Our Personal Lives Matter (A Letter for Yara)

July 16, 2014   Dear habibty Yara, It’s Nelly Bassily here. Yara, first, I’m sending you lots and lots of solidarity and love from Canada! Habibty, you have to be one of the strongest and most amazing young feminists I have the pleasure and honour to call a friend in Egypt. When I first saw […]


Celebrate Women, Celebrate!

By Patrice Juah For so long, we were torn apart Our voices were buried in the cold dark earth, Our songs were cries and our rain, tears. We were silenced and banned from speaking our truths. Hate towards each other burdened us, as fear crippled us. We were blinded by lies that tore our efforts […]


sistahood

sistahood by Bernedette Muthien i wanted to offer you raw liver from my side but instead will share with you the vegetarian delight of storing sunlight in my soul radiating energy that draws moths to flame white hot air propels a plane through spirals of time where deadlines is not an oxymoron how cosmetic on few […]


Hope’s Prayer

by Hope Chigudu As we think about our sisters; women rights activists; Yara Sallam and Sanaa Seif as well as 21 others, unjustly imprisoned in Egypt, and other women human rights defenders from across the continent, not forgetting our little ones captured by Boko Haram, and those battling merciless Ebola, we pause to gather our […]


Tribute to You (For Hope Turyasingura, Uganda)

Tribute to You  by Juliet Kushaba My survival depends on the honesty with which I tell of you, on the honesty with which I dare to share about your strength, your passion and love. You were never one to mince words. ‘Every woman must learn to make choices’ You taught the girls and women you […]


Ways to Start Time: Counting Down with Women Human Rights Defenders in Africa

Ways to Start Time: Counting Down with Women Human Rights Defenders in Africa by Alexis Teyie I once thought longing loose: Longing for peace, it’s not criminal. It is not imprecise. It can only be crisp.   More brittle than the yellowing pages of an old book, A book we have read and re-read, Whose faded […]


In Solidarity: A Compendium of African Feminist Voices

This year, in recognition of 16 Days of Activism, the African Feminist Forum will be sharing a series of opinion pieces, letters, poems, prayers, and words of solidarity to our sisters struggling daily to defend the rights of African women. Over the next 16 days we will feature contributions from African feminists from across the […]


Rest in Peace: Hope Turyasingura

The Feminist and Women’s Rights community in Uganda deeply mourns the passing of one of our fiercest activists, Hope Turyasingura. Hope, who was the chairperson of the Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention for many years before becoming a consultant, was also a member of a number of women’s organisations in Uganda, including Action for Development […]


Why Feminism?

I grew up primarily surrounded by women and listened to conversations on women’s issues. I’ve heard many stories on the struggles of womanhood, and I’ve been advised on the need for strength to face the world as a young woman. Learning to appreciate the culture of feminism was almost a choiceless choice to me. In […]