Making A Chorus for MAMA on the Global Stage

In 2009 when I joined Pulsewire on World Pulse, I fell in love not only with the composition of the site itself but the entire message of power that was shared by women from different backgrounds, cultures and locations. I knew for sure that I had found a home. I had found a company of women who are letting go of the pain of the past and finding power to launch into a hopeful future. As I pondered over what my journal’s introductory message would be , I could help it but hear from behind me small still voices of women echoing power and liberty.

I call them mama because many of them are old enough to be my mother. They call me mum may be because they see their daughters in me or it may be because they flash back to those old days when they were young and ambitious, seeing the sky as the limit. At times, they call me Ma’am, I assume that it is an invention from madam. I am careful when it comes to taking up titles, but I could not escape this one from my wonderful mothers and sisters as it comes with responsibility. They all look up to me for guidance, for counsel, for knowledge , for hope and any skills and resource that will foster their empowerment and development.

From the echo of these still voices I found my name “Mama Africa“ which I use on Pulsewire . With this identity, my inner eyes captured the vision of many nations of women calling with a choke from behind for a world that will understand one simple reason ; “ women rights are human rights” and that women in every society make the cornerstone for which humanity should stand.

And so my journey on Pulsewire began. Every day with every assignment or posting , with every new networks of friends and associations, my identity reminded me of the echos in my vision and it pressured me to make a difference.

First, I joined the Voices of Our Future (VOF) program from which I gained skills in Citizen Journalism and was certified to be a Voices of the Future Correspondent. As it is today , I am using the Knowledge and skills gained through VOF in the equipping at least 40 women in the rural district of Mumias, Kenya to be citizen journalists able to speak out on behalf of their communities. This is a propagation of World Pulse VOF goal which aimed for every correspondent to teach five others in their respective communities.

A few weeks after joining Pulsewire, I initiated THE RAFIKI CLUB (http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire/groups/6627 ) as a platform of networking for women from the global North and those from the global south . I envisioned that the objective of the World Pulse is to reach women in remote villages in global south is limited since a bigger percentage of these women have no access to internet thus could only be reached through the traditional letter writing. The combination of this two models of communication through THE RAFIKI CLUB is the reason why in June 2010, Dr Araceli Alonso registered on Pulsewire http://www.worldpulse.com/user/2021 and an active member of The Rafiki Club will be travelling to a remote village in Lungalunga to meet her Rafiki Mariamu for the second time. During this trip, Dr. Araceli is introducing three of her students and her daughter to the women in Lungalunga and together we aim to run a 21 days health camp dubbed “Health by Motobike” and further launch a mobile clinic dubbed MAMA-TOTO ( Mother - Child ) Mobile clinic.

These are some of the accomplishments I have made from being a member of Pulsewire community in the last one year. I believe that given the chance to serve on the World Pulse Board, I will stretch these that we have accomplished in Kenya even to a wider group of women in the global south.

I endevour to use this experience as a platform for learning how to spell out and aloud the word MAMA as a representation of women. Learning how to speak with and speak out for MAMA in a language that every man or woman, young and old, native or foreign can understand . I am making a chorus for MAMA and a song that when this journey is over, we shall all be on the global stage singing and rejoicing because we will have made that which seemed impossible be possible.