tiistai 29. maaliskuuta 2016

WANTED: Kibo motorbikes for our team!



In this picture you see me together with two awesome ladies from Nairobi and a Kibo bike. What do this have to do with our anti-FGM work? I promise: A lot and you're gonna be as inspired as I!

But let me first tell about traveling with Elizabeth. Quite often her team is walking from village to another, but by walk they can't reach to the most far away villages. When they have some money they will travel by matatu, which is a kind of oldfashion minibus. But the roads are not like our roads. Actually our opinions about the "roads" would be that they are absolutely undrivable. But there they drive and its very bumpy and slow. There is also no timetables. The matatu leaves when it leaves and drives at the possible speed. But sometimes, especially during rain season the matatus cannot drive at all. That means sometimes or most of the time its not possible to be on time on appointments. That's the famous "African time" and it means you can never know what will happen at what time.

The problem is that if our team has invited people to a gathering, they can try their best to attend, but they can never be sure if they trust the matatu. So that's why, if they have money they hire motorbikes and drivers. With the bikes they can go anywhere at anytime, the only thing is its so expensive because their travels can take many days and they have to pay for the drivers.

So now you might get the same idea I got in that bumpy matatu: This team needs their own motorbikes so they can go where ever they need to and at the schedule that's best  for them!

I told my idea for the team and agreed on the fullest! So I started to think.... 


...and I got a clue... 

But I didn't really know what I was doing until...

Few days later after visiting Elizabeth I went back to Nairobi for participating in Nairobi Symphony Orchestra. I had planned a meeting with one interesting artist I got to know trough facebook. On my way to meet her I remembered I've seen pics of her on a motorbike on fb so I decided to ask her about motorbike stuffs. We had discussed for maybe half an hour when one of her friends turned up, fully dressed in motorbike clothes. So we continued to talk bike stuffs and this other woman was happy to tell she just won a motorbike race (okay she was the only one in female series but anyway!) and therefore was hired by Kibo, which is a new Kenyan motorbike manufacturer.

So very soon we got the same idea you might be thinking of: Let's ask Kibo to be one sponsor for the bikes to our team! Our idea for other sponsors was to ask both Kenyan and Finnish ladybikers clubs, we think they might be really interested. Because hey, a maasai womens team fighting against FGM and promote girls rights and gender equality on motorbikes? How cool would that look!!! :D

So that's why we're standing in front of that Kibo bike on the picture.

But the good flow doesn't stop here... We will have some really nice oppurtinities with Finnish media. And that's one thing how we will get Kibo interested to join this project! More about those exciting Opportunities later because I don't know how secret those things are... ;) But I'm sure you gonna be as excited as I!!!

We are going to send invitations later to all Finnish motorbike clubs also, but if you happen to belong to one, please feel free to share this post and idea with them! :)

Btw, the Kenyan artist I met, Aliza, is also a blogger and she got inspired to post about our NGO work. I think she summarized our work really well, just have a read: https://sulwesulwe.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/of-selfless-love/

perjantai 25. maaliskuuta 2016

RIP Ester Naisianoi who changed the whole village


These maasai men start to realize: What are we doing to our girls??!!


As you might remember I told on Facebook about Elizabeths friend Esther, a 13-yrs young girl who died while giving birth. This is what I posted by then:

We got sad news today. Elizabeth's friend died. She was only 13 yrs old and she was giving birth to her first child. Her genitalia was mutilated when she was 9yrs and soon after she was forced to be wife for an old man. When she gave birth her body bursted because the baby couldn't get out trough her mutilated vagina. That caused her death :( In maasai community when a girl dies of the consequences of FGM she becomes taboo. Nobody even recognizes she ever lived after she is buried. But Elizabeth will not keep quiet about this issue! She already agreed to attend the funeral and make a speech that will make nobody forget this little girl! Its not without reason so many maasai girls run away. And it's not without reason we celebrate women's day today. We need to change the world and save our girls! RIP Esther Naisianoi, you little maasai girl who suffered because of so many bad practices <3

Today, as we celebrate Good Friday in rememberance of the death of Jesus Christ, we also are remembering the death of Kijolus Esther Sankale Naisianoi. Elizabeth attended the funeral in Esthers home village Sakutiek and she was invited to speak. 


