Like a match to a flame, the Southern African Young Women’s Festival 2012 is ablaze!

^{Interspersed with poetry, singing, dancing, debate and energy, The Southern African Young Women’s Festival 2012 is definitely  burning and I am definitely on Fire!}

^{My flame sparked on day 1 when historical perspectives of feminism were shared and feminist theories were explored leading us to the realization and appreciation that despite the fact that African women’s struggles and experiences of oppression are different, the quest for recognition of their autonomy and freedom including identity, bodily integrity, and autonomy is universal and this can be seen in women’s continued active resistance to various forms of injustice, tyranny, oppression, inequality and discrimination.}

^{Then my flame was ignited by the call for young feminist women like myself to begin practicing feminism in their daily lives…..as in to walk the talk…and this particularly made me aware that often times I have failed to challenge and question oppressive forces that place me under pressure, limit my possibilities, make me unhappy and take away my freedom.}

^{It has dawned upon me that by not questioning and confronting these forces and systems, I am actually entertaining patriarchy and playing a role in upholding the repressive and cruel ideals of the institution of patriarchy. And so  I choose not to conform to patriarchal rules and oppressions in my daily life, coz guess what, this girl is on FIRE!}

^{Ooooooh and Pajama Party night was an uncontrollable blaze. Blazing with ideas around the significance of female sexuality and the political tinge of African Women’s sexualities, the pajama party was not only fun but extremely thought provoking for me!  All dressed in cute pajama garments and rocked by the different meanings of sexual pleasure, no one present at pajama night can possibly ignore that woman’s experiences of sexual pleasure vary, and that the experiences of this pleasures take assorted forms.} 

^{And then my fire further ignited into an inferno during a thrilling and intriguing debate around the motion: ‘Culture has placed women’s rights in jeopardy.” And it puzzled me to hear some of my feminist sisters arguing that culture does not jeopardize women’s rights saying that culture is a way of life that promotes peace and well being for all, and that culture has often been manipulated by political players and other forces to inhibit the rights of woman so as to benefit them. But I am definitely not going to give a blind eye to the significant role that culture plays in proliferating the violations of women’s human rights.}

^{So the fire got fierce and fiery during Cow Girl Night on day 2 ! With all sisters claded into cowgirl outfits and celebrating and dancing to our feminism and “sisterly-hoodness” (yes this word exists in my dictionary ;)! And an intergenerational dialogue in this space got me realizing that women in the older women’s movement have a significant role in cultivating young women’s leadership skills and strengthening their meaningful input and participation in developmental processes, policy formulation, analysis and decision making!} 

^{It came to my realization that there is some magic in mentoring of young women through inter-generational dialogues, sharing of information, skills, strategies and experiences and that our ‘older’ feminist sisters and mothers are there for us but we need to utilize our opportunities with them wisely and work hand in hand with them in finding spaces within the women’s movement.}

^{And so today we continue with the festival and I cant wait to see how fierce this fire is going get!}

^{Sister Sister! ……I salute you all}