Kubatana: Circles of Women<\/p>\n
Sheltered beneath cool thatch
surrounded by green lawns and fig trees<\/p>\n
a circle of Zimbabwean women sit passing a stone
sewing beads onto a red velvet cloth as each one spoke<\/p>\n
women\u2019s work<\/p>\n
they cross three generations
mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, grandmothers
facilitators, lawyers, counselors, activists<\/p>\n
What is it, we asked, that we celebrate about being women? And what is difficult about being\u00a0 women here, at this time?<\/p>\n \u2018Being disrespected It was a story of attrition and overwhelming responsibility<\/p>\n One of the elders spoke and of the growing strength of realization she would not seek what was impossible of the power and satisfaction her life had brought her They spoke of strong, enduring, loving mothers They spoke of the \u2018enemy within\u2019 And then they looked at what they could change It is the first conversation of many, many conversations<\/p>\n everything changes<\/p>\n Bev Reeler<\/p>\n
\u2018Our ability to love,
<\/em>to take responsibility for our children, our families
<\/em>to take responsibility for the food, and the schooling
<\/em>our ability to hold serious jobs
<\/em>to talk about our feelings
<\/em>to share the load\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em>often abused,
<\/em>by the men with whom we live
<\/em>sexual harassment
<\/em>political rape and violence\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n
of the infidelities of her husband
of the pain it had cause her young soul
as she watched over her small children<\/p>\n
that she was the one<\/p>\n
she would take the responsibility
and do the work
and love her children
because she had the courage and strength to do it<\/p>\n
of the wonderful children she had grown into the world
of the circles of women she shared her life with<\/p>\n
of the father who had supported one young woman\u2019s journey
allowed her the freedom to make her own choices
of her gratitude for this trust in her abilities<\/p>\n
their own jealousies
of women\u2019s part in infidelities
the insecurity they carried<\/p>\n
and of holding circles with men<\/p>\n