Author: African Women's Development Fund

[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]African Women’s Development Fund has been honored with two nominations in this year’s Ghana Blogging and Social Media Awards! One for ‘Organisation with the Best Social Media Presence’ and ‘Best Organisational Blog’!

As an organisation, we have made it our goal to be as active as possible on social media and to be able to share in our triumphs with you. It is important for us to be able to interact with the people that have continually supported our mission from the beginning, and to reach new people who will join our cause as well!

Also, this year our Communications Specialist, Nana Darkoa, has been nominated again in the category of ‘Best Blog’ for her Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women blog! Please be sure to show your support for her hard work as well!

Thank you to all who have made AWDF feel so respected and loved!

Be sure to VOTE and tell your friends!

Where to vote: here!

More info about the awards: here.[/tp]

[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]Le Fonds AAfricain de développement de la femme a été honoré avec deux nominations au Ghana Blogging de cette année et les Social Media Awards! Un pour ‘Organisation avec la Meilleure Présence médias sociaux »et« Meilleur Blog organisationnel »!

En tant qu’organisation, nous avons fait notre objectif d’être aussi actif que possible sur les médias sociaux et d’être en mesure de partager nos triomphes avec vous. Il est important pour nous d’être en mesure d’interagir avec les gens qui ont constamment soutenu notre mission depuis le début, et d’atteindre de nouvelles personnes qui se joindront à notre cause ainsi!

En outre, cette année, notre spécialiste des communications, Nana Darkoa, a été nommée à nouveau dans la catégorie de «Meilleur Blog» pour ses aventures depuis les chambres de femmes africaines blog! S’il vous plaît assurez-vous de montrer votre soutien pour son travail acharné ainsi!

Merci à tous ceux qui ont fait AWDF sentir si respecté et aimé!

Assurez-vous de voter et de dire à vos amis!

Où voter: ici!

Plus d’infos sur les prix: ici.[/tp]

From right: AWDF CEO Theo Sowa, Grace, Sionne, Yewande and Nana pictured with Ama Ata Aidoo

On Saturday March 8th, African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) facilitated an all-day Writer’s Master Class. Critically acclaimed South African novelist Yewande Omotoso, whose debut novel Bom Boy was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Fiction Prize, led the creative writing workshop at the AWDF resource center. The 28 attendees represented a wide range of ages and experiences: younger and older women, aspiring and professional writers. Ms. Omotoso began the event by inviting each attendee to share her name, and the reason she decided to come to the workshop. “Writing is not an easy thing that comes to me… I’m here to learn,” said one attendee. “I am here because my biggest source of inspiration is female writers,” said another attendee. When it came her turn, Grace, the human resource manager for AWDF, stated: “Writing is everybody’s business.” We could not agree more. After the introductions, Ms. Omotoso revealed a surprising bit of information: “I’m just beginning the workshop [by saying] that I don’t know if workshops always work.” In order to grow as a creative writer, “there is something that you have to do in your own quiet hours.”

Participants study one another for inspiration.

For Ms. Omotoso, the decision to pursue a career in writing was a difficult one. Her parents encouraged her writing at a young age, but when she told her father that she wanted to be a professional writer, he told her, “You should have a proper job that gives you money,” continuing to say that, “I never want you to have to depend on a man, I never want you to have to be shortchanged because you don’t have your own career.” While her father’s concerns were valid, Ms. Omotoso has been able to have her own career, and was able to share her wisdom with us. She led the group in a second introductory activity: a truth and a lie. Each attendee told a fact about herself along with a myth. Ms. Omotoso explained that when you are a fiction writer “you are in the world of make believe and you are trying to be a good liar.” We learned from the game that being a good liar does not simply mean being able to convince people that the lie is true. It means being able to surprise people, make them laugh or stare with wonder.

Yewande leads the discussions

Ms. Omotoso showed us a book called The Amazing Story Generator that she uses as a writing tool. By shuffling the flaps of the book, different, sometimes outlandish, ideas for stories appear. “If something is startling or absurd, we look a bit deeper.” She explained how many writers recycle the same tired phrases, so we must challenge ourselves to be original. “I call it being lazy or using shorthand… They use clichés. For instance, a ‘beautiful’ woman… What if you couldn’t use that word and had to show me in a different way?” She discussed other challenges that plague contemporary authors: “Sometimes perfectionists struggle with writing or making art because you have to make a mess first.” Many of the attendees responded to this notion, discussing how fear of judgment often impedes their ability to put words on a page. According to Ms. Omotoso, a writer must have the strength to be gentle with herself and still charge forward in her work: in other words, she must have “gold ovaries.” After this talk, the attendees shared the introductory paragraphs to their own short stories, sharing opinions and advice.

