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| SHINE with SHINA 2004 |
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SHINE WITH SHINA - Annual Fundraiser - Black Tie event Date: July 17th 2004 Venue: La Fontaine Bleu, 7963 Annapolis Rd., Lanham, Maryland. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The event theme was "Empower Others to Empower yourself"
The event program flowed smoothly, the night was lit up by powerful speakers. The night of Edutainment was not lacking in entertainment; there was local and international entertainment. Event Speakers Shine with SHINA speakers - 2004 The President of SHINA, Ms. Jessica Kamala Mushala's Speech.
Dear friends, welcome to the 1st Annual SHINA’s fundraiser “Shine with SHINA”. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I take pride in welcoming you to this special event. Tonight we will celebrate the edutainment of empowerment. As women, you and I are all educators. We know that sound discipline in life builds character, judgment, sensitivity and incites importance to good mankind. We will also celebrate the diversity of our membership and background. The world is in constant change and each of us contributes to this change in some way. What changes would you like to see? With SHINA Inc., you will find opportunities to give your time and heart. I am sure we have all asked ourselves; Is there a purpose to my life? Who am I? And why am I here? What makes you come alive? Every moment presents an opportunity to seize life and make a difference. We can choose to either let life slip by, or wake up and grasp its essence, embrace it fully send hope and inspire the person next to you. Our mission is to empower women and youth by addressing specific areas of need in economic development, educational, Cultural and Social. As our Director of Volunteer says; “Charity is the fundamental to society’s well being”. We make the process of giving as simple, fun, direct, and informative as we possibly can. People being extra-ordinary in their own ways making the changes they wish to see in the world giving their talents in the service of others. To be great is to do your best, to push the boundaries you have been given, and I know that each and every one of us is capable of doing just that. With SHINA you can give support to many grassroots projects in many ways: SHINA Inc. wants everybody who is sitting at the edge of the fence to come along! I hope that our zeal and enthusiasm will become contagious. Tonight would not be possible without my “right hands”, note I said my right hands Ms. Belinda Jobe and Ms. Joyce Mnkande. On behalf of the entire SHINA system, I thank you for your dedication and commitment to excellence and know that you have made a difference in someone’s life. SHINA will always have a place for you. Jessica Kamala-Mushala, President, SHINA Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------- Event Keynote speaker’s speech Ms. Mwatumu J. Malale, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education and Culture - Tanzania EMPOWER OTHERS TO EMPOWER THEMSELVES
In analyzing the basis of this inequality the pundits have come up with the theory that it is all a question of power: or to be more precise, the power relations between the two genders. So what is this thing called power? It is a word that we use all the time: However, for the purposes of this short presentation I solicited the assistance of the Concise Oxford Dictionary 10th Ed which declares itself “the foremost authority on current English”, and this is what it says:
To empower is a derivative of power. It means to give authority or power (i.e. to give strength and confidence). Let us take the first meaning of power as quoted above, that is “the ability to do something and act in a particular way” as a starting point. In order to empower others in any way, however small, you must have the ability to act in a particular way. You must have some form of power yourself. You need, therefore, to empower yourself first. The basis of empowering yourself is your physical and intellectual capacity as well as the environment in which you find yourself; your family, your community and your country, be it your native country or your adopted country as may be the case with some of you here. As for your physical capacity; your creator has given all you men and women a beautiful, well-proportioned body (compare yourself to a hippopotamus or a bulldog). Scientists inform us that the human body is a wonderful engine with amazing capacities. We need to empower it to achieve its maximum efficiency. We as the “female engines” we need to be fit to fulfill our productive and reproductive roles in society. Empower your body so that it has the capacity to perform like the engine that it is. To empower our bodies we need to follow the rules of a healthy lifestyle, good nutrition, exercise and relaxation. As for intellectual capacity, we are all endowed at birth with an intellect and an intelligence. We are all born with the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, we are all born with the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. The sum total of which make up our mental powers and intellectual capacity. However, physical and intellectual capacities are not equally distributed between human individuals; there are many combinations and permutations. We can empower ourselves and each other, by networking and coming together in groups as you SHINA have done. In this way you have empowered yourselves and have become better placed to empower others. In order to achieve the maximum benefit from our “innate intelligence and intellect, we need to get educated, we need to learn: to acquire knowledge and skills necessary for our social, political and economic development. Experts tell us that knowledge is power: Information is power. Education breeds confidence, and self-esteem. It improves our interpersonal skills, makes us more eloquent, better communicators, but most of all enhances our effectiveness in our