African Women: Pioneers of change?

It is a good feeling to be able to be so proud of a place where you spent many formative years and with which you really enjoy being associated. For me one such place is my undergrad Principia College, a college for Christian Scientists located on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in Elsah, Illinois. Prin is located on a gorgeous campus with hundreds of acres that the US Air Force once wanted to commandeer to build the Air Force Academy but fortunately it was left to be preserved and conserved for more peaceful and educational purposes. I studied Mass Communications and World Perspectives at Prin and it was during my time there in the spring quarter of my senior year in 2000 that I got to take an abroad to South Africa with 20+ other students, David Winder one of my Mass Comm profs and Bente Morse, Prin’s International Student Coordinator and all around amazing lady. To see more about the abroad you can go to SA Abroad Program website. I think it is awesome that abroads dating back to 99 are still online. The 2002 trip to China, Vietnam and Tibet is worth a look as my sister Ashley was on it along with two friends who were in SA with me in 2000.

Okay so on to the reason for writing this blog I wanted to share about the Pan African Conference that will be held at Prin again this coming weekend. The topic is the subject of this blog “African Women: Pioneers of change?” and I think it should be a great day full of interesting and relevant information gathering and sharing. I think that women really hold the key to Africa’s success and it is up to the men to realize this and give women the credit and power they deserve. It has been my experience in Mozambique and South Africa that women do a lot more good for their family and friends then men. If you happen to be in the area and would like to attend just email me and I will get you in touch with the people who can hook you up with a chance to participate.

I took a weekend off from SIT last fall to go to the conference and was not disappointed. I even got the amazing opportunity of spending most of a day with Paul Rusesabagina the “hero” of Hotel Rwanda. Got to get him from the airport with a Principia employee, have lunch together and talk in the car on the way up to the college. It was an awesome opportunity and I am sure this year’s conference with some amazing speakers including Wangari Maathai who will be the keynote speaker on Saturday night will be great too. Maathai who was one of the originators of “The Green Belt Movement” in Kenya and is the first African women to win the Nobel Prize is an amazing and inspirational leader. She is on the board at SIT and I hope to meet her one day and maybe that day will be when I go to Kenya in January for the World Social Forum. Well, for a college of 550 Christian Scientists located in the rural Illinois countryside I think it is pretty awesome to have an annual event like this one that brings such high caliber of speakers and attendees together to talk about various topics related to Africa.