Normally if a girl dies of consequenses of FGM, people will not realize what was the real reason of her death. Talking about FGM is a very serious taboo so nobody will mention anything about that and people will therefore think she just died of a random reason. But Elizabeth attended the funeral and explained all details about FGM and child marriage and how it effects the girl. The whole village was very shocked to learn about the reason that caused Esthers death. Even Esthers husband was listening. This is how Elizabeth describes his reaction:

"Yes her husband was there and he was so painful blaming himself of marrying a too young circumsiced girl."

We can't blame him. He didn't know any better. But now he does and so does all the other villagers.

"We will not repeat this mistake!"

 All people who attended understood the horrible truth and they decided to stop FGM. Even the men realized how horrible the practice of FGM is. Many times men have no idea what happens during FGM and how it effects girls and women the rest of their lives, because the life of maasai men and maasai women are so separated. Men might think FGM is similar to male circumcision and that it doesn't effect the lifes of women so much afterwards. Or they just don't think about it at all. And we can't blame them, because they really don't know what it is about. That's why we need to educate those societys!

Maasai men gathering to listen to a 20 yr old girl teaching against FGM is a really big thing!!!

Elizabeths team needs also our support. Sakutiek is far away from Elizas home village Wafoo and this time traveled by walk because she is out of money. She have to bring the runaway girls home from the boarding school soon when the vacation starts and she doesn't even have money for that. I will send her all we have, but also Bezunesh is waiting for her salary. Our fundings are based on membership fees, so if you feel you want to support this work, please consider being a member (it doesn't oblige you for anything) : http://ihmiselle.blogspot.fi/p/liity-yhdistyksen-jaseneksi-tasta.html

perjantai 18. maaliskuuta 2016

Matkakuvia ja paljon tulevaisuuden suunnitelmia

Tulin juuri kotiin mitä mahtavimmalta matkalta tiimejämme tapaamaan! Paljon terveisiä Bezuneshilta, Elizabethilta ja koulutytöiltä! Olen harmillisen tietoinen siitä, kuinka pahasti jälkijunassa tämä blogi raahaa. Ollaan siis tehty vaikka kuinka paljon kaikkea ja suunnitteilla on myös vaikka kuinka paljon kaikkea, mutta en vain ole ehtinyt kirjoittaa.

Tässä nopeasti päällimmäiset jutut, pyrin tekemään näistä kaikista omat kattavammat postauksensa lähiaikoina:

1. Hankehakemus UM:lle turvakodista
2. Moottoripyörät Elizan tiimille
3. Ompelukone koulutytöille
4. Reissukuulumiset maaliskuu 2016 Etiopia & Kenia
5. Turvakotiprojekti, mitä kaikkea se sisältää?
6. Vuosikokous ja muut pakolliset byrokratiat (tilikertomus, toimintakertomus jne)
7. Kiinnostuneiden suomalaisten yhteensaattaminen: liity idearyhmään https://www.facebook.com/groups/1529479670689689/
8. Paenneiden tyttöjen touhut
9. Elizabethin perhekuulumisia (juuri sitä mitä kuvittelet) ;)

Tässä kuvakooste matkastani, koetan löytää jostain aikaa kirjoittaa kaikesta ihmeellisestä ja innostavasta tähän blogiin enemmän. Mutta nauti kuvista ainakin :)

Etiopia
Ihania Afrikan värejä, tori Butajirassa.

Bezunesh kotikadullaan Damboyassa

Damboyan kylää

Bezunesh opettaa avainhenkilöitä

Bezunesh opetuspaikan pihalla

Funto -kylän keskuskadulla ei näe autoja



Kenia

Monenlaista yhteistyötä useamman maasaitiimin kanssa

Tiimiläisemme Nashipae ompeli minulle maasaipuvun!!! <3

Tiimiläisemme Monican nuorin poika ihmettelee, että kissoja voi ottaa syliin.

Tämä Elizabethin kissanpentu pääsi ensimmäistä kertaa ihmisen syliin paijattavaksi. Opetin lapsille myös kuinka kissoja voi leikittää narulla. Pieni kissa oli niin tyytyväinen <3

Vaelluksella opetuspaikkaan

Matkalla Wafoon kylästä Ipartimaoon opettamaan

Nashipae opettaa Ipartimaron kylän väkeä.

Matkalla löytyi myös ihka elävä kameleontti, eikö olekin söpö!!! :)

Hups, ei enää valkoinen vaan punainen maasai.....

Auringonlasku Wafoon kylässä

Opetuksestamme kiitollista kylän väkeä

Sielu lepää <3