I've compiled a list of responses from African women responding to Kony 2012, a controversial campaign launched recently by Invisible Children to raise awareness of child soldiers in Uganda. I'm amplifying their responses because almost overnight, the web became flooded with so much commentary from western media on the erasure…
Growing up in Nigeria, the idea that improving the lives of women was a cause worth fighting for didn't just come from organizations, or brochures, or formal programming; I had strong women around me who constantly put this into practice in the every day, including my own mother.
My mother calls me an exhibitionist, but it's for this reason that I publish so much on the web -- when I'm long gone, I won't have anyone speaking for me, including suggesting that I wasn't always a protesting food justice advocate.
In order to address the dearth of women's histories -- our stories, and voices being undocumented, under-valued, and falsely represented without reprimand -- women must begin telling their own stories. We must essentially write our way back into history.
Recently, BBC news reported that three women -- allegedly involved in a love triangle -- in Cameroon have been arrested on suspicions of practicing homosexuality. According to the Washington Post, homosexuality is considered criminal in Cameroon and punishable by a jail sentence of six months to five years, plus a…