Jenni Williams receiving her ‘Women of Courage Award’
March 10th, 2007
This picks up on our International Women’s Day post here. More from The Zimbabwean Times:
“The award is a great honor, but the real award will be a free and independent Zimbabwe ,” Williams said in an interview at the State Department on the day of the ceremony.
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“Women are dying at age 34 [median age]; men, at 37. You can’t earn a living. The authorities tear down houses that are not squatter houses and stop you from making a living.”
Hardships fall especially hard on women, Williams said, because it is the children “who beg mama for more food or want to know why they can no longer go to school” when there is no money for school fees.
Williams, a Matabele from Bulawayo , has paid a high personal price for her social and political protests. She received death threats following her arrests. Her thriving public relations business is defunct and her husband and children live in “economic exile” in Britain . A Matabele is a member of the Bantu people native to southern Zimbabwe .
Despite the personal sacrifices, the activist said she feels empowered because WOZA’s strength lies in its community members “who have ownership” in the organization. “It is because of our united struggle, hand in hand, that we are going to get the Zimbabwe we want,” she said.
More about WOZA on This is Zimbabwe here. Visit the WOZA website.
[Hat tip: zimbabwe - land of orphans]
March 10th, 2007 21:05
Keep the spirit of our forefathers my sister Jennie. The greed you see in Zimbabwe nearly destroyed me. It was the spirit of okhokho bethu that saved me. If they saved me, they will save the true Zimbabwean. They will save ABANTU, not the greed driven hypocrites who claim to be Zimbabweans. Not the murderers who have murdered our people for decades. I have faith in you and a few others who still hold the torch that will never blow off. The torch that will save Zimbabwe and bring back the light of God that okhokho bethu worshipped.
With you in spirit.