Kinna Likimani focuses on her writing

After a brief writing exercise, the legendary Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo made a guest appearance, and conducted a special session. Ms. Aidoo appreciated the work of the attendees: “The bar has been set so far!” she exclaimed. She spoke about her current love for flash fiction: a short story that is told in 500 words or less. She recommended using flash fiction as warm-up exercise. Aidoo discussed her hesitations about infusing her work with a political agenda. However, “when you have what I describe as a politicized imagination, nearly everything you write has a political tinge to it.”After reading a short story of hers, she talked about her experience, explaining that she does not like being described in terms of “firsts.” “I like the feeling that I stand on the shoulders of some really fantastic people…” Undoubtedly, Ms. Aidoo serves as an inspiration for many of the women in attendance.

Ama Ata Aidoo

After Ms. Aidoo’s departure and a delicious lunch, Ms. Omotoso initiated a writing exercise: choose a partner and describe them in 100 words. After this activity, the group discussed the difficulties surrounding dialogue. Several attendees said that they actively work to avoid writing dialogue. Others shared the dialogue that they had already written. Although some women expressed trepidation about dialogue, far more feared writing sex scenes. The group launched into a discussion about the discomfort that comes with writing sex scenes, and how it is necessary to push against this discomfort in order to express the realities of African women’s lives. “We are afraid to write [sex scenes], but if we don’t write it [50 Shades of Grey author] EL James writes it, or some porn king writes it,” remarked Ms. Omotoso. The women in the workshop discussed an explicit scene in The Justice by Boakyewaa Glover, commending Ms. Glover on her fearlessness. Noting Ms. Glover’s repeated use of the word “gorgeous,” one attendee remarked: “Ugly girls can have good sex, too!” This exemplifies the importance of African women telling their stories: no two voices are the same. The Writer’s Master Class gave women an opportunity to share their thoughts on the writing process, and have their work critiqued by successful writers.

We are thankful to Yewande Omotoso, Ama Ata Aidoo, and the attendees for making this event a huge success.

By Sarah Lewinger

Photos by Emily Barnard

On Saturday March 8^th, African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) facilitated an all-day Writer’s Master Class. Critically acclaimed South African novelist Yewande Omotoso, whose debut novel Bom Boy was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Fiction Prize, led the creative writing workshop at the AWDF resource center. The 28 attendees represented a wide range of ages and experiences: younger and older women, aspiring and professional writers. Ms. Omotoso began the event by inviting each attendee to share her name, and the reason she decided to come to the workshop. “Writing is not an easy thing that comes to me… I’m here to learn,” said one attendee. “I am here because my biggest source of inspiration is female writers,” said another attendee. When it came her turn, Grace, the human resource manager for AWDF, stated: “Writing is everybody’s business.” We could not agree more. After the introductions, Ms. Omotoso revealed a surprising bit of information: “I’m just beginning the workshop [by saying] that I don’t know if workshops always work.” In order to grow as a creative writer, “there is something that you have to do in your own quiet hours.”

For Ms. Omotoso, the decision to pursue a career in writing was a difficult one. Her parents encouraged her writing at a young age, but when she told her father that she wanted to be a professional writer, he told her, “You should have a proper job that gives you money,” continuing to say that, “I never want you to have to depend on a man, I never want you to have to be shortchanged because you don’t have your own career.” While her father’s concerns were valid, Ms. Omotoso has been able to have her own career, and was able to share her wisdom with us. She led the group in a second introductory activity: a truth and a lie. Each attendee told a fact about herself along with a myth. Ms. Omotoso explained that when you are a fiction writer “you are in the world of make believe and you are trying to be a good liar.” We learned from the game that being a good liar does not simply mean being able to convince people that the lie is true. It means being able to surprise people, make them laugh or stare with wonder.

Ms. Omotoso showed us a book called The Amazing Story Generator that she uses as a writing tool. By shuffling the flaps of the book, different, sometimes outlandish, ideas for stories appear. “If something is startling or absurd, we look a bit deeper.” She explained how many writers recycle the same tired phrases, so we must challenge ourselves to be original. “I call it being lazy or using shorthand… They use clichés. For instance, a ‘beautiful’ woman… What if you couldn’t use that word and had to show me in a different way?” She discussed other challenges that plague contemporary authors: “Sometimes perfectionists struggle with writing or making art because you have to make a mess first.” Many of the attendees responded to this notion, discussing how fear of judgment often impedes their ability to put words on a page. According to Ms. Omotoso, a writer must have the strength to be gentle with herself and still charge forward in her work: in other words, she must have “gold ovaries.” After this talk, the attendees shared the introductory paragraphs to their own short stories, sharing opinions and advice.

