African women provide leadership for the future, speaker says
5/18/1998 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn NOTE: This story accompanies UMNS #304 and 305. A photograph is available.
ORLANDO, Fla. (UMNS) -- Throughout this century, African women have been seen as objects of misery, in need of help, while the roles they have played in bringing peace and justice to their countries have gone uncelebrated, a U.N. official said.
African women have major leadership roles to play as a new century approaches, said Ruth Bamela Engo-Tjega, addressing the 1998 United Methodist Women's Assembly at Orange County Convention Center on May 16. She described how the women in various countries on the continent have fought for justice, integrity, dignity and human worth.
"These women have become so fundamental in the lives of their people that the importance usually accorded to founding figures who create institutions, or start unprecedented actions have been melted with the ordinary," she said. ". . . The African women occupy the first place 'after God' in the daily lives of their people."
Engo-Tjega, a native of Cameroon, West Africa, is a senior economics officer in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the Office of Special Coordinator for African and Least Developed Countries.
As a new millenium approaches, the hopes with which the 20th century began remain unfulfilled, she told the more than 10,000 United Methodist Women. There was hope that technology would eliminate hunger and major diseases, and that conflict mediation and negotiation would replace the sounds of guns, she said.
However, the world is 20 months away from a new century and 1.5 million people are still hungry in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, including the United States, Engo-Tjega said. The world has been "invaded by emerging diseases deriving from the many aggressions against our government, our immune system and our souls," she said.
In spite of all the disadvantages she said, African women of many countries have remained in solidarity with the people and are playing fundamental roles in their lives, sometimes directly leading struggles.
At least 90 percent of the food, 80 percent of the water and 80 percent of the services, including health care, shelter and clothing, that Africans possess are made possible because of the efforts of women, Engo-Tjega said.
As Engo-Tjega described the triumphs of women in the countries of Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda and Guinea, she encouraged the United Methodist Women to adopt at least two leadership characteristics of African women: a silent nature and community-oriented spirit.
Throughout the 20th century, African women have been projected as objects of pain and misery, women who are passive, vague, slow and confused as the result of a lack of a modern education, she said. Their weaknesses have been highlighted while their strengths have not been shown. People in the 21st century will "internalize" the silent leadership talents of African women, Engo-Tjega predicted.
These talents include:
· the ability to listen and remain silent to understand;
· the ability to be passive to accommodate; and
· the ability to accept tentativeness in negotiation for peaceful interaction.
In discussing community-oriented leadership, Engo-Tjega offered examples of cooperative ventures women have initiated to obtain food, transportation, health, money and environmental restoration for their communities. Through meeting community needs, she said, the women place attention on community connections that allow people to learn from each other and appreciate each other in a way that is "impossible in the global economy."
Engo-Tjega recalled the African proverb that the falling tree makes more noise than the growing forest. "The noisy 20th century did not notice the strength of this growing leadership talent," she said. "Let us ensure that this talent is handed over to future generations."
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