How would you describe resistance? What does it mean to you?
For me, resistance is not yielding to the temptation of conformism. It’s a very compelling temptation in our society, and when I was young, I didn’t have any inspiring models of resistance around me or in the world. Look at marriage issues for instance. We live in a world where everyone around us is getting married. Once you turn seventeen, when you greet someone, their answer is: “When are you getting married?”. It’s very tempting. The men around you only see a wife in you. Not a person who can contribute to the community’s development, but someone to marry or to make a pass at. It’s important not to yield to temptation, and to instead set personal goals. I think resistance is focusing on your goals and not fitting in.
Do you remember your first act of resistance?
When I was 18, my youngest sister was going to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). The procedure was scheduled for early in the morning. The night before, around 6pm, I ran away with her. I didn’t have the chance to escape it, but I didn’t want her to experience that. Back then, nobody would listen to me. I didn’t have the power to change a family decision. So, I ran away with her, and took her to my school. I asked the security guard if we could stay there. I begged him and we spent the night there. The next day, when the principal arrived, I explained the situation. He asked me if I had an understanding aunt or uncle to go to. He took us to my aunt’s and asked her to talk my father out of this decision. My parents looked everywhere for us, and they were worried. My aunt called my father to tell him we were at her house. She told him that if he didn’t change his mind, my sister and I would stay with her. We stayed at her place for two days, and then my father came to pick us up. My sister did not undergo FGM. We had cousins and nieces who lived with us who didn’t go through the procedure either.
What is this world you are trying to build and what is possible and feasible in the time you have left to live?
In the future I see more freedom for girls and women and much more involvement in political life. I see a world where we have a government not of 30% women, but of 80% women, even 94%. For this to happen, women must get involved. They must go beyond being beneficiaries to become political actors. I don’t like the speeches where they say that “women are at the heart of our politics.” I would like women to be the participants and not the recipients, and for this to happen, women must get involved.
In AJCAD [Association des Jeunes pour la Citoyenneté Active et la Démocratie], we have Citizen Action Clubs [CLACs] at the community level. I require a minimum participation of 50% of women to validate a CLAC. I know that women just need a little push to outdo the men. It’s very difficult to get the girls to come to the CLACs. You must go and find them and convince them to join. When they agree and show up, they naturally take the leadership. They have this leadership, and they evolve at exponential speeds; it is impressive. At the community level, you must push them to get involved.
I dream of a day when we won’t have to talk about the women’s quota, but about the men’s quota.
