This
community event was organised on 8th of March by Non Governmental Organisations
and community based organisations who work in Kisumu. KASH, being a
founding members of KIMEN, participated actively in the event through
planning, and financing some of the resources and materials and by having
representatives at the various events.
The
IWD function took place at Jomo Kenyatta Sports ground, the biggest
sporting facility in Kisumu. KIMEN members had agreed to repeat a ‘fashion-show’
contest, as had been done the previous year. Participants were drawn
from the various KIMEN organisations; KASH presented five ladies, as
its representatives all were sex workers.
Pambazuko
(another KIMEN member) had the biggest number of participants. They
easily won the different categories, therefore beating KASH members
who had dominated the event in the previous year. The public was entertained
through presentations of both modern and traditional attires. In the
end, all contestants received a gift for participating.
The
winners were: Modern attire category- Elizabeth, then Evelyn followed
by Fatuma.
African
attires category - Veronica won the first prize, followed by Lydia and
Francesca all come from one of KIMEN member organisation known as Tuungane.
Activities at the IWD included songs and dances. Women representatives
from different communities i.e. Muslim and Hindu had speeches in relation
to the event’s theme: “ investing in women and girls”.
There
were also speeches from various women presenting various sectors of
the society. However, the most memorable speeches were made by two women
who had just endured horrible experience of ‘post-election violence’.
The two had either lost their husbands or did not know of their whereabouts
having been evicted from another town occupied by a different ethnic
group after an abortive national election. Their stories were heart-rending
and very sad, and a clear reminder to the difficulties still facing
women in Kenya.