African First Ladies

BBC online posted an article on Monday about African First Ladies that was intended to give us some insight into to the women behind th men.  Unfortunately I think it fell short.  This article was more suited for a magazine than a hard news site.  The accomplishments of the women I think were overshadowed by trivial things like loss of freedom, and how they dress, which made them sound like spoilt celebrities.  


However at the same time it was nice to listen to these women talk in the accompanying audio clips.  I particularly enjoyed Sia Koroma, First Lady of Sierra Leone.  Her story of moving to England in 1997 to escape the war with her children, retraining as a nurse (she was a Scientist beforehand) and living in a council flat, to her currently using her skills at home  while living in State House, was very moving.  I also liked how she is trying to bridge the gap between tradition, (a word commonly used for the indigenous culture) and modernity (the polar opposite i.e. all things Western) by reaching out to leaders in each realm in her country.  I also admired how confident she is in herself as a woman.  The journalist clearly wanted to lead her down the path of berating men of power, particularly African men, and make it seem like women are in a helpless situation in this regard.  Koroma repeatedly dismissed questions and remarks by proclaiming she is a beautiful woman, women throwing themselves at her husband is to be expected and really she has better things to do than worry about what they are doing, she'd rather concentrate on working on her marriage and being herself. 


Read the comments made on the article. From vitriol to praise it is all there.  There are a lot of bitter men out there it seems.  A lot of negativity.  Makes me sad :(


Thanks to BIMBO for passing this on :)