Claiming March for women

One of the most stimulating publications I have recently read was a book called ‘Herstory’, a title that is a rejection of the term ‘History’, which modern feminists view as a patriarchic term.

The book tells individual stories about the struggles and eventual triumphs of women parliamentarians in a West African country. It is a study book that encourages women to seek public office. American poet Maya Angelou is credited with coining the feminist noun ‘shero’ as befitting the description of women - and not ‘hero’, a masculine noun that does not sit well with women activists.

Whereas these two examples could be seen as a struggle by women against male dominance, they in fact prove an underlying spirit inherent in a woman; that of testing the bounds, which is a stark contradiction of the idea that women are supposed to be emotional, tender and submissive to their men. The biblical story of Eve - that this restless woman is the cause of human suffering - has been told several times over, so much so that when Kenyans suffer runaway inflation and unemployment Eve is to blame.

At the risk of being accused of humanising a biblical story of disobedience, I have written elsewhere in an essay titled ‘A male priest is as inspired as a beautiful woman’ that Eve, in testing the power of a higher authority, in wanting to find out, in wanting to know, in desiring to discover at a time when man had been contented and uninspired, that this woman should be celebrated as a forerunner to learning. She and her spouse Adam were eventually punished, but that does not negate the initial notion of enquiry, which is easily discernible.

The UN has a special day, International Women’s Day, which is marked annually on 8 March. In observing this day last year, there was a panel discussion by women professionals and the launch of a documentary titled ‘Burden of Peace’, written by journalist Kwamchetsi Makokha. This documentary highlights the atrocities that were visited on women by the Kenya police in the wake of post election violence in 2008. Many of these women were gang raped by the police and infected by HIV/Aids.

This year Kenyan women observed women’s day by bringing together about 50 mothers whose sons have disappeared or died in extra-judicial killings. Like last year, a documentary titled ‘Dead or Alive’, that captures these unresolved cases, was unveiled. Sophie Dawllar, the national coordinator of the social movement World March of Women and who organised these events, says that ‘in showing this documentary we were opening wounds which many people, afraid of speaking out, would rather leave them to the victims to suffer in silence. It was indeed an emotional day seeing women joining mothers and wives of victims of extra-judicial killings breaking down in endless crying.’

But if Kenyan women in the civil society movement have marked the last two international women’s days in a turbulent moment of sorrow, vocalising issues of social justice, making political statements and providing evidence for action, their colleagues in art unite on SWAN Day, now in its fourth year, which is marked every last Saturday of March. The feminist movement has claimed March as a women’s month.

SWAN is an acronym for ‘support women artists now’. It is a day that is dedicated to women artists. Women artists from all genres (painters, poets, puppeteers, writers, actresses, musicians, designers, beads makers, culinary specialists) assemble in one place on this particular day in cities around the world to showcase artistic expressions produced by women. SWAN Day was marked last Saturday at the historic Wasanii (artists) Restaurant that sits on top of the main auditorium of the Kenya Cultural Theatre. It was a day of poetry and musical performances interspersed with speeches.

Barbra Quantai, one of Kenya’s most talented and celebrated musicians, gave an amazing performance. When she walked on to the stage with a guitarist and greeted by saying ‘let’s celebrate women art’, the crowd went into a frenzy. And she sang just one song and left an agitated crowd crying for more.

Poems were performed by Sharleen Njeri, Sitawa Wafula, Belle Wanjiku (a young Kenyan poet and a great admirer of Maya Angelou, who read the latter’s poem ‘Still I Rise’), Camole K. Gibson from Liberia, budding writer Habiba Ali and photographer Sheida Jaffer. Celebrity musician Idd Achieng, legendary TV actresses Mama Kayai of Vitimbi and Lucy Wanjau (the magistrate in the popular TV drama Vioja Mahakamani), Aduda Seleh (of the comedy drama Papa Shirandula), musicians Lydia Dola and MC Sharon gave stunning performances as percussionists played drums, flutes and trumpets in the background.

MC Sharon read a poem from PEN Kenya president Philo Ikonya’s anthology ‘Out of Prison - Love Songs’, Sophie Dowllar, SWAN-Kenya founder and several human rights activists including King David Wamaitha, Beatrice Kamau, Anne Wanjiku and Erasmus Ndemole Migyikra, director of the Ghanaian based NGO West African Centre for Peace, graced the occasion.

In his brief address Erasmus Ndemole encouraged women artists to use their talents to draw attention to the myriad issues afflicting women especially in conflict areas and during political upheavals.

Well, if on waking up on the morning of a post apocalyptic day one was to find everything around them has a female emblem - poetry, music, painting, books - would that not influence their thought process and their understanding of the world?

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Khainga O’Okwemba is a poet, writer and the treasurer of International PEN Kenya Chapter.
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