After attending the two-week training at the Peace Building Institute organized by Never Again Rwanda in 2017, I resolved to use writing as a way of passing on the knowledge & personal thoughts about Peace especially those concerning women and girls.
Why I chose writing as a peacebuilding ambassador;
- I can do it freely alongside my other duties; day job & being a mother.
- Writing reaches more people from different countries or walks of life at a go.
- With writing, feedback is always coming in, whether after a year, two or even more.
- This information can be kept for future generations.
I was inspired to write after learning about how women were affected in the Rwanda genocide against the Tutsi. Many of them raped, contracted HIV/AIDS & producing children fathered by perpetrators. The post-genocide era saw women coming up to take leadership roles starting from the grass root local Gacaca courts to top government positions in the new leadership.
All this highlighted how men and women are affected differently by wars and the key roles that women (if included in post-conflict agreements & peacebuilding) play in bringing about sustainable peace & economic development in their countries.
Through writing about peacebuilding, I have been able to assist a student from the University of Zimbabwe who was working on her dissertation in partial completion of Bsc Honors in political science.
I have recently been requested to contribute a chapter to a women-only book about peacebuilding by a colleague who is an Associate Professor at the University of Zimbabwe which I am looking forward to doing.
I also received encouraging responses from the Maarso Peace Centre in Somalia among other individual replies from readers.
Such responses make me acknowledge that as a woman I can contribute to supporting fellow women by documenting lessons & views from past experiences so that the future generations are able to learn from them. Through writing, I will continue to enlighten more women & girls about their much-needed contribution in peacebuilding in their communities or societies.
That peacebuilding starts in the smallest but most important unit of a community, the home, and since women in our African society are the backbone of families, they can use this position to discourage stereotyping, condemning name calling & teaching critical thinking amongst children because these are the future leaders of our countries.
During PBI, we saw the role that different media (print media & broadcast media) played in supporting genocide. I have written two children’s books. Writing positive, fun & interesting content keeps young people’s minds busy and productive.
To see more of her work visit www.mixakids.com!