The Power of Voice

Wanjiku[1] has little formal schooling.  She goes about her daily life with a baby on her back and several more at her dusty feet. She tends the crops, cooks the meals, collects the water, and tries to ensure that her children get more of an education than she did.  

Depending on the wishes of her husband, Wanjiku may or may not go to the market, be involved in a women’s group, or handle cash. She may or may not participate in household decision making and rarely owns the land that is the main source of her family’s livelihood.

Women and girls in her remote village are seen but not heard — an all-too-common custom in traditionally patriarchal communities.

But not anymore in one community in Kenya.  

A Justice trainee practices her public speaking skills,
guided by Justice Project staff.  Photo: Landesa/Deborah Espinosa 

You see, Wanjiku now knows that Kenya’s Constitution, which Kenyans adopted by national referendum in August 2010, guarantees her — and every person — the right to freely express him- or herself, a right that includes the freedom to seek, receive, or impart information or ideas and the freedom of artistic creativity (art. 33).  (The right to self-expression is also within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)  And along with learning about her rights, Wanjiku was trained in the art of public speaking — a simple curriculum grounded in the right to voice her opinion.  The training included techniques and tips on how to speak in public as well as opportunities to practice speaking on a subject of importance to her.  

Wanjiku learned and practiced during a USAID-supported project called, Enhancing Customary Justice Systems in the Mau Forest, Kenya (aka the Kenya Justice Project), designed and implemented by the international NGO Landesa. The Kenya Justice Project piloted a model for improving women’s access to "informal justice" related to land, meaning the all-male, village institutions that resolve disputes but have a reputation for holding entrenched biases against women. Much to our surprise, two months after the pilot’s end, the community elected — for the first time in its history — 14 women as elders, serving alongside male elders resolving disputes. One year later, 22 women were serving as elders alongside men.  

A Justice trainee shares her knowledge of women's
rights in Kenya's Constitution. Wanjiku resides
in all of us. Photo: Landesa/Deborah Espinosa

The women had decided on their own to run for election. No doubt, there are many factors that contributed to this outcome.  

This was the first time I’d included public speaking in the design of a women’s rights project, and so at the end of the first training session, I asked the women to share their thoughts about whether training on the right to self-expression and public speaking was worth including again in a project design.  Every woman in the room eagerly raised her hand, offering to share her opinion. Up until that point in the project, we’d never had full participation in a single session.

As the women shared with us how they felt, I was struck by the fact that along with the women’s timidity and discomfort, a glimmer of pride shined through. They explained how growing up as girls they were not supposed to speak directly to an adult. And so they believed that their opinions were unimportant, and certainly never worth sharing. The room shook with potential.   

Although the short-term impact evaluation did not try to measure a causal relationship between project outcomes and the public speaking activity, specifically, I am convinced that this activity was a critical component to the success of the pilot. Knowledge of their constitutional rights to express themselves, combined with practicing public speaking in a safe and supportive environment, gave the women Justice trainees the courage to dare step out of their comfort zones. And dare to reach for one of the most powerful positions within their community — an elder resolving disputes.      

The community has made many other advances supporting women's rights and empowerment, including greater awareness among men and women of their constitutional rights to land; procedural improvements in elders' resolution of disputes; a requirement of spousal consent for land transactions; and, most recently, an increase in economic development, led by women in the community. 

Wanjiku’s courage to find her own voice is the inspiration for this column on the relationship between the arts (in its many, many forms) and women’s rights and empowerment. This column is certainly a step out of my own comfort zone.  Along the way, please share your voice — we have a lot to learn from each other!

[1] In Kenya, "Wanjiku" is an iconic representation of the "ordinary, Kenyan citizen," the common person. "Her power rests in her ordinariness."        

Cervical Cancer Awareness

Cervical cancer is the second biggest cancer killer of women worldwide.  We know that nearly all cases of cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).  There are many types of HPV but we know that HPV types 16 and 18 are the most cancer causing.  That’s why there is a vaccine targeted to those two types.  There are many ways we can prevent cervical cancer.  For younger girls who have not yet had sex, the vaccine provides good protection against the cancer causing viruses.  For other women, regular screening at their doctor is important.  Screening means your health professional will take a Pap smear.  To do this, a cotton swab is used to gently take some cells from your cervix, no scraping is involved and it should not hurt. For other women, though more rare, they might have an HPV infection but it can just clear up on its own.  But all women should get a regular screening to make sure they are healthy.

