The personal is political! Inside out with Malawian activist, Tiwonge Gondwe

Writer, feminist researcher, and market organiser, Dudziro Nhengu (Zimbabwe), interviewed Malawian activist, Tiwonge Gondwe in Istanbul, Turkey (April, 2012).

Tiwonge Gondwe at the JASS Crossregional Dialogue

Tiwonge, please tell me about your relationship with JASS?
I knew JASS in 2008 in Cape Town. We had a meeting and I was with our partner Action Aid. It was a big JASS meeting, another CRD with people from all over – to discuss possible partnerships between JASS and Action Aid to mobilise and make change happen. Action Aid was partnering the Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, of which I am a member. We had different dialogues, role plays and skits, on any topic affecting women. The space there was a safe space for discussing who is making decisions, why and how. I went back home, but the aura of JASS followed me and stayed with me. It was the first time I had discussed issues openly and differently, and the only time a donor had given me space to say what was in my heart and on my agenda without dictating the pace for me. I started seeing through and critiquing many relationships between donors and their partners. I saw clearly that so many organisations in my country are pushing donor driven agendas. It’s the donor who decides what to do and because our country is poor people rush for that. Women can do anything, things not coming from their hearts. They just do the work in order to convince the donor.

Are you still a member of Coalition?
Yes I am, since 2006, when it was formed.

Why did you join this organisation, and what agenda to you drive?
I joined the Coalition because I am a woman living with HIV/AIDS, and also because of the violence I have undergone at the mercy of my former husband. I knew that no one could speak of me and for me without me, so it had to be me in those spaces. My agenda in the organisation is to make the needs of HIV positive women visible, according to what the women themselves want and not from the donor’s perspective. HIV positive women want proper and quality medication so that they can live quality lives and raise their children. The irony is that the Coalition was formed as a result of some donor agencies who came to Malawi and mobilised us to form this organisation. We thought they had our interests at heart and we joined them in partnership. They did nothing to help us and most of us are now deformed when these donor agencies are they. They did monitoring and evaluation of their theories, but not of our lives. If they monitored our lives how come we are all deformed and they are doing nothing to help us regain our health and dignity. It was only JASS that came in later and started addressing the issue of us getting quality medication.

What do you mean you and HIV positive women in Malawi are deformed Tiwonge?
I am talking about the side effects of ARVs. The ARVs have three substances, Trimoume 30, Stavudin and Nevirapine. These three substances combine in one pill of ARVs. It has been discovered that Stavudin deposits a lot of fatty substances in our bodies, and we end up with growths on different parts of our bodies, like humps and mumps. We also get scars, pimples and bulging tummies. The donor who founded that organisation is there and doing nothing for us. It was JASS who came in and asked us what was burning in our hearts, then we started addressing the issue of deformation from ARVs. JASS has taught us how to put our voices together for collective action in order to name and shame the government, as well as to lobby for better quality ARVs. We want our dignity back.

You seem to be angry with your government Tiwonge, tell me more about this person called government.
The ARVs we are receiving are provided free by government, we don’t buy them – they are a public service. Why is the government not providing all that for us as women? First there is corruption, which has led to poverty and also to Malawi losing support from other donors and agencies like DFID who were giving us a percentage of money towards health. Our bad governance during the reign of Bingu waMutharika cost us a lot of development privileges, the IMF and World Bank also withdrew their support and with our taxation and poor economy, our government found it difficult to buy the second line drugs because they are a bit more expensive. The current ARV package in Malawi is rotten pie, and it is the women who are eating the biggest chuck of that rotten pie because we outnumber men in population, and also in infection statistics. Some men are rich and can afford Line 2 ARVs under the private scheme, many women cannot. We hold the government accountable because it is their duty to ensure that we get quality healthcare, which is enshrined in MDG 6 on combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Please tell me what you want Tiwonge?
I want so many things as a woman. I want my government to commit to what they have ratified on access to quality healthcare. They must practice that on the ground. I want those ARVs to be changed and it must not be a policy thing to say we must change only TB and PMCTC drugs, what about the rest?

What change has JASS brought to you and to your organisation Tiwonge?
The changes are many. Personally it is the strength and power within me. I now know that I have power within myself, and power with others too, and that I can transform my individual power into a collective power to drive change in my family, community and nation.