roles as producers and reproducers, it adds value to our voice in society! With the power of education we are able not only to challenge the ‘power relations’ that have led to gender inequality, but also to do something about it. Let us therefore empower ourselves through education. Education in general means acquiring intellectual, moral and social instruction and training in various subjects. In general we acquire our basic education in the formal school system, but the most crucial part of our education is that which we acquire at the family level and the surrounding community. It shapes our thinking for life. As women we can start the empowerment process at the grassroots level. Formal education gives us the desired social skills and attitudes but it also lays down the foundation for life-long learning. We must therefore empower ourselves through learning – we must take every situation as an opportunity to learn something. The more knowledgeable we are, the better able we shall be to empower others. On the question of education, I would like here to address the hundreds of young African men and women who have come to this great country in pursuit of a good education. I wish to stress the critical role of education in personal and national development. Our young people must appreciate how lucky they are to have this opportunity to acquire a good education; but a good education is no good unless it put to good use. What better use can one make of one’s education than develop one’s country? I sincerely hope our student have serious goals in life and that these goals include the desire to return to their homelands to help develop those countries, so that their peoples can enjoy the same level of development (or nearly) as they are enjoying in America. I know SHINA is there for you. It is believed by social development experts that the axis of power between men and women in most societies is economic power and, by extension political power. In the second meaning of power from the Oxford Dictionary as quoted above, power also means “the capacity to influence the behaviour of others, the emotions or the course of events”. In other words, power lies in decision-making. We know from experience – from the family level, to the national and international levels - that important decisions about our lives are made by those with economic and political powers. Therefore, we as women must penetrate the corridors of power so that we can become part of the decision-making processes whether at the community level, national level and international levels! To do this we must equip ourselves with the appropriate tools, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and guts. We must have the guts to speak out; we must have the guts to stand for leadership positions in our communities. It is believed that we need at least 30% female membership in decision-making bodies for women to have the capacity to influence the course of events. Indeed in this respect, there is already an enabling, environment! Most of our countries are party to international conventions and declarations that establish the framework for women’s empowerment. Our governments have a moral obligation to honour those commitments and as most of them have come to realize, it makes a lot of economic sense to empower women. Let us not waste these opportunities. The fast growing Information and Communication Technology has rapidly changed the power relations at the global level. There are some who benefit from globalization and some who are yet to enjoy its advantages. There are inequalities between individual within and between the gender divide. There are inequalities between families, between communities, and between nations. These inequalities are also based on power relations; power which is derived from the social, political and economic orders of the societies, the latest world order being economic globalization. It is incumbent upon all of us who are in some respects better off than others to make an effort to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We may do this individually but we can do better by networking and cooperating. Let us empower ourselves through organized groups. SHINA you are doing it. You are supporting sections of some of the most vulnerable groups of individuals such as women, children, the youth and the disabled. These are the people whose voices are hardly heard, but who bear the brunt of poverty, disease, and lack of education. SHINA you have taken up their cause, bravo. You are giving them the visibility, and the support they deserve. It is through you that well-wishers and support are able to channel their resources to help these groups. I hope the good work you have been doing will encourage many more donors. At the micro-level, organizations such as yours are indeed Sending Hope, Inspiring and Nourishing by utilizing women’s Accumulated Knowledge and Skills I salute you and Say More Power to You. Mwatumu J. Malale, Permanent secretary Ministry of education, Tanzania. The night of July 17th 2004, Shine with SHINA was packed with Dynamic speakers who literally lit up the night and captured the audience with powerful messages on self Empowerment and selfless giving. Education was cited as a major component to empowerment of oneself. Health matters and spiritual enhancement were mentioned as good ingredients towards creating a healthy society and becoming worthy role models to future generations.
Event Entetainment The thunderous Roaring from the Lions of Zululand gave an earth shaking performance of traditional and cultural Zulu music….
When the Zululand lions roared, the audience was mesmerized and asked for more and more encores !. SHINA’s own Children’s program in collaboration with Da’ Bunch children project of College park twinkled this night like the stars they are …..
Da' Bunch doing a step number The IMAGE —different age groups portraying fashion/style and eloquence. Pictures to be posted soon.
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