Daughters of Mumbi organizes dozens of educational seminars each year, as well as large public events for “global days” such as International Women’s Day, Africa Liberation Day, World AIDS Day, and the Day of the African Child. Daughters of Mumbi also offers an Alternative Rites of Passage program for adolescents which is part of the effort to end female genital mutilation (FGM).
We use the celebration of “global days” such as International Women’s Day (March 8), Africa Liberation Day (May 25), the Day of the African Child (June 16), World AIDS Day (December 1), and International Human Rights Day (December 10) to surface and discuss the aforementioned issues and to engage and educate the general public, community leaders, and policy makers.
The core day-to-day work of our staff Animators is maintaining and training existing groups and encouraging the formation of new ones. The first activity for most groups – indeed, it is required of all groups – is the planting of “garden bags” – an innovative way to increase family and community level food security. Large bags are filled with a mixture of soil and manure. Up to 100 holes are poked in the bag’s sides and seeds planted throughout. The most common items are kale (sukuma wiki), spinach, onions, and dhania (coriander/cilantro). One of these bags is adequate to provide vegetables and greens two days a week for a family of four. Many households maintain multiple bags, and sell surplus produce at local markets for income generation. Animators provide practical advice for the groups’ projects, which, besides garden bags, might include setting up a rotating common fund (“merry-go-round”), making handicrafts such as sisal bags and beadwork for sale, or learning how to make items they would otherwise buy such as soap and milking jelly. Most importantly, animators help with group dynamics and keeping group organization stable and strong. In keeping with the Daughters of Mumbi philosophy of cooperative solidarity, our group work is designed to foster a spirit of community and mutual assistance. Wide-ranging discussions about group members’ challenges, opportunities, and problems are encouraged, and out of these come new ideas for group activities and directions for Daughters of Mumbi as a whole.
Group members and their registered family members are eligible to attend Daughters of Mumbi seminars. In response to demands from our member groups, we have developed seminars aimed at children aged 6-10; children aged 11-15; young people aged 16-25; women; men; men and women together; and HIV-positive people. We have also had seminars for clergy. While most of these seminars are specifically for members and their families, we organize open forums (barazas) in areas which do not yet have member groups. This is one of our primary methods of encouraging new groups to form and affiliate with Daughters of Mumbi.
The content of our seminars varies depending on the audience. For children, we cover roles and responsibilities, kinship, self-awareness and self-esteem, rape and sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, physical development, drug and substance abuse, and have inter-generational exchanges. In adult seminars we cover domestic violence, gender rights, food sovereignty (including use of indigenous and traditional plants), economic structures, civic education, and group and community dynamics. Sometimes members have sessions to educate each other on specific issues and activities such as raising free-range poultry and use of sisal, beads, and banana fiber for making bags, mats, carpets, jewelry, etc. All of our seminars include a section on HIV/AIDS and combating stigma attached to HIV-positive people. Our seminars have become central to Daughters of Mumbi’s identity, since it is where large numbers of group members congregate, and where our values and plans can be most easily shared and discussed.