Power, Tiwonge, can be understood in different ways. Where does your power lie and of what use is it?
My power is within me, but it is also with others for collective action. I have already started utilizing the power in two areas of my life. The first thing is that I engaged our MP who is a policy maker, fearlessly, and for the first time in my life. I had meetings with him together with members of my organisation to demand our rights from him, like rights to resources in what we call the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) back home. We know about those funds, and that they are ours. We voted for him in trust to serve our needs. We were demanding access to those resources, the CDF. We were also holding the late president accountable because he stood on the podium in our community and said that he will upgrade our secondary school to be a full boarding school with all facilities but since the time he talked those promises he hasn’t been able even to come and talk to us. We want our CDF to be used according to women’s rights issues. The second thing has to do with my personal life. I have managed to challenge my husband using the law to gain my freedom from violence. I shocked him; he never thought I would do it.  Look Dudzi, I am not an educated woman like the rest of you. I am an ordinary woman from the village and the first time I met JASS I could not speak one word of English correctly, it was also coupled with lack of confidence. Look at me now, I am right here in Turkey, I represent myself and speak for myself. Today at AWID I gave a presentation of the issue of HIV/AIDS and treatment of women in Malawi. This is huge change. JASS has given me a second life, a good one too.

We have heard about change of government in your country, does this mean anything to you?
For me it means a lot. I feel two things, I feel better and also threatened; better because to have a woman president is good for us as women. There is no problem and nothing to hinder us from reaching her with our issues as women. It is our opportunity and our strength. She is also a gender activist well known to us, and women have shared platforms with her before. Even when we voted for Bingu we expected her to be the Vice President since she was the fore-runner for the president in the campaigns. She did all the campaign for him and he identified her as the vice president but after winning it was evident that he was just putting her in front to gain women’s votes because the number of women in our country is high, so it was a political gimmick. At first she had all incentives as president but later he started abusing her, calling her bad names, grabbing all incentives and it was messy. I feel threatened because of the dynamics there in Malawi currently, since Bingu’s death. There are rumours that a lot of political men and women in the DPP are running away from DPP to join Joyce Banda again. This for me is opportunism. Why are they running away? Where were they to advise Bingu? What change will they bring to Joyce Banda, except to exercise their paternalism and find ways of taking over? Men always have set agendas, to take over and perpetuate patriarchy, I feel threatened. They should leave her to navigate the space on her own, we need new thinking. Why do they assume that a woman cannot make it? In my country the political culture is one of opportunism. They are the same people     who were in MCP, they ran to UDF, then to DPP and now they are joining Joyce Banda. They are carriers of confusion.

And who is Tiwonge?
I am a feminist activist. I call myself that because I have brought many changes in people’s lives, starting with my own. Since I tested HIV positive there was a lot of stigma in my community. My own brother was discriminating against me but I did not let that destroy me. I stood strong. There was no one to come and open up about their status but I managed to start a support group and through that people learnt that HIV is not a threat but like any other disease if you take medication you can live happily. I faced violence from my husband for so many years. Last year I quit the marriage and am at home alone. With the little resources I gain from farming I managed to build a house in my father’s homestead and I live happily with my children, I have four children. I don’t want to see people suffering in silence. I don’t want to see women crying. Women should speak out and find ways or strategies to use to achieve their common goals. From this AWID meeting I have gained a lot. This is my second time in AWID through JASS. After working with so many organisations for so many years but the only organisation that brought me out of my country was JASS. I appreciate and don’t take that for granted, but am really thankful. I have leant a lot. I am happy because I was able to present at a JASS session today, in front of women from all over the world. JASS is helping me gain confidence and knowledge. 

"I realised myself and started using the power inside me and asked myself a question, “If I am the person who teaches my fellow women about legal frameworks, and I am staying in violence, I can pick a woman to say you go to court, to the chief but why can’t I myself go to court to claim my rights? I said to myself change should begin with me so two years ago I went to court and got a protection order."
Tiwonge Gondwe

Interview by Dudziro Nhengu. Read more of Dudziro's work HERE.

The slippery business of gender equality

Last week, in the typical last-minute dash to finalize an excruciatingly detailed, mammoth end-of-grant report for the last 3.5 years, my task was to “churn” a response to this zinger of a donor question: "What are the main (remaining) gaps for achieving gender equality in your working area?"

You’ve got to be kidding, right? And while I’m at it, I’ll explain why poverty hasn’t been solved.

