I’ve enjoyed photographing women for decades. Last year I spoke to Voices of African Mothers during the 55th U.N. Status of Women session. During my 3 months in Kenya working for No Water No Life®, I’ve noted many changes in women’s roles since I first came in 1985.
• LEADING: I attended a Global Peace Initiative of Women meeting at UNEP Headquarters as guest of conservationist Kuki Gallman. I talked with peace-builders, environmentalists and other women healing our environment and transforming our world. (See Notes.)
• EQUALIZED: On assignment for KickStart, I saw teams of women and husbands working together on rural Kenyan farms with pumps that irrigate crops during wet and dry seasons. (See Kickstart Photos.)
• SUPPORTED: In a No Water No Life Lecture at Rekero Camp in the Maasai Mara, I told 30 men that Africa’s women and girls spend 40 billion hrs/year carrying water, limiting their schooling and productivity. Later, around a campfire, they discussed how to help women burdened by water buckets and stop charcoal burning.
These experiences led me to post “Photographing Women,” a 10-year-old commentary I wrote for a “Soul of Woman” exhibit. My musings on women from East Africa, Europe and the USA are still pertinent today!
Please join me – both men and women - in celebrating the global feminine energy on International Women’s Day, 2012! (You can follow the day on Twitter!)
Salaams from Kenya! Alison M. Jones
