Property Rights Again....

This is a link to an article that I provided comments for months ago. I have just found out that it was published also on the UN Refugee Agency website (the UNHCR), which is huge.

Take a look at it HERE. The article is 5 months old now, but still very relevant. I spoke to Doo Aphane a few weeks back about the case, she is a human rights activist and lawyer, who wants to buy a plot of land across the road from her house, and so brought the test case before the High Court of Swaziland. It was her feeling that there is not enough support for the women's right to own property movement, from the feminist activist community in Swaziland.

It is my feeling that too much of the rhetoric surrounding womens rights issues focus on abstract discussions about rights, and less on concrete manifestations of what a stronger framework of rights would mean for a woman. See my last blog post with the link to Just Governance Group writings. Property rights are a key area for the attainment of womens rights.

Awesome: proud of my writing

A link to my latest writing for the Just Governance Group, who are of course doing fantastic work. Take a look through their web page if you get a chance, it is full of interesting work.

For my latest writing peice I wrote about the issue with culture and the adoption of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill. Which has still not been adopted. I have a meeting tomorrow with Nonhlanhla Dlamini, the previous director of SWAGAA and now MP. I am hoping she will be able to give me an update on the progress of the Bill. Which has been ten years in the making. Come on.

Kayaking and Absailing

This blog is heavy reading because I tend to focus on the serious stuff. Maybe I am misrepresenting my Swazi Living, especially because the Swazis are very quick to laugh at life. A few weeks back SWAGAA had the staff retreat. We stayed at Hlangano Sun hotel for two nights and had a team building exercise of white water rafting. I went rafting with my co-legal officer, and very good friend. All was going well until we went down the last rapid backwards, bumped into a big boulder which tipped the boat upside down and we then rolled and bumped our way down the remained of the rapids. When I emerged from the water my Maputo bought sunnies were gone. It was a sad moment.

Afterwards I went ABSAILING, which is no small achievement for someone with a sizable fear of heights. I took about 15 minutes to actually walk down the side of the rock (which was overlooking the rapids by the way), after stalling in very creative ways: ‘Is there someone waiting for me at the bottom?’….. ‘So is he aware that I will be coming?’…. ‘What is his name?’

I’ve posted some not too flattering pictures for proof.

Swaziland Sign...

At the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Just wanted to share this sign with folk. My little sister went to Paris this Summer and took a picture of this sign for Mbabane, the capital city of Swaziland about 20 minutes away from my office in Manzini.

Small small world.

Stories

Stories. I have lots of little stories, random things that happen during the day, small incidences that build upon each other and before I realise it, together they have created a greater understanding of the world I am living in.

Take last week. I had a detailed work plan for the week, a host of trial cases which I was to follow. The aim for the week was to test the M & E form that I have drafted and begin the baseline studies on the procedural aspects of trial cases at the Magistrates Court. I discovered on Monday morning that the chief magistrate was in Singapore for training, so no trials were happening that week.

I sat outside the court house, gathering my thoughts before going back to the office. A young woman was next to me with her daughter, completing some forms. Her daughers name was Letta, a toddler who enjoyed nothing more then sprinting away from her mum towards the car park. After asking how the woman was doing, Sebe asked for some help completing the forms. They were applications for passports for herself and Letta. The entire document was in English and Sebe was embarrassed to say that she was not ‘educated enough to fill them in.’ The forms required details on her next of kin, and a signature from an authority figure to declare they knew her. Of course I completed the forms in full, requiring a Swazi to complete technical English forms without any guidance is absurd.

Walking to the edge of the car park I told Sebe where I worked and Sebe replied, ‘when I need help, I will come to you at SWAGAA.’ Sure enough she came on Saturday morning looking for me, and was told to come back on Monday morning to speak with me. She wanted to tell her story: one of poverty, abuse, struggling to support her daughter and relying on the hands that abuse her to get by. Sebe needs a job.

And someone to listen to her.

She didn’t want to speak to a counselor on Monday, but the counselors here at work reassure me it takes time. This young 22 yr old has reached out to me three times, and I hope that she comes back, tells me how the job hunt went.