Gender Festival: Beyond lamentations we celebrate
“Sometimes the smallest victories in life are more rewarding than the greatest milestones.” Katie Kacvinsky “Beyond lamentation”...those were the first words as title to Betty Murungi’s presentation in the context of healing, peace building and unity on the first day of the Gender Festival, the first ever for Kenya. Those words stayed with me as I recalled some of the discussions around the gender festival planning back in early 2008 when the idea of the gender festival was presented as borrowing a leaf from our Tanzania sisters. That was a time when the post elections violence (PEV) was still very raw spot for Kenya and hence there was the question of, do we have the energy for a festival? What is there to celebrate? However, in the long run we were all in agreement, things may look grim but there is still a lot to celebrate. In fact, it was felt that after the PEV, all the reason for a festival, for a celebration. Throughout the 3 days event, these words kept lingeri...