January to April 2018
SiA Inc. quarterly news & updates
Welcome to SiA Inc Quarterly News Briefs
by Diamond Bennah
My name is Diamond. I am an assistant researcher and social media manager at SiA Inc. a global grassroots initiative dedicated to preserving the rights of women and girls around the world to equality, dignity, bodily autonomy and self-determination. We are building our advocacy and programs to preserve and promote women’s and girls' rights to our cultural, traditional and religious beliefs and to celebrate our mothers and grandmothers. We are at the forefront of debates about bodily practices such as female circumcision and the rights of women to uphold cherished matriarchal traditions alongside men who uphold complementary patriarchal traditions. Learn more about SiA Inc by visiting our website HERE
Ajie Amie Ceesay is the Acting Country Executive Director Of Gambian Women Are Free To Choose (GWAFC). She was a prime time news anchor and reporter and worked with The Gambia Radio and Television Services. Ajie was attached to the Office of the Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs where she covered important news events and issues pertinent to Gambian women. She organizes annual women’s health conferences and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, free screenings for Diabetes and Hypertension. Ajie pursued a Bachelor of Laws Degree at BPP University in London England where she attained her LLB with Honours. She is currently undertaking the Bar Vocational course and will be called as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of The Gambia in December 2018. 

Ajie continuously works towards registering more success stories for women in The Gambia until a space is achieved where women will no longer feel the need to conform to societal pressures which often render them passive and dependent within a relegated sphere.

GWAFC is the Gambian chapter of All Women Are Free to Choose (AWAFC), the non-profit arm of SiA Inc. dedicated to promoting self-advocacy, equal rights and social entrepreneurship among marginalized women in different parts of the world.

Ajie, keep up the fantastic work in The Gambia!!
HUMAN RITES by Seth Rozin - A Huge Success!!

Human Rites is the first theater production that explores (and challenges) received notions about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The Philadelphia Weekly states,

"Rozin found inspiration for the story when his father, a retired University of Pennsylvania psychology professor, sent him a 2000 article by a close colleague, Dr. Richard Shweder, an early pioneer of cultural psychology. Rozin took Schweder’s controversial paper on female initiation rites in sub-Saharan Africa and matched it with the lived-experience of another scholar, Dr. Fuambai Sia Ahmadu, one of of the world’s primary advocates for the rite of female circumcision. Add dramatic framework, and the play was born."

Visit our new youtube channel for up close and personal video clips of actors, discussants, and audiences right here FSA
ALL WOMEN ARE FREE TO CHOOSE - updates from affiliates around the world - THE GAMBIA
FINALLY! Gambian Women are Free To Choose (GWAFC) receives official certification! The ground team - made up of solid grassroots women from each of the country's Divisions - is busy working hard to organize its formal launch in the upcoming months and to put forward to the public and current Barrow administration their agenda for FGM policy and legislative change in the country!

A full time consultant was hired recently who will assist the already resourceful kafo women leaders in organizing and coordinating activities for the first five years.

Look out for upcoming GWAFC page at www.awafc.org
CTCT-20180419_141843
The World's First Successful Rally against Western Funded FGM Campaigns - Celebrating The Bondo Women of SIERRA LEONE!!!
You won't read about it in the New York Times or see it on CNN, BBC or Fox News - Thousands of women young and old from all over Sierra Leone gathered in Freetown to celebrate their cultural heritage and promote greater understanding of female (and male) circumcision and gender complementarity as well as the traditional societies, Bondo and Poro. Sierra Leone's National Sowie Council in collaboration with Sierra Leone Women are Free to Choose successfully launched the world's first Female Circumcision Awareness Week from February 5- 10, 2018.
SIERRA LEONE Contd:
The 1st Annual Madam Yoko Festival
Many Sierra Leoneans have heard about Madam Yoko but most do not know the significance of her influence and legacy for grassroots women in the country. Although the previous Colonial British Administration celebrated Madam Yoko for her humility and "feminine" diplomacy, we honor Mammy Yoko for her traditional status as a powerful and resourceful Sowie who became a Paramount Chief in her own right, For Bondo and Sande women, Mammy Yoko is an embodiment of both tradition and modernity - a unique blend of attributes that distinguishes a few of today's women leaders in Sierra Leone, such as the current female Paramount Chiefs serving in the country's new Parliament. These traditional women leaders move with great ease in all political spheres from the Bondo bush in the villages to the corridors of power in Freetown.
CTCT-20180419_150253
Culturally Conscious Artists:
Salone's Superstar Star Zee rocks the National Stadium in defiance of FGM activists
She is no doubt the hottest hip-hop and rap artist right now in Sierra Leone! A one of a kind artist who is not afraid to showcase the new African woman on the world horizon: Confident, brazen, unapologetic and determined to make a difference in the lives of millions of our marginalized sisters and mothers across the globe.

Below you can visit our YouTube channel Dr Fuambai Sia Ahmadu and click on the video of Star Zee's performance at the Madam Yoko Festival 2018
Learn more about SiA's budding grassroots women's movement redefining global feminism

@maminapawa
@mami_na_pawa
SiA Magazine l SiA Inc. | 202.904.0023 | [email protected]| www.siamagazine.com