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Digital Postcards from Kenya and India  
CEDPA President and CEO Yolonda Richardson shared her thoughts with the following digital postcards as she met with CEDPA staff, alumni and partners in Kenya and India (Apr. 1–18, 2005). When Young Girls Dream
Subhardra and the other girls seemed years younger than their stated ages. Most were between 15-19, though their faces radiated an innocence that would be appropriate for a younger co-hort. Some of them talked about being married and the new-found negotiation skills they were testing in their relationships with their husbands; others talked about how they would delay childbearing with fiancés, so they could pursue other interests. All of them said that the program activities had given them confidence in their personal relationships with their parents, fiancés and husbands. They have learned to articulate their desires and they have developed expectations that those desires, once voiced, might be met. I thought of my eight-year old son, who recently announced his desire to participate more fully in decisions that affected him. And while the stated dreams of the young women in Mithapur are not unlike the dreams and aspirations of any young person at that age, I was struck by the vast differences in opportunity and circumstance of these girls even in relationship to my eight-year old. I was glad to see them dream and smiled as I left, knowing that this was an essential beginning.
World Health Report 2005 - Make Every Mother and Child Count Apr. 10, 2005—I had planned to travel to Agra today from Delhi to see the Taj Mahal. The gods conspired against me and I was stuck in the hotel instead nursing an upset stomach. The visit to the Taj is an obvious tourist destination, but it also has become the international symbol for Safe Motherhood. The Taj Mahal is considered a monument to love. It was built by a grief stricken Mughal king, Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, after she died during childbirth. It is a reminder of the special risk that women in many parts of the world face while trying to give birth. More than 500,000 women around the world die each year due to pregnancy-related causes and 99% of them die in developing countries. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable. Far too many births are attended by unskilled and untrained attendants, and when obstetric complications occur in these circumstances, women’s lives are at peril. Delays in seeking medical care and delays within the health system that impede prompt attention and management of a woman once she arrives for care result in fatal outcomes for mothers and often for their children. This week international organizations, governments, and civil society gathered in Delhi, India for the release the World Health Report 2005 – Make Every Mother and Child Count. The report identifies cost-effective interventions that could drastically reduce the risk women face in childbirth. With additional resources and greater political commitment on the part of governments, maternal death rates could be reduced. Women certainly deserve the world’s investment in them. No one should die while giving birth. It is an irony that the world should find unacceptable. And one should not need a visit to the Taj Mahal to be prompted into action, though its inspiration stands as a glorious reminder of the power of love and the tragedy of indifference. Twenty Years of Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women
HIV/AIDS is a major new health concern, particularly for women who are disproportionately affected and infected by the disease. But a woman Minister of Health and CEDPA alumna, Charity Ngilu, has been leading government efforts to significantly reduce the incidence of the disease in the past five years. Girls still attend school at rates disproportionate to boys, but strong women's organizations, like the Forum for African Women Educationalists, are leading the call for gender equity in schools. And women leaders and activists are prepared to hold their government accountable to transparency and fairness in the allocation of government resources. This work ensures that the rhetoric that emerged from The Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and subsequent policy documents are translated into policy change on issues of concern to women. And while much greater progress is necessary for this country to achieve gender equality, one is left with a sense of hope and promise that women's voices will be heard and considered. There is no going back; there is only looking forward! |
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Apr. 13, 2005—Today, I visited Mithapur, a small community just outside central Delhi, India, where I met with a group of teenage girls who had participated in a CEDPA project, Now We Have Wings. The day before, CEDPA hosted a dissemination event with eight partner organizations that had, with CEDPA’s technical support, implemented youth development activities based on our Choose a Future! curriculum. Today’s visit gave me an opportunity to see one of the communities where the young participants live. There, a girl named Subhardra explained to me that the aspect of the program that she liked most was the goal-setting session. A surprising response; it became clear that the mere act of goal-setting was a direct contradiction of and rebellion from community expectations that a young girl achieved fulfillment only through marriage, children, and taking care of home and husband. Subhardra planned to be a teacher--imparting the skills and learning she had acquired through the CEDPA program to others. 
Apr. 5, 2005—Twenty years ago, Nairobi was the host city for the Third World Conference on Women. Thousands of women from around the world came to discuss The Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women that would shape global priorities for women in the ensuing decade. Much has changed for Kenyan women since that time and much has unfortunately remained the same.