Broken

“All you do is not normal.

You are slow and crazy!

Being defensive is what you know best.

You are not normal.

You are nothing but just a person I live with.

You are nothing!

There is nothing you own here.”

Dear God, this is beyond me

I cant posisbly handle this alone.

Help me!

I surrend this, all of this unto your hands,

Take control.

Sitting here as tears run through my eyes

Gravity pulling them down continuously

Effortlessly.

Is happiness for the few

Is happiness a calling

Why does it seem to fall on others but me

I am not happy

I am saddened by every word uttered from his mouth

Is is merely just words?

Venom spit.

In tears?

How is my happiness affected?

“Another” type of feminist

I am an Afro feminist. I abide by the African feminist Charter. It has been like so for over four years now. For most of us feminists, you grow up with ideologies that vary from other people in the community, family members at home, colleagues or friends at school or work. You are just different. You question everything you do. You get insight first before you subscribe to things in society. For everything there is always a “Why?” Yes! That’s me. My name is Joy by the way, pleasure to e-meet you. FYI e-meet you is electronically meet you though I find virtually meet you to be more, interesting with a bit of oomph! Growing up as the “rebel” or a “dissident” (in the language that my sisters from genocide fested countries would comprehend), I never really quiet understood why i was “the problem child”. Most importantly, why I couldn’t find a name to describe the things, the opinions, the frustrations I had about the way I viewed the world. To cut the long story short, I got to understand feminism when I was doing my undergrad. Yup, it all began to make sense as I connected all the pieces and joined all the dots I had shelved in the back of my mind. I began to identify myself as a Feminist. I felt liberated and free. I spoke my mind. I was daring. Unafraid. Super confident that I had found a voice in me that had been hidden for the longest time. By the way, no one will ever, speak or say things on your behalf. If you have issues to say, say them yourself because no one has the time to ever dare think that maybe, you have something to say. Claim your space, let the voice in you roar. So, that was me- Joy. I spoke. I had a voice. I had courage. Somehow, it seems to have vanished. I have grown so fearful. I am in an abusive relationship. I am in battle with the extreme side of patriarchy. The system is fast killing my spirit. I am bruised.

Welcome Back!!

Just a few moments ago, I decided to google my name. Simply out of curiosity, I wanted to find out what google had to say about me. Whether the information was true, false or mixed up. I wanted to know. Yup, the first page was accurate, the second was a bit honest, then the third page, the forth, fifth… the level of truth kept on fading as the pages went by.

Borrowed from Google

What captured my interest was this blog. I remember vividly, it was exactly five years ago when the passion grew. I was so happy! Fast forward… Today, when I went through that blog again, something in me was tickled. I smiled to myself and logged in. I am never stopping, EVER!

Call for gender papers

Call for expressions of interest in funding to present papers at the Law and Society Association Conference, New Orleans, June 2-5, 2016 and International Conference on Law and Society, Mexico City, June 20-23, 2017 on “Gender, Development, and Fiscal/Economic Equality: International, Regional, and Domestic Justice Issues” Sponsored by International Sociolegal Feminisms (FemLaw), a collaborative research network of the Law and Society Association (CRN38).

** Submit expressions of interest to organizers by July 16, 2015 **

International Sociolegal Feminisms (FemLaw) is a collaborative research network of the Law and Society Association (LSA). FemLaw is seeking expressions of interest in presenting papers in its program at two interdisciplinary international conferences being sponsored by the Law and Society Association: the New Orleans LSA conference (June 2-5, 2016) and the Mexico City International Conference on Law and Society (June 20-23, 2017). Early expressions of interest are particularly sought from scholars in developing, emerging, and transition economy countries – the LSA will provide travel and accommodation funding for such scholars to enable them to participate in these conferences.

FemLaw wishes to nominate scholars, researchers, and policy analysts who are engaged in ongoing multinational and interdisciplinary work on economic/fiscal equalities and who are residents of low and medium income countries for this LSA funding program. Membership in the LSA is not required.

Participants or groups interested in addressing any of the following types of domestic, regional, or international fiscal or economic issues from gender, race, indigenous, cultural, economic class, disability, development, and/or migration perspectives should contact us right away:

• economic gender equality – challenges, barriers, achievements, impact analysis
• gender budget issues and government austerity policies
• revenues for human rights
• tax policy or law
• Indigenous economic security, development, and gender
• gender dimensions of tax haven and offshoring policies
• financing for development * oil/mining/gas revenue issues and more general ‘special economic zone’ issues  IMF, World Bank, and/or EU conditionalities
• cultural analysis of fiscal discourses
• continued effects of the 2008/9 international financial crisis
• income inequalities, and, in particular, women and poverty
• overseas development aid and financing for development issues, realities, trends
• environmental sustainability issues, including climate change and warming Arctic
• gender equality and armed conflict
• paid and unpaid work
• gender identities and economic status
• pay equity, employment equity, and precaritized incomes
• women’s access to capital and business investment, pensions

Who is eligible to be considered for FemLaw nomination for LSA funding?

