John Makeni
6 September 2008
Nairobi — Fighting for the rights of minorities - lesbians, gays, pygmies, albinos - is often a Herculean task and many a time, life-threatening.
For years women have felt that they have received a raw deal in terms of recognition of their rights.
Due to this, a group of minority rights crusaders, hosted by Nairobi-based Urgent Action Fund, an organisation that pushes for women's human rights met last week in Nairobi.
The women, drawn from 11 African countries shared their experiences and hoped to use them to push for the equality that has eluded their gender for centuries.
Some have chosen to speak out on the abuse of the rights of lesbians; others wake up each day to follow the little known path of fighting alongside pygmies and change people's opinions and perceptions about them; while others simply stand out because they are men who say they recognise the often underrated potential in women.
In this latter group is Hassan Shire Sheikh, who says conflict in his war-torn homeland of Somalia made him appreciated the importance of respecting the rights of other individuals.
"Since women too are human beings, we have to champion their rights as well," says Sheikh who fled his home country and sought asylum in Uganda.
Albino children
"Living away from my home is painful. But the satisfaction I derive from defending the rights of the oppressed gives me such pleasure that I could perhaps not get if I were living in my country," he said.
As neighbouring Somalia degenerated into chaos over a decade and a half ago, a young girl in Kenya was confronting wars of her own.
Mumbi Ngugi gave the experience of a woman who grew up with albinism in a society that associated her condition with a lot of mystery.
According to her, a woman who gives birth to an albino child will in most cases be mistreated by her immediate family, including her husband.
Ms Ngugi believes many women bringing up albino children know very little about the condition.
"People need to be sensitized on the dangers of some myths. For instance in Tanzania, albinos are hunted down and cut up into pieces that are then used by fishermen and miners as good luck charms. We need to move away from this," she said.
Myths and mystic killings involving women are things Julienne Lusenge knows all too well.
As a defender of women's rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she has traversed the Congo forest urging the communities living there to respect the rights of the pygmy women.
"Pygmy women have been tortured for a long time. They have been raped and massacred for no reason other than the belief that they possess some form of magic.
"Soldiers who rape and murder them then eat some of their body parts which they believe will protect them from the enemy," she said.
Even with the despair and hopelessness gripping her country Zimbabwe, one woman has not given up her pursuit to champion girls' and women's rights.
This is what has even made Betty Makoni, the executive director of Girl Child Network stronger in her resolve.
"When you're dealing with issues like rape, you tend to be outspoken, and due to the political polarisation, you are marked," she said. She has been the target of several police assaults and was forced to flee her country.
Jacqueline Kasha's life revolves around gay rights movements. The 28 year-old believes all human beings have a right to choose a lifestyle that fits them.
As a lesbian, she says she is most perturbed by questions about her family and whether she plans to have children.
"Life is not only about sex and getting children. It is compassion, love, care and respect" she said.
Kasha who is the chairperson of Lesbian, Gays, Transsexual, Bisexual, Intersex chides both the government and religious leaders for viewing the gay community as portraying Uganda as an immoral country.
Leymah Gbowee, champions women's inclusion in peace and security processes in Liberia and Sierra Leone. She is a Liberian who operates from Accra and witnessed the civil war in Liberia. She has worked with child soldiers and security personnel.
"Security touches on both genders and men have no right locking women out of the peace building process," she said. Her mission is to educate the military in her country on the importance of respecting the rights of women.
Rakeb Messele, 34, a lawyer from Ethiopia said her country's constitution recognises human rights but enforcement was wanting.
"Whenever it chooses to, the government can suspend an NGO's license and we cannot go to court. This sometimes makes it difficult for NGOs to educate the public on human rights issues," she said.
Ms Betty Murungi the Executive Director of Urgent Action Fund says that with time, many more people will respect the rights of others regardless of ones race, gender or sexual orientation.
Her sentiments are shared by Vahida Nainar from India who adds: "In the beginning, women rights were thought to be contentious. We couldn't even vote. But nowadays, everyone is talking about respecting them."
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I think the group of GLBT is a special group. It's very hard to be openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. They usually got harassed, beaten up, pushed around and called all kinds of slurs. They would say all sorts of horrible things for the wrong reasons.
So I think we should give them more support and understanding, just like the online community http://BisexualMingle.com.