INTERGENERATIONAL DIALOGUE: International women’s Day: 9th March 2010

Celebrating the achievements of older women in our communities and providing a forum for them to discuss the challenges they face.

  

On 9^th March 2010, Mama na Dada Africa invited 15 women and 10 men over the age of 65 from Rarieda to celebrate International women’s day at the Mama na Dada center in Kunya village, Rarieda District. Mama na Dada staff organized this one day event to not only celebrate the achievements of older women in the community but also create a forum for them to discuss the challenges they are facing as guardians, and more specifically as women, in their old age. 

 

Older women are rarely targeted and usually neglected in development projects, yet voting patterns have shown that they vote in larger numbers than younger women. In addition, with the spread and tragic effects of HIV/AIDs in Africa, there has been an increase of grandmothers adopting their orphaned grand- or great grand children. Older women are therefore just as important in civic education programmes as the first point of education for the young girls and boys under their care.

The event which started at 10am began with a plenary discussion where the women discussed their challenges in addressing sexual health issues with their grandchildren, let alone civic matters. “These children are having children in their grandmother’s homes!” lamented one elderly man. They pointed out that it was imperative we address the reproductive health of youth urgently and seriously, as they felt that there is very little chance of girls participating in leadership roles while having unplanned families. This fact is reiterated in an article in the The Standard Newspaper of 8^th March 2010, titled “Study: Kenya has neglected sexual health of youth”, by Elizabeth Mwai. 

Rather than addressing gender issues with women in isolation, Mama na Dada  invited older men to the event so that they could appreciate the work done by older women and therefore support them. It was also decided that it was just as important for men, who are the traditional elders in the community, to receive information and education on gender issues, and perhaps they too will work at having these addressed.

The triple burden of an African woman is such that she is a home maker, the breadwinner and caregiver in any given community. This burden becomes even heavier to bear for the older women who, with age, find it more difficult to perform these duties. During one on one interviews with the women, one woman said “I wish someone could take me to some far off place for just one day so that I can get a break.” She then quickly added “But who would take care of my grandchildren?”

 

After the two-hour discussion, the older women and men were appreciated by being given a hearty meal over lunch as well as the snacks they had through the course of the day. All the while, they were listening to and dancing to traditional and modern Luo music. The climax of the day was the presentation of gift bags for each of the women containing maize, sugar, water glasses, a scarf and cooking oil. In addition, women who had shown exceptional leadership and service in the community were given a Leso each. In sheer gratitude, one woman suggested, “we should do this continuously for five months!”

 The youth were also involved in the celebrations with some of the girls from the Mama na Dada Saturday girls’ club presenting skits and poems for the old men and women. Apart from being entertaining, the presentations passed a message from the youth to the older men and women that they too were concerned about the negative trends with regards to sexual health and reproduction, and that the two generations can work hand in hand in combating the challenges. The girls were also recognized as leaders among the youth, with a few of the girls being awarded with gifts for their roles in and out of school. 

 

Mama na Dada has had an intergenerational dialogue program in the past named “Merging the past and the Present” in which the older people and the youth come together to discuss various issues. In such forums, the older generation explained the role of grandparents in sexual health education and passing down cultural norms and beliefs to the younger generation through story telling. Mama na Dada intends to expand the objective of this program by including women’s participation in leadership and governance.