FemLaw will accept expressions of interest from those working in any disciplines – not just law! And, very importantly, scholars or investigators working at any level and in any type of institutional setting are sought  gender/development/equaltiy work occurs in many sites, and knowledge about and/or produced in all types of sites is essential to full understanding of this complex area of investigation. Examples of those who are eligible to be considered for FemLaw’s program: undergraduate and graduate students; new scholars; those working in regional/local/international governmental or non-governmental organizations of all types; consultants; professional practitioners; members of informal or formal community groups; independent scholars; members of research or advocacy institutes.

If in doubt as to eligibility, the organizers will be pleased to advise! FemLaw needs to identify those it will nominate for LSA conference funding by July 16, 2015. There is no limit how many nominations may be made. FemLaw’s nominations will be included in a funding proposal being filed by the LSA International Research Collaborations Committee with the US National Science Foundation, and FemLaw will also seek supplementary funding.

All expressions of interest should be sent to Kathleen Lahey at kal2@queensu.ca, and cc to klahey99@gmail.com Copies may be submitted to co-organizers Ann Mumford ann.mumford@kcl.ac.uk and/or Asa Gunnarsson asa.gunnarsson@umu.se – but all submissions should go to K. Lahey as above in order to ensure that none are lost due to time zone or communication issues. For the country income classifications being used by the LSA, see http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/CLASS.XLS DON’T MISS OUT

Ugly baby left me in stitches

This morning in the kombi on my way into town, a pretty looking woman sat in front of me. While I was still trying to process the fact that she was indeed way more beautiful than I, her son began to fidget. Seeing how irritated the mother was, I decided to take a peep. Yoweeee, boy oh boy!! Damn the lad was ugly. “Sonny, behave, chumaa hawu,” she said to the ugly duckling. As a move to blackmail the mother, the child started to cry. I burst out into laughter, gees, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. This child became worse. His ugliness was enhanced that very moment he restructured his  facial muscles to cry. He just become uglier. (kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk, looooools)

forum.ebaumsworld.com

Well, for someone that pretty, I surely expected a handsome son too. This little boy almost two and a half or three, Maiiweeee, I was left in stitches. There he sat on his mother’s lap, with his face shining maybe because of the vaseline applied on his face (that could be justified, its winter and vaseline is most ideal for infants). He had big eyes popped out, tiny mouth, huge head and for me the big nose was a bonus.

I began to ponder, what could have made this child born from a beautiful woman ugly? Maybe he is the direct photocopy of his dad (assuming the father is ugly too) but what if he is not too ugly a person. Probably what they say about sperms having a bearing on the overall screen saver of the child could have somewhat factored in. Studies say there are different kinds of sperm, the one that makes you have good looking kids, not so good looking kids, average looking kids and the ugly ones.

Yes, I don’t not have a child. I do want to be a mother one day, and I want to have good looking off springs – to say the least. Am not saying I have the perfect gene of diluting the ugly sperm of the father (assuming -off course – that the spouse would be ugly), or  that I am immune to being a victim of bearing ugly ducklings. Excuse me for my behaviour, but that boy’s ugliness made my day. HA HA HA for days.

In Two Days

Though many may argue and say women’s month is only celebrated in March mainly because of the International Women’s Day. I choose to celebrate it in May. This is for the women that chose and set time aside to mentor, inspire, motivate, and encourage others for the tree of sisterhood to grow.

Amongst many, I zoom in on one. I have only know her through google or come across her name her and there. But when I was privileged with the opportunity to actually interact and socialise with her during the Her Zimbabwe five day training for young women from the 26th to the 30th. On the first two days, I was able to jot down inspirational quotes from Her Zimbabwe Director while learning as well.  I can only say I am inspired – to say the very least. I have been able to learn so much in two days. With out her knowledge,  I gathered 20 inspirational quotes from Fungai, in the past two days. So come “think with me.”

1. Be the someone who works hard at impressing yourself to yourself. Stop doing stuff because you expect compliments from others. Impress yourself.

Fungai Mahirori {https://www.tumblr.com/search/fungai%20machirori)

2. If you do something you are serious about, things will definitely fall into place. Life will always reward consistency and hard work.

3. Time is more important than any kind of money. Time means the world. So you dont just give people time.

4. When you think too much about something, you won’t do it.

5. I can’t say I am better than anyone but certainly as for the company I have – I streamline.

6. There are just those people you should never be around. If you start moving up they start pulling you down.

7. You have to look out for yourself. You can suffer for other people who won’t do the same for you.

8. There are people who will encourage you, accept you and you will know the difference. You are guided by these people.

youthaward.org

9. How big your mind is, inspires how your world can be.

10. If you want to get somewhere, you have to find friends like these (supportive ones).

11. If you want to get somewhere, you really need a person who you will ask “Have I lost my plot?” You need someone to be your guide.

12. There are always tings that exist. Now its all about what doesn’t exist – then you fill up the space.

13. If you just start where you know then you grow. That’s the best thing than to bite off what u can’t chew.

14. The essence of blogging is to be able to have an opinion about something and express it.

15. The point is to start from a point where you have a level of authority about what you are talking about.

16. You just need to write about what you think about. A thought – express it, argue it.

17. Starting where you are is the most important thing.

herzimbabwe.co.zw

18. People older than us, stand on our way. When you become too clever they don’t wanna work with you. They want the shy ones. We need to break that system.

19. Write about things that come naturally to you.

20. The essence is to be able to have an opinion about something and express it.