For International Women’s Day, the Associacao das Mulheres da Calheta held a full day of activities. A few days before we took our normal class time to make posters for International Women’s Day and the Tuesday before women from the community came out to pound corn for xeren.
On March 8, the air was filled with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Many of the women had told me that they had trouble sleeping the days leading up to March 8 and I shared my crazy dream about the food going bad and having to start over from scratch. They assured me that the food was fine and everything was going to go well.
We took our posters and marched around Calheta chanting “Nu kre nos direits, nu ka kre violencia” and made a scene parading through town. A lot of women gave us thumbs up as we passed by and we had passing cars honking along with our chants. The march ended in the Mercado where we hung up the posters on the wall to remain as decorations for the dances on Friday and Saturday.
In good fashioned Cape Verdian time, our 11 o’clock speaker arrived around 1 and spoke around 2. A woman from Morabi talked about violence against women and what to do if you or someone you know is being abused. Following her, the nurse from Calheta made her additions and then talked about birth control methods and what is available in Maio. She introduced everyone to the female condom, which apparently was something no one had heard of or had seen before.
The speakers were followed by a tribute to Donna Niza, a women in Calheta who has helped many women in need. From what I learned about her, she helps out single mothers, gets people to the hospital in emergencies and is an all around wonderful person. March 7, one of the women from the group showed up at my door and said that she wanted to get Donna Niza something really special from the group for the tribute, not a bed cover as was suggested by others. So the two of us went down to a store and bought her a television. None of the other women from the group knew about this surprise so it was really great to see everyone’s faces when we brought out this tv, especially Donna Niza’s who was smiling from ear to ear.
To add to the celebration, a batuk group with girls from the primary school perfomed and of course my students (some of the women from the group) pulled me up to dance. I think I got the biggest laugh of the day from my attempted dance skills. The girls also read a few poems that they had written about women and their importance in society.
And then of course, there was food. We killed a goat to put in all of the main dishes, and feasted on goat with potato, masa, beans, xeren, rice, goat with other stuff and of course all of the snacky foods- pastels, popcorn, cake. I made a large cake and decorated in honor of International Women’s Day and that too was quickly eaten.
The day was really successful and I think everyone had a good time. I was really proud of the women for organizing everything and hopefully this will keep them motivated to do more projects in the future.