My feminist sisters and I tend to roll our eyes at a question like this, thinking – jeez, they really don’t know how this business of oppression and inequality operate, do they? But, to be honest, a lot of donors and regular people ask this same question. My dad – a geologist accustomed to long time frames – once asked me, “How long do you think it will take to achieve gender equality?” Maybe we need a feminist theory of plate tectonics? On a serious note, we have to make a great effort to explain the slipperiness of power to folks who see the road to gender equality as straight ahead. Here’s my attempt to answer this question:

Despite important gains and progress by this project, upending gender equality – like any shift in the structures and norms of power – is dynamic. Many feminist describe the process as a dance: two steps forward, three steps sideways, and one step backwards. As research and history demonstrate, gender inequality is among the most intractable and resistant to change in part because it is perpetuated and reproduced by everyone (men and women), everywhere through the deep, invisible dynamics of socialization within families, and reinforced by institutions, media, and in many places, the threat of violence at home and in public. And gender inequality dovetails with other forms of oppression based on race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and a myriad of other institutionalized forms of discrimination. Changing relations between men and women in any society involves everyone and many variables, and at the same time, is among the most sensitive. Thus, worldwide – from the USA to Egypt to South Africa to Brazil -- we are witnessing a sustained political backlash against women’s rights and freedoms provoked in part by the important legislative and policy gains of women globally in the previous decades (e.g. the ratification of CEDAW by hundreds of countries, the Beijing Platform for Action, the Cairo Platform, Resolution 1325 recognizing rape as a war crime, etc.) In short, the road to gender equality has many gaps and even, reversals.

At JASS, we recognize the inevitability of conflict if our strategies are successful and we plan accordingly. In the face of growing insecurity in many countries, assessing risk and conflict, both within alliances and in terms of the impact of our strategies, is increasingly standard. We want to maximize gain and minimize conflict as we inch forward, sideways, etc.

Nevertheless, the key gaps and challenges that threaten gender equality works are:

Ø Social and political mobilization against women’s freedoms and rights reinforced by powerful right-wing groups – many operating in the name of religion – continues to be one of the greatest threats to gender equality and justice. In many countries, these forces have succeeded in reversing laws to protect women’s rights. This is one of the reasons that JASS increasingly seeks out alliances with progressive religious groups and emphasizes how gender equality is good for families;

Ø Economic insecurity – since 2008, women have born the brunt of economic volatility, and growing poverty which makes it difficult to sustain their activism because they’re consumed by the demands of their families’ and communities’ survival, and forced to migrate under even more dangerous conditions;

Ø The downsizing of governments facilitated by economic crisis and the global austerity agenda – the enforcement of women’s rights and equality continues to rely on governments. Today, in all the countries where JASS works, governments are further slashing safety nets without offering affordable alternatives, and lack the basics of police, legal and health systems necessary for rights to be a reality. Who can enforce women’s rights when there is no functioning government?

Ø Militarization and the closing of democratic space: while rolling back safety nets, governments have routinely responded to insecurity by ramping up the role and importance of police and military, and in turn, resorting to repression – often against citizen activists. Trading rights for security is increasingly the norm, and driven by global agendas.

Despite these challenges, JASS is prepared to respond to these volatile new dynamics as we seek to strengthen and build networks at all levels not only to mobilize influence, but also to ensure safety. And in the face of many hurdles and setbacks, women’s persistence and resilience remain the hope and promise for a better future as they have for centuries.

Reflection on JASS Southern Africa’s Achievements

JASS’ birth and growth. Yes, there have been some mistakes in Malawi and Southern Africa in general: JASS has been like a boat navigating the twists and turns of a river, constantly having to make choices but there was never a time when were did not acknowledge and learn collectively. In fact, collective learning has become a resource in JASS. Contradictions can ‘kill’ an organisation which does not listen to itself, learn and reflect but in JASS we have learnt to engage with them - contradiction, a necessary process.

Early days in Malawi: The rationale behind JASS’ work in Malawi was to locate agency with women living with HIV (the primary constituency). There was an acknowledgement that HIV+ women have to lead efforts for change in their lives.

Importance of participatory needs assessment…we did not just budge in, we engaged women in the North, South and Central: We were able to identify outrage factors among women, the issues where women felt that ‘this situation or problem cannot be tolerated, change is absolutely necessary and collectively we shall fight to change it, regardless of the risks involved’. We found that women were already organising around some ‘hot spots’ - we did not create any organisation, we did not impose but rather built on some pockets of resistance where HIV+ women were already organising themselves and demanding change.