Yet given all the things we can do to prevent cervical cancer, why do so many women die of cervical cancer? The answer is, it depends on where you live. In developed countries, which includes North America, Europe, and Australia, the risk of you getting of cervical cancer is only about 5%.  This is because there is regular screening to catch women who are at risk of developing it.  When they are screened, if there are any abnormalities the health professional will treat to prevent progression to cervical cancer.  In low income countries like Kenya, this does not happen as there are not enough resources to screen women. Therefore, over 80% of new cases and deaths due to cervical cancer are in low income counties like Kenya.

Women in Kenya suffer because there is no infrastructure in place to implement regular Pap screening.  However, many health professionals have looked at cheaper and more feasible alternatives to Pap screening. In Kenya, Dr. Megan Huchko from UCSF has helped to implement a cheap diagnostic called visual inspection with acetic acid. At HIV treatment clinics such FACES, where Dr. Huchko works, women can be seen for reproductive health services. As part of a routine check-up, women who attend the clinic have their cervix ‘painted’ with acetic acid, or plain table vinegar. Any abnormal cells turn white. These abnormal cells mean that there is an increased risk of cervical cancer, so it is important that they are removed. Women are offered removal, either through “shaving off” or freezing of abnormal cells in the clinic. A few studies have shown that this is a feasible and cost-effective method of cervical screening for women in low-resource settings.

Cervical cancer is a major risk to a woman’s health. High-income countries have procedures in place to screen women for this risk. Yet most women who live in low-income countries do not have these screenings, which leaves them more likely to die of cervical cancer.  Overall, it is important that we think about feasible solutions that can be used in low-income settings.

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Women Helping Women: Somalian Famine Refugees Find Relief in Neighboring Kenya

The people of Somalia are in need of so much. They need a stable government – or any government at all, really, having basically been without one for the past two decades. They need jobs, income, clothing, medical care.

But perhaps right now, more than anything, they just need a little rain.

An East Africa drought continues to plague Somalia and neighboring countries, causing a famine that’s estimated to have cost tens of thousands of Somalian residents their lives thus far. But thanks to a for-women, by-women program in northeast Kenya, some 2,700 Somalian women and their families have found a bit of relief.

Womankind Kenya, along with partners such as MADRE and Zenab for Women in Development, has provided food, water and anti-diarrheal medicine to these women and their families, in addition to counseling and medical services to women who have survived rape or robbery during the trek to Kenya.

“We counsel women who arrive traumatized from sexual violence, from being uprooted from their home communities, or from burying a child along the way,” said Hubbie Hussein al-Haji, pictured above, executive director of Womankind Kenya. “We ensure pregnant and breastfeeding women emaciated from famine receive the nutrition and health care they desperately need.”

Hussein al-Haji says the famine could be somewhat lessened if regional resources were adequately and sensibly used.

“While the worst drought in six decades has destroyed crops in the northeast, very close by in the south of Kenya, the farms are green and plentiful,” she said. “People are growing wheat, vegetables and more. But this locally-grown food is not getting to the people who need it. Meanwhile, the price of staple crops like rice, corn and wheat is shooting up. Drought means that poor people can no longer raise their own food for lack of water. If the prices go up, they can’t buy food either.”

In the meantime, women-focused partnerships will continue to help as many famine escapees as possible. MADRE recently utilized one of its partner organizations, a group of women farmers in Sudan, to deliver a crucial supplement to Womankind and the refugees it supports. Hussein al-Haji says that in addition to this help from outside organizations, creating more sustainable, locally grown food sources will be key to aiding famine victims and preventing future outbreaks.

British Terror: The Kenyan Holocaust

Recently, several elderly Kenyans flew to London to sue and seek an apology from the British government for human rights abuses in the early 1950’s. These human rights abuses include the systematic torture, rape, and massacre of tens and thousands of Kenyans -- men, women, and children -- by the British. As many as 100,000 Kenyans were victims of these abuses, but the final number is just an estimate, because Kenyans never had a voice. Rather they were muffled and forgotten about, our story wiped out by the British pen of history.

Simultaneously, a trial began at The Hague to bring Kenyan politicians to justice for violence that cost the lives of over 1,000 Kenyans. The painful irony of the two court cases is that what the British did to my Kenyan people was no different than what the Nazi did to the Jews, yet British perpetrators of the Kenyan Holocaust were never held accountable. The difference lies in the fact that the Jewish community has had greater access to media and voice, to tell their own tragic and horrific story. The Kenyans never did. Our story remains in silence, undocumented and unheard, leaving the British open to deny involvement rather than apologize.