MY AFRICAN DREAM UNFOLDING.....

MY AFRICAN DREAM UNFOLDING………

Dreaming was never a thing of the girls

African girls were only taught to dream of a husband

And to be the best you can be for your husband

That’s all you could dream of, marriage, a good husband to please and bear children for

Today we have reclaimed our position in society

We don’t have to shrink to make others shine

We are dancing with power, we are the politicians we want, the ministers we dreamt of

We have seats in parliament and a say in the constitution making process

We now go to primary and secondary school, even universities

We are the lawyers, doctors, engineers and scientists we admired

Who thought we could break the silence?

Who thought we could re-write our destiny?

Who thought we could challenge the very institutions that made us African “women”?

Culture, Religion, Politics

Sisters in the struggle, tainted uncultured every day for challenging the status quo

targeting the things that make us less of humans, whilst being conscious not to destroy our cultural heritage and identity

We remain vigilant until all our sisters see the light, until we free them all, until we make the world see us as good too

That we can do the things that our brothers do, or even be better than them

Until we level the ground, until it is safer for the girl child too, until unnecessary obstacles are no more, until we navigate gender norms and gender roles

So far, we are doing very well, the future is female

We are halfway through our journey, for us its half-full and not half-empty

We have fought many injustices, from Gender Based Violence, female genital mutilation, rape, abuse, unequal treatment at work and unfair representation in “institutions”, domestic violence, to public goods misappropriation in favor of men

More women are taking up active citizenship, women coalitions are sprouting

The rise in numbers of girls in school is growing, more resources are being diverted to women’s’ cause

Our revolution is bearing fruits and the fruits are sweet and too good not to celebrate

In the same spirit, we keep going, we keep bringing the change we want

We work for the Africa we want for women, to achieve gender equality and to one day reach equity

Daring to dream has brought us this far, let’s keep dreaming

So yes 25 years after Beijing we are a success story in the making

Poem by Sharon Stella Musonza (24 year old Zimbabwean)

Gender activist-poet and writer