After a brief writing exercise, the legendary Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo made a guest appearance, and conducted a special session. Ms. Aidoo appreciated the work of the attendees: “The bar has been set so far!” she exclaimed. She spoke about her current love for flash fiction: a short story that is told in 500 words or less. She recommended using flash fiction as warm-up exercise. Aidoo discussed her hesitations about infusing her work with a political agenda. However, “when you have what I describe as a politicized imagination, nearly everything you write has a political tinge to it.”After reading a short story of hers, she talked about her experience, explaining that she does not like being described in terms of “firsts.” “I like the feeling that I stand on the shoulders of some really fantastic people…” Undoubtedly, Ms. Aidoo serves as an inspiration for many of the women in attendance.

After Ms. Aidoo’s departure and a delicious lunch, Ms. Omotoso initiated a writing exercise: choose a partner and describe them in 100 words. After this activity, the group discussed the difficulties surrounding dialogue. Several attendees said that they actively work to avoid writing dialogue. Others shared the dialogue that they had already written. Although some women expressed trepidation about dialogue, far more feared writing sex scenes. The group launched into a discussion about the discomfort that comes with writing sex scenes, and how it is necessary to push against this discomfort in order to express the realities of African women’s lives. “We are afraid to write [sex scenes], but if we don’t write it [50 Shades of Grey author] EL James writes it, or some porn king writes it,” remarked Ms. Omotoso. The women in the workshop discussed an explicit scene in The Justice by Boakyewaa Glover, commending Ms. Glover on her fearlessness. Noting Ms. Glover’s repeated use of the word “gorgeous,” one attendee remarked: “Ugly girls can have good sex, too!” This exemplifies the importance of African women telling their stories: no two voices are the same. The Writer’s Master Class gave women an opportunity to share their thoughts on the writing process, and have their work critiqued by successful writers.

We are thankful to Yewande Omotoso, Ama Ata Aidoo, and the attendees for making this event a huge success.

By Sarah Lewinger

Photos by Emily Barnard

A statement from the leaders of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law:

For the past few days since the Anti Homosexuality Act was signed into law,
the Coalition Legal Committee has been engaged in plans for challenging the
law as agreed upon in the Legal Strategy Meeting.

As such, seven advocates from five law firms have been engaged to prepare to
challenge the AHA. The team has been officially working on the case since
Friday 28th and have held five meetings jointly since then, and many smaller
meetings.

The petition is already drafted, and input has been sought and obtained from
over 20 lawyers worldwide. I would like to thank those who have made input
in the petition. I believe we have a pretty watertight case now.

As for petitioners, we have 10- 1 Professor of Law as the leading
petitioner, 1 MP who is among the authors of the minority report, 1
journalist/political commentator, 1 former leader of opposition, 1 openly
gay medical doctor, 3 LGBTI leaders, and two organisations.

We have so far finalized 5 affidavits- for five of the petitioners and five
are being finalized. We expect to have all affidavits in by tomorrow, and to
have all of them commissioned by tomorrow.

We have also prepared two applications for stay of implementation of the
law, and also to stop the on going media outings. These will be filed
alongside the main petition.

We expect to hold out last pre filing meeting on Sunday and then we file on
Monday. The necessary fees have already been paid in full and are also
working to ensure there is media attention when we file.

I would like to thank all those who have provided support to us during this
process.

We thank you so much for the continued solidarity.

– Adrian Jjuuko, Chairperson of the Legal Committee of the Coalition

Read the official Coalition statement on the Anti-Pornography and Anti-Homosexuality Acts in Uganda: Coalition Statement.

Please check out their website as well for more information on what they do: Coalition website.

A statement from the leaders of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law:

For the past few days since the Anti Homosexuality Act was signed into law,
the Coalition Legal Committee has been engaged in plans for challenging the
law as agreed upon in the Legal Strategy Meeting.

As such, seven advocates from five law firms have been engaged to prepare to
challenge the AHA. The team has been officially working on the case since
Friday 28th and have held five meetings jointly since then, and many smaller
meetings.

The petition is already drafted, and input has been sought and obtained from
over 20 lawyers worldwide. I would like to thank those who have made input
in the petition. I believe we have a pretty watertight case now.

