website links below for some related information.
http://www.traveldocs.com/sn/index.htm
http://www.senegalembassy.co.uk/visaAndpassport.html

For more details please check with the Senegalese consulate or embassy in your country.

Please Note: Make sure you  keep and bring any receipts for costs incurred during the processing of your visas.

Call for Submissions: AWOMI "Share Your Thoughts" 16 Days of Activism Campaign

Hello Everyone!

Every year since 1991,  the time period of November 25 (International Day Against Violence Against Women) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day) has been recognized as the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Throughout this period, women and youth groups, development practitioners, human rights activists, every day people like you and I, have stood up in their own way to discount gender violence and promote human rights. This year's theme focuses on violence in the context of conflict, and with gruesome instances like the high incidence of rape in Congo, it couldn't come at a better time.

Since its inception in 2005, AWOMI has worked with local African women and youth on issues pertaining to gender violence and human rights. During our biannual Young Women's Knowlegde and Leadership Institute (YOWLI), young activists from Africa and the Diaspora are trained on gender violence issues like rape, female genital mutilation, domestic violence and so on. Such workshops not only help in informing our YOWLI participants and graduates, but also promote story sharing.

YOWLI 2008 participants using silent theatre performances to depict rape during their Gender Violence training

CONGRATULATIONS YOWLI FINALISTS

Heartiest congratulations on your victory ,a hard fight well won by the best.We are pleased to announce the 2010, 15 YOWLI candidates  that were selected among 70 applicants to participate in this year’s YOWLI training.They will be joined by three Haitian students from the Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), as well as three students from Saint Marie de Hann.

Name	Country
Habonimana  Desire	Burundi
Omolara  Akua Oyelakun Tay	Ghana
Marion Ochieng	Kenya
Noreen Mutoro	Kenya
Kula Zodua	Liberia
Awai Paula Erdoo	Nigeria
Musa Soko	Sierra Leone
Namumbya Justin Ntule	Uganda
Eunice  Nsaire	Uganda
David Takawira	Zimbabwe
Ngo Ngos Bernadette	Cameroun
Nzoyem Christelle	Cameroun
Ndéye Rokhayatou Wade	Senegal
Médoune Cissé	Sénégal
Kra Kouamé Constantin  Rosemary Agbor Mbeng	Côte d’Ivoire Cameroun

 Please do not forget to send your confirmation ,medical form,profile and photo by November 11(next week Thursday).