International Wmoen's Day, and a Big Success!

So Sunday was International Women's Day here in Cape Verde...not sure about the rest of the International Community. Yes, Cape Verde is very fond of "International" and "World" fill in the blank Days. (Some of my favorites include World Malaria Day, World Disaster Reduction Day, Democracy Day, and International Kids Day.) However, if anyone in Cape Verde deserves a day of recognition, it is definitely the Women. I've said before that men here are pigs, but I'm not sure I've made it clear just how bad the women have it in this country.

They do all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the housework and almost all the regular work, they raise the kids (and usually end up raising the grandkids and great grandkids), fetch the water, scrounge the wood and care for the animals. They do it all almost completely on their own, or with the help of their aunts and sisters and nieces and cousins and daughters. The are unarguably the center of the home. They're also the walls, the foundation and the ceiling, and they get treated like the doormat. If they ever got it into their heads to go on strike, this country would fall apart in a day. And all of this is done for largely ungrateful kids and a man who rarely if ever contributes ANYTHING to the household and is almost CERTAINLY sleeping with two or three eight other women, and probably has kids with some or all of them.

Anyway, I got together with some of the women from my village and we put together a little activity for all the women and girls in town. There is no money, so it wasn't anything extravagant. The goal was just for the ladies in town to have a little fun and food, and be recognized for all of their hard work and sacrifice. There was to be a performance from the Txangreja Girl's Club we started (there are currently four members, plus me), music and some games, to include dodgeball, a three-legged race and an "obstacle course" which required participants to jump-rope, hula-hoop, run with an egg on a spoon, and answer a "women's empowerment" question. It turns out that despite how well women can dance here, the can't hula-hoop, and eggs are too expensive to waste on games, so they substituted potatoes. Everything else went pretty much according to plan.

I REALLY pushed for a thirty minute information session and informal Q&A about domestic violence and was met with some REALLY uncomfortable stares and general disbelief that I would even bring it up. Domestic violence is a real problem in this country, and in this village in particular. (Last week 15 year old Samira got a big black eye after refusing to wash her brother's laundry, and 65 year old Mara needed 18 stitches to close up the gash in her head given to her by her husband and his belt buckle, just for instance.) There are a million factors that contribute to its prevalence in Cape Verde (tradition, cultural acceptance, boredom, poverty, alcoholism and machismo among them), but the biggest obstacle seems to be the fact that to even whisper the words "domestic violence" in public is is hugely taboo. It's maddening, and one of the reasons I don't have a lot of male friends here. Anyway.

In principle, the men were to cook a dish during the day and bring it to my house, and I was to set up the "post-activity" dinner and dance over at the Dancing Trapiche. I wanted it to be women only until midnight (so they could have all the food to themselves, leave the kids with the men, have a beer and a laugh without men around and, in theory, get to just be girls together. The men could come in after midnight, provided they did all the cleaning up afterward. The Women thought this was an Excellent Idea. In reality, the women did all the cooking and cleaning, the men showed up, drunk, about 20 minutes after the food was served and scarfed everything down in seconds. But the Obstacle Course was a Big Success.

Overall I'd say the day was a big success. There was a special mass at church and all the old gals were there in their finest attire, there was a big turn-out, the music was good, and, after a lot of prodding, a lot of participation...even from the Old Gals in town. And as I said...the Obstacle Course was a Big success.

Pics of the day below.