As for petitioners, we have 10- 1 Professor of Law as the leading
petitioner, 1 MP who is among the authors of the minority report, 1
journalist/political commentator, 1 former leader of opposition, 1 openly
gay medical doctor, 3 LGBTI leaders, and two organisations.

We have so far finalized 5 affidavits- for five of the petitioners and five
are being finalized. We expect to have all affidavits in by tomorrow, and to
have all of them commissioned by tomorrow.

We have also prepared two applications for stay of implementation of the
law, and also to stop the on going media outings. These will be filed
alongside the main petition.

We expect to hold out last pre filing meeting on Sunday and then we file on
Monday. The necessary fees have already been paid in full and are also
working to ensure there is media attention when we file.

I would like to thank all those who have provided support to us during this
process.

We thank you so much for the continued solidarity.

– Adrian Jjuuko, Chairperson of the Legal Committee of the Coalition

Read the official Coalition statement on the Anti-Pornography and Anti-Homosexuality Acts in Uganda: Coalition Statement.

Please check out their website as well for more information on what they do: Coalition website.

The Faith Hope Love Family Service Association Project based in Hawassa, Ethiopia has enlisted the aid of AWDF to help it achieve its goal of empowering women and OVCs towards HIV/AIDS prevention and controlling efforts. AWDF, along with the Association, has provided training and start-up capital to many disadvantaged women across the African continent. This program gives women social, economic, psychological and health empowerment so that they can develop a way of earning a stable income, to support themselves and their families.

Mrs. Tirunigo Samie pictured above with her main source of income, her cattle.

Mrs. Tirunigo Samie is one of the beneficiaries of the AWDF/Faith Hope Love Family Service Association project. She is HIV Sero-positive and a mother of five children. Her husband died six years ago and she now cares for her children independently. Before joining the AWDF programme, she had no source of income and had not been able to find employment due to her deteriorating health condition. As a result, her children were not attending school, she could not feed them and could not afford to pay their fees. At best, her children were fed once a day by a neighbour. She sent some of her children to the street and some of them to her relatives.

Samie tends to her goats, keeping them strong and healthy so they can produce delicious milk.

When she joined the AWDF supported programme she was encouraged to begin treatment and so she started taking ART (anti-retroviral therapy) and her health improved. After counselling and training she received a start-up capital of $266 (5,000.00 Ethiopian birr) from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) project and started her own business. She is engaged in urban agriculture and sheep breeding.

Samie stands proudly in a part of her garden where she grows vegetables to sell.

She grows different vegetables in her small garden and keeps goats and sheep who provide milk that generates income. After about six months of running the business she has experienced a vast improvement in her life. With improved health she is better able to take care of her garden and has a constant supply of fresh vegetables to boost her nutrition and that of her children. She has become capable of feeding her family, the children look healthier, they have gone back to school, they are better clothed and she has developed excellent saving habits. She says, “Thanks to AWDF I am enjoying my life, I have work, I am socially and psychologically competent enough and empowered, that I can support my children and my family.”

The Faith Hope Love Family Service Association Project based in Hawassa, Ethiopia has enlisted the aid of AWDF to help it achieve its goal of empowering women and OVCs towards HIV/AIDS prevention and controlling efforts. AWDF, along with the Association, has provided training and start-up capital to many disadvantaged women across the African continent. This program gives women social, economic, psychological and health empowerment so that they can develop a way of earning a stable income, to support themselves and their families.

Mrs. Tirunigo Samie is one of the beneficiaries of the AWDF/Faith Hope Love Family Service Association project. She is HIV Sero-positive and a mother of five children. Her husband died six years ago and she now cares for her children independently. Before joining the AWDF programme, she had no source of income and had not been able to find employment due to her deteriorating health condition. As a result, her children were not attending school, she could not feed them and could not afford to pay their fees. At best, her children were fed once a day by a neighbour. She sent some of her children to the street and some of them to her relatives.

When she joined the AWDF supported programme she was encouraged to begin treatment and so she started taking ART (anti-retroviral therapy) and her health improved. After counselling and training she received a start-up capital of $266 (5,000.00 Ethiopian birr) from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) project and started her own business. She is engaged in urban agriculture and sheep breeding.

She grows different vegetables in her small garden and keeps goats and sheep who provide milk that generates income. After about six months of running the business she has experienced a vast improvement in her life. With improved health she is better able to take care of her garden and has a constant supply of fresh vegetables to boost her nutrition and that of her children. She has become capable of feeding her family, the children look healthier, they have gone back to school, they are better clothed and she has developed excellent saving habits. She says, “Thanks to AWDF I am enjoying my life, I have work, I am socially and psychologically competent enough and empowered, that I can support my children and my family.”

