Having spent my whole life in Africa more specifically East Africa it goes without saying that there are a lot of women who suffer injustices every day. Yes Africa has two female Presidents, as well as women recognized all over the world such as: Lupita Nyongo, Juliana Rotich, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr Ola Orekunrinjust to name a few – but these women are the exception, not the rule. Comfortable in our lofty city homes we often forget of all the atrocities committed against women far away deep in the village. What is even more worrying is that these atrocities are not limited to the African continent, African women are daily victims of rape, forced prostitution and human trafficking all over the world; more so than any other kind of woman.
Women4Africa an organization registered in the UK aims to celebrate and empower women in Africa as well as in the home country of the United Kingdom. They do this by providing support to the women who need it the most, supporting education, and finally giving out prominent awards to women recognized by the society as having made a positive impact on empowering women. Above and beyond this there are several programs and campaigns that they administer all over Africa which will help them achieve their goals. Two of these are the Campaign to End Sexual Exploitation of Girls and Work to End Girl-Child Labour. Both of these campaigns and programs among others are currently operating all over Africa and the UK.
Besides the financial sponsorship that the Organization receives from some of its sponsors, they generate a large chunk of their funds on their own. They manage this by organizing conferences and charging for attendance, which often sell out pretty quickly. It makes sense, I am currently miles away but God knows if I was in London I would want to attend. Their upcoming event , the 3rd Annual ‘Women4Africa™ Awards UK 2014’ will take place on Saturday 10th May 2014 at ‘The Great Hall, Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, W8 7NX’ promises to be a night to remember.
It goes without saying that trying to empower women on the continent is an uphill battle, we have to appreciate that, embrace it even so that we can climb with continued vigor. It is however not a hopeless fight and Women4Africa is definitely heading down the right path.
