Journee de la Femme!!

The 8^th of March is a day that celebrates woman throughout the world. I’m wearing a typical “pagne” which is a skirt and top made from some fabric I bought here and custom tailored by the cousin of one of the women I work with—a total of $20. As I walked down the street today I had countless people telling me how good it looked and smiling, they were so happy that a “mundele”—(a white foreigner in the local language of Lingala, literally meaning the color white, although French is normally spoken by all in the ca

pital). “Mundele has become a Congolese!” “Oh, mundele looks beautiful!” There was no way for me to avoid blushing and smiling like crazy—I finally felt accepted by the locals and in return I displayed my respect to them by wearing their traditional garments.

It’s ironical that this day is more celebrated throughout Africa and other developing countries than in the U.S. The woman here is slowly gaining some rights, but from the experience I have had here so far, it is far far from anything we are used to. I live in the capital, so I’m able to witness a situation that is much better than that in the rest of the country, but polygamy and dowries are still very frequent here. I live in a residence with some of the nursing students at the school where I teach and some of them alrea

dy have boyfriends who have paid the dowry to the respective family so that when they return home they will be married right away. They love the boys they are engaged to, but fail to see that this price essential labels them as property. I have been able to make some friends with some other unmarried women that think that this is unacceptable, but even so, they understand that they might never marry a man who treats them as an equal. They know that they will probably always have to have a meal prepared for their husband, no matter if they work throughout the day and have the small ones to take care of. To top it off, some of them are in their mid-20s and late 20s and getting worried that they are not yet married—it is not sociable acceptable to hit 30 and not be married. This is something I have encountered personally by men asking me why I have no children or husband in the U.S.

As dismal as the situation might seem here, women have an opportunity to show their power on days like the 8^th of March. I walked out the street to get lunch at the residence and I was greeted by the sound of music and a mass of women and girls marching in the sand filled streets, dancing and chanting, celebrating what they are, all dressed in the traditional “pagne”. Police escort them throughout the street and are on their beck-and-call. At least one day out of 365 they get the recognition they deserve.