An African proverb says that “if women lowered their arms, the sky would fall”.
I have admiration for the sky, also for the arms, but above all I have a deep admiration for women.
For this reason, this saying is my favorite and the one that best represents all of us who share arms and sky in Meki, Ethiopia.
Under the sky of Meki live women who, in a simple, constant and barely perceptible way, make a lot of noise.
It is a noise impregnated with affection and kindness, but also impertinent and full of rebellion, anger and non-acceptance of the enormous responsibilities and few rights with which they have to live.
They don't shut up, they don't shut them up;
and many things are changing, many lives;
theirs, the first.
I met them just a year ago.
They had lost work, home and family with the arrival of the pandemic.
Now they are called “women in situations of extreme vulnerability”.
And yes, they were very vulnerable.
When they were invited to be part of a new project, their faces were transformed, they recovered their smiles and also the hope they had lost.
They joined savings groups with others who shared and understood the serious difficulties they were going through.
And they felt that they were trusted again, that they were offered a new opportunity to start businesses, also helping them with the most basic and essential things they needed: health, decent housing and schooling for their children.
My dream come true is to work so that there are more and more traces and noises of women, and that they continue denouncing and transforming lives
They began to dream again.
And your dreams are now real.
They are proud of the achievements they have made, of the initiatives they have undertaken and they feel self-confident again.
In their savings groups, they also share the episodes of sexist violence that many of them continue to suffer, they get angry, support each other and fight because they know they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
All these women with whom I live and share daily work support the sky of Meki, and continue to make a constant noise, not shrill but persistent, to move forward together.
They are being an example to others.
And as another African proverb says: "The footprints of people who walked together are never erased."
For this reason, my dream come true is to work so that there are more and more traces and noises of women, and that they continue denouncing and transforming lives.
María José Morales
is Sendera's representative in Meki, Ethiopia
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