Water is Life. But What Kind of Life?
You know the picture I’m talking about. You might have seen it in National Geographic. That one with the African woman serenely carrying a bucket of water on her head. Colourfully dressed; perfectly...
Courage and Conviction Should Not be Border Controlled
Fatu is afraid to come to America. It’s almost too hard to believe, knowing what I know of her life. She’s stood her ground in the face of young weapon-carrying warriors in Kenya. She has been...
Who Would Have Imagined Rwanda 25 Years On?
World headlines fixated on one event – the culmination of the long march to democracy in South Africa and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. As Western media seem to feature one African story at a time, another African event was a footnote: an ‘African tribal war’ in a country not many had heard of.
Charcoal Children: Danger in Lusaka’s Compounds
When I returned to my Lusaka hotel room I looked like I had been dipped in charcoal dust. Although it was an inconvenience, the grime could be scrubbed off. But what I found hard to ‘wash-off’ was...
Shooting to Score, Not to Kill: International Woman’s Day Tribute
In Kenya’s remote Marsabit district near the Ethiopia border, girls face female genital mutilation (FGM), early or forced marriage, and lack access to education and health services. A sparsely...
Kerosene – A Burning Issue in Women’s Rights, Human Rights
Like many girls I’ve met in Africa, Rose’s dream is to become a teacher. The shy grade 6 student revises her homework at a rickety table in a tin shack in a Nairobi slum.