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) will be holding a creative non-fiction workshop in Kampala, Uganda, organised by FEMRITE Uganda Women Writers Association from the 21st to the 31st of July 2014. The lead facilitators for the workshop will be Mamle Kabu, and Yewande Omotoso.

This workshop is targeted at writers and activists who wish to use the power of the written word to highlight issues around women’s rights and social justice. Participants taking part in this workshop will be expected to read widely from assigned selected texts, and to complete daily written exercises.

The organisation of this workshop forms part of AWDF’s efforts to raise African women’s voices. Writers who participate in this workshop will be supported to have their articles placed in a range of local, regional and international media. In line with AWDF’s ethos, efforts will be made to ensure that at least 20% of the writers selected for this workshop will be women from existing grantee organisations and activists from civil society spaces.

Accommodation and a travel grant will be provided for all accepted applicants who are able to attend for the duration of the workshop.

Application Guidelines

Deadline for submission is 23rd March 2014. Only those accepted to the workshop will be notified by 30th May 2014.

To apply, send an e-mail to writing@africlub.net/awdf
Your e-mail subject should read ‘Workshop Application’

The body of the e-mail should contain the following:
1. Your Name
2. Your Address
3. A short bio (maximum 200 words)
4. A sample article addressing an issue around women’s rights or social justice (of between 500 and 1000 words)

* Please state in your email if you are a member of an AWDF grantee organisation or network member

* The sample article could be either published or unpublished

Facilitators Bio

Mamle Kabu
Photo credit: Printex

Mamle Kabu, a writer of Ghanaian and German parentage, was born in Ghana and attended the University Primary School, Legon, and Achimota Secondary School.

At the age of 14 she moved to the United Kingdom. She completed her secondary schooling there, after which she studied at the University of Cambridge, where she obtained her BA and MA in Modern Languages and her MPhil in Latin-American Studies. She returned to Ghana in 1992 where she has since been resident and works as a freelance consultant in development issues.

Mamle took up fiction writing in the late 1990s and has since written a number of short stories, all of which have been published in various anthologies and journals in Africa, the UK and the US. One of these is “The End of Skill,” which was nominated for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2009. In 2011, for the first time, Mamle turned her hand to writing for children and published a young adult novel under the name Mamle Wolo. This book, entitled ‘The Kaya-Girl,’ won the 2011 Burt Award for African Literature in Ghana. Mamle has also written poetry, two screenplays and is working on a novel. She is a co-director of the Writers’ Project of Ghana and a keen believer in fostering writing talent and strengthening networks between African writers. In the past three years, she has attended a number of international writing workshops including the Farafina Writer’s Workshop by Chimamanda Adichie in Lagos, the Caine Prize Workshop in Kenya and the Femrite annual residency in Uganda. She combines her work and writing with the raising of her two children.

Yewande Omotoso

Yewande Omotoso was born in Barbados in 1980 and grew up in Nigeria with her Barbadian mother, Nigerian father and two older brothers. The family moved to South Africa in 1992.

Yewande trained as an architect at the University of Cape Town, to which she returned after working as an architect for several years, to complete a Masters degree in Creative Writing. The product of her degree is her debut novel ‘Bomboy’ published in 2011 by Cape Town publisher Modjaji Books. ‘Bomboy’ was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Literary Awards as well as the MNet Film Award, it won the South African Literary Award (SALA) for First Time Author Prize. Prior to ‘Bomboy’ Yewande authored several stories, among them ‘The Piano’ (2nd Place, People Opposing Women Abuse, 2005) and ‘Maude Hastings’ (Honourable Mention, John La Rose Short Story Competition, 2007). In addition she has published ‘Heroes’ with online crime fiction magazine ‘Noir Nation’ and ‘Two Old People’ in the anthology ‘Speaking for the Generation: Contemporary Stories from Africa’. Yewande’s poetry (‘Stranger’ and ‘The Rain’) has been published in the ‘Baobab Literary Journal’ 2009. ‘The Rain’ was shortlisted for the Sol Plaatjie European Union Poetry Awards 2012.

Omotoso, for whom writing is a means to make sense of the world, is interested in the complexity of human experiences as well as the incongruities of life. Loneliness is a recurring theme. Omotoso views her writing as a tool for compassion and evoking self-examination. For her talent and the intent to tell stories, she credits her parents and a childhood steeped in reading and the sharing of ideas.

Read the Statement Here: Coalition Statement: Anti-Pornography and Anti-Homosexuality Acts