WOMEN IN DIALOGUE
More than 1 000 women from 16 countries amongst them Botswana, are gathered in South Africa, Johannesburg for a week-long South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) conference.
SAWID is a women organisation established in 2003 to represent the voices of women and advance peace and development by empowering women. At the annual conference, women come together and discuss topics that hinder women development and ways of tackling such challenges.
This year, SAWID celebrates 20 years of existence and the conference seeks to honour the past two decades of engaging national governments, the private sector and the civil society in an effort to improve the status of women in society.
Speaking on Monday, Thoko Mpumlwana, Chairperson of SAWID Board of Trustees said they have throughout the years worked hard to ensure that they contribute to formulation of policies in South Africa.
“We had input on policies of single Marriage Act, Gender Based Violence, the Traditional Courts Bill and the New Electoral Act and many others. We try to have input because of our commitment in women leadership,” she said.
Mpumlwana said they have partnered with different organisations to ensure that the voice of every woman is heard.
“Our role is to give hope in the midst of pessimism because if we do not do that, we are all gone. Pessimism makes people stop thinking creatively, when we have problems, there has to be solution suggestions,” she said.
Speaking on the side-lines of day one deliberations on Monday, a Botswana delegate Craciano Maphorisa who is a Social Justice Activist focusing on women and Youth empowerment also Chairperson for the Africa Women
Entrepreneurship Programme for Botswana Chapter said the discussions were an ey- opener.
“I have attended two of the African Women in Dialogue events that were a continuing version of SAWID, being part of these events has equipped me with self-development and a network of other women who are in the same field with me.
“I take the knowledge imparted and put it into practice, I remember how in 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a session that put me in the same room with women that started the total shutdown initiative in South Africa, they wanted government to give them an ear. “Through that, I have been able to learn mobilisation, lobbying and many other things that I now employ in the organisations I lead,” Maphorisa said.
Tumelo Moreri, a Botswana based Psycho Spiritual Healer, a consultant and mentor for leaders said she enjoyed day one of the 2023 conference because it touched on healing, and as a healer, they have been preaching the need for healing in leadership.
'To sit in some of the sessions today and have so much conversation on healing, it felt that the topic was finally coming into mainstream and that felt so good,' she said.
Moreri is a Zanele Mbeki Fellowship beneficiary of 2018-2019 and since SAWID is one of the legacy projects founded by Ms Mbeki, she received an invite to be part of the 2023 SAWID conference. Mbeki is former First Lady of South Africa and married to former president Thabo Mbeki.
'My participation in the Fellowship has greatly impacted the work I do, my work had largely been focused on the psycho spiritual healing of women and their bodies but since the fellowship, there has been a pivotal shift. Somehow I am more skilled and able to do my work more elegantly,' she said.
Dr Criselda Kananda who is programme director of the event said it is important for any leader and woman to heal from trauma so that they are able to become great leaders.
She was sexually violated by a neighbour at age five. Her mother also rejected her after separating with her father. She became a street child that looked through people's windows hungry, sadly some would roll up their windows without a care.
At age 18, Kananda fell pregnant and she gave away her baby.
'I did not feel anything at that time but I have since gone back to look for my chid and my child is the best thing to have ever happened to me. I have healed,' she said encouraging other women.