He was taught by his mother from an early age to always ask; "What is the right thing to do, and what is the smart thing to do?" when facing a difficult situation. A senior man today, he has all the reason to celebrate women of the world.
On another end is a mother, a woman who has successfully moulded her family, giving her children all the love and support they ever needed to achieve their goals in life; in the process bringing up a famous sports personality. She too celebrates women of the world.
In between are young women and men who have been given an opportunity by their parents and society to live and excel in their endeavours; they are shaping their futures now, with confidence, strength and hope. They are clear that without grandmothers, mothers and sisters of the world, there is no future.
Meet the Canadian High Commissioner to Kenya Ambassador Ross Hynes, Mrs. Deloris Jordan, basketball superstar Michael Jordan's mother and our young men and women of Aga Khan High School and Starehe Girls School in Kenya respectively.
The Canadian High Commission, in partnership with the Africa Women and Child Feature Services (AWC), a Nairobi-based media organization with an African regional outlook hosted a forum earlier this year in celebration of "International Women"s day'. A global holiday that is celebrated every year on 8th March, it is recognized as a United Nations Holiday, the theme for this year is "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls."
The theme of (AWC's) forum is "Kenyan Women"s leaders of today and tomorrow', it featured thirty young girls from Starehe International School of Kenya, the Girl guides movement and various female personalities including Hon. Njoki Ndungu, Mrs. Jacinta Muteshi and Koki Muli. The approach was to provide the girls with an opportunity to interact with the female leaders of today as a means to help develop their potential in society. In the words of the High Commissioner, "To aspire and be inspired to be the future leaders of Kenya."
Both Kenya and Canada have a lot to learn from each other in terms of Gender, while both governments recognize the importance of promoting equality there is still a lot to be done. All societies are evolving and need to evolve, there are many challenges that need to be addressed. A global gender report ranks Canada at 14 in the gender Gap and Kenya at 73, but at the end of the day we are all individuals, it is up to us to think about the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.
"If this forum is successful it will serve as a model for future activities." says Ambassador Hynes. This is a new approach for the High Commission but for the High Commissioner, dealing with gender issues is nothing new. Ambassador Hynes has a long established career as an activist and a Diplomat, having been posted to United Nations missions in Geneva and Canada and more importantly having been the lone male chair of a negotiating group at the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference where he presided over the negotiations of the Beijing Declaration.
Ambassador Hynes wants to bring out budding women of Kenya to mingle with more established ones in leadership in an attempt to shape them into better leaders in the future. "Every development programme that the Canadian High Commission is involved in is looked at through the lens of gender to ensure that women are involved."
In his opinion it is Education, or rather the lack thereof that is the greatest hindrance to gender equality. "Education is most lacking in marginalized societies and governments have a lot to do to improve on that. Kenya has made important steps in this area with the introduction of free primary education."
Mrs. Deloris Jordan is a woman for whom the word impossible does not feature in her vocabulary. Her love affair with Kenya started more than 10 years ago when she was part of an exchange programme that brought children and business men from America to Kenya. It was during this visit that she first toured the Nairobi Women's Hospital. "I saw a lot of women sitting outside waiting and I asked one of the people there why they were outside and not getting treatment inside and she replied that there was no room for them."
It was this situation that led her to invest her time and money, under the auspices of the James R. Jordan foundation to improve the facilities at the Hospital. She developed a very close relationship with Dr. Sam Thenya, the director of the hospital and this has culminated in the construction of a new modern not for profit facility at the City Councils Lady Northey home. The facility will be renamed the Nairobi women's and children's hospital, it will boast 350 beds and be equipped to fully service the needs of women, infants and children.