Language / communication: In JASS we know the power of language. Why? The question of language is very important. The power of language makes us who we are. For women to understand this power required them to deconstruct and in the first part of our engagement, tools for de-construction were shared. We deliberately used a language of empowerment and it empowered the women. We found them using a language of powerlessness,’ I am X and am HIV positive, what can I do?’ to ‘I am x and I have power within me’. They were able to link their struggles/problems and issues to power. Example: stories written by Ndana and me for IDS meeting show how relations within the family, community, workplace, religious institutions and general society started changing as a result of ‘power within’. So we moved from flooding the women with words such as ‘change management’, ‘outcomes’, etc to analysing the different elements of power.

Communication styles were chosen carefully - very respectful, participatory, and supportive, and grounded in creative listening skills. Spaces were created to allow for everyone to speak (voice) by encouraging women to talk about their bodies. This was important for religious women who grew up being told that the body is impure, and worse still had to face the stigma attached to the HIV/AIDS- body. Creative methods such as body mapping for the women to reclaim their bodies were encouraged.

Safe spaces for conversation, story telling and reflection: JASS provided safe spaces for brutal honesty from each of the women that we worked with… they were not just saying the nice things. It was a fulfilling experience, giving a sense of humanity and a feeling of not being alone in the struggles and challenges, not being alone with fear, loneliness, stigma and exclusion. For some who had sat on heavy emotional stuff, this stage was so important in its cathartic quality and in the evening, they could not wait for the evening committed to sharing, to conversation, to plotting, to love…to being young again - yes for some this was the point at which healing and direction returned. They learnt new ways of of organising and communicating so as to support one another. The space gave them an opportunity to dare to imagine a better way and then not only to imagine but to work to create that better way.

Demystifying the body. Women agreed that until they engaged with JASS, it was unheard of for them to write about their own sexual organs. Through discussion on sexuality, using various artistic expression; vaginas, clits, labia, and vulvas thankfully found their rightful place in the women’s language. Women acknowledged what was going on ‘down there’. They used writing, singing, performing, dancing, and indeed the whole gamut of creativity – as a spaces of expression, and resistance.

We call forth the future in the sense that “we make the path by walking it.” JASS was resilient, creative and persistent in its engagement. Some mistakes were made but we never gave up. We leant a lot on the job and hence our work in that walking allowed the future to emerge. It is not just any kind of work, but careful work that made it clear that every person matters; As a result, rural women leaders have emerged. Tiwonge who probably had never left Malawi, Judith who had no passport, JMBs that had never left their communities, etc have all travelled…we have demonstrated that ‘every person matters’ as a principle – this is the core of JASS’ humanity; that it is not just every person, but every moment, every thing we do that matters. Exposure has been a huge part of JASS work.

An eye for new leadership and building on what is already there. JASS grew, supported and nurtured young women: it continuously searched and provided support for emerging leadership; it looked and listened for leadership sparks in Sindi, Azola, Patience, Tiwonge, Londiwe etc; and embraced some of the most promising young women. In its work, JASS has always had an eye for where potential lies and nurtured that. Some of the young women have been trained in a variety of skills including feminist political education, have attended the African Feminist Forum, Mexico International Aids Conference, etc.

Processes. Living in a culture of fragmentation as we do, of high-speed technology, of Immediatism (as opposed to processes), JASS still created time to really think, to reflect, time for hearing one another, for knitting the fabric of our organisational life through personal and collective reflection. Gathering; Nairobi, South Africa, Zimbabwe…. It’s these gatherings that keep us from turning from our path and from becoming bland, without an aroma!

So really our practice has been underpinned and shot through with self-reflection. We have had to reflect on the spectacles and lenses that inform our practice, and we have critiqued these. JASS has built and grown through encouraging critical self-reflection, it has become a core not only to our quality of practice but to our ability to withstand processes of rusting and erosion.

JASS is a stroker of fire but is not the fire. JASS has never claimed to work for women, it facilitates, and builds connections, it tends and nurtures the flame in women, it negotiates, and works alongside partners (Manerela+) and is rooted and flexible at the same time. This is why it has been possible to work with young and old, religious and secular organizations.

Generating knowledge. Women have written their stories, we have documented processes and generated knowledge and information using a variety of methods in order to feed and inform our learning and share the information with institutions of learning and the women’s movement. Information has provided alternative ways of knowing, seeing, believing and being.

Crossing the line. This slogan resonates with women’s experiences and they use it in their language and communication. It has made them unearth stories they had forgotten about. They have shared stories rage, violence, bruises and abuse.

By Hope Chigudu