I wrote this on a post last year about the women in my family and this is just a celebration of the women in my family and not forgetting the boys as they are just as important and vital in the campaign for gender equity. I come from a family of six girls and one boy, and we tend to forget to celebrate our achievements. I have six nieces and four nephews-the girls are exceptional and it as I would like to say how proud I am of them and their achievements, their fearlessness gives me a great deal of pride and this is for my nieces and nephews particularly who in the face of so much have proved themselves time and again to be truly worthy people.

The girls are exceptional and it brings to mind a story my big sister told me about my grandmother-Cucu, my mum and her only sister who I am named after during the Mau Mau emergency in the 1950’s the Kikuyu women were put in concentration camps while the Kikuyu men were detained elsewhere. The women had home guards and one guard had it for Cucu, Mum and Aunty and would whip them without provocation. This guard was nasty and every morning if he did not whip Mum or Aunty, he felt that he had not done a good days work. The women’s work was to plant and harvest crops which was used to feed the British army and home guards, one morning the stupid man was feeling particularly vicious but he seemed to have crossed a line as he lashed out indiscriminately and Cucu who at this time was extremely furious and as the whip was pulled back to land on Mum, Cucu took hold of it and together with her daughters pulled the guard into their hut, shut the door and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. When they had finished, they went on to tell him that as a man he would not be able to tell the other guards that he had been beaten by women, he never raised the whip against these women again. For my nieces I am not advocating violence but when one is pushed in a corner you do what you have to do…


To my nephews who are gentle giants all of them, so good looking and charming, there is so much potential there, there are two and their picture stays in my mind holding your baby sister, amusing her and making her laugh. Though you have the men traits, your sensitivity is amazing and a sight to behold. To the oldest nephew, I never hear much from you other than you sending me emails to update your contact lists. You are the epitome of cool, and just like the other two stylish and trendy. To the baby nephew whom I haven’t met yet- I saw a picture of you and my heart flipped, I have spoken to you and I can see you growing up to be this handsome young man……

To family for my lovely and wonderful nieces and nephews it is nice to know that the baton can be passed on, your intelligence and wit is a joy and wonder to behold…..

Happy International Women’s Day

This entry was posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 at 2:44 pm. You can skip to the end and leave a response.