On The Couch With Rosemary! (Weekly Interviews in Property, Fashion, Charity & Media)
ON THE COUCH WITH ROSEMARY had a huge pleasure of having an in-depth interview with Tchiyiwe Chihana, also known as Thandiwe, a blessed lady behind the famous BLOG 'AfriWoman' & contributing author of 'Different Cultures, One world book, which SOLD OUT and has now been REPRINTED to meet demand. Wow, Wow, Wow..ENJOY:)
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ROSEMARY;
Hi Thandiwe, thank you for putting some time aside to be interviewed by me! It has been a long while, how are you? What have you been doing?
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THANDIWE;
You are welcome Rosemary - I am honoured to be interviewed by you and -I am well thank you. You seem to be in good health too, despite your busy schedule! I have been working a lot on projects that are directly linked to women and girls. Most of the work I do is within the UK and also in Eastern Zambia. I have also spent a bit of time volunteering at Sanyu babies home in Kampala, Uganda. Quite recently, my colleagues and I have made inroads in both Egypt and Algeria and established an offshoot of our organisation, DEWA Project.
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ROSEMARY;
Oh, thank you! Geez, you are busy but as approved, very productive, fantastic work:)! Having met you many years ago 'Up North' in steel city, Sheffield, I thought I 'knew' you but my recent discoveries of various projects you are working with has got me intrigued! From the top please, what do you do, how did it all start, who is Thandiwe??
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THANDIWE;
Wow, this should be easy to answer but I think the cat just got my tongue (lol). I have four siblings whom I am very close to. 'Tchiyiwe Thandiwe Chihana on 20th May 1978 in Bradford, West Yorkshire to Zambian parents'. I lived my formative years in Zambia. My father died when I was 14 and my mother died when I was 16. I credit my later teenage life upbringing to my maternal grandmother and my mother's family. You are right; I am involved in various projects. I have to say though; almost all my activities are around women and children.
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My passion for working with women and children started from my exposure to violence against women and the ease with which society accepted it as a child. Also, as a teen I observed how a lot of girls in my age group who had also lost their parents were either deprived of a chance to go back to school or were left to cater for their siblings. I am aware that in some cases, finances dictated who could and could not go to school, however, whenever a choice had to be made, priority was given to the boy child. The trend of girl child headed families disregarded whether or not there was an older brother in a home. It was nearly always left to the girl child to take responsibility for the orphans.
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My siblings and I were privileged to have had a trust fund for our education, thanks to our father. Sadly it was quite different for so many of the other orphans I came across. Then in 1995, the Beijing Conference on Women further affirmed my observations and gave me the basic knowledge I needed to back up my passion.
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I left school knowing exactly what I was going to do. I still feel the same passion, probably even stronger than before. I co-own DEWA Project which is a Social Enterprise focusing on empowering women to reach their full potential. My position is that of Campaigns and Policy Officer. The majority of the clients I work with are from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds, victims of violence against women, those that have been trafficked in to prostitution and so many more. I am also a panelist of the DFiD funded Global Issues: Local Action for Yorkshire and Humber. I am also part of OXFAM's Routes to Solidarity project for the north and in the core group that manages the Why Refugee Women charter for Yorkshire and Humber. Then I also serve as Co-Coordinator for Rotherham Women's group.
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During university I was awarded a joint scholarship through the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Nelson Mandela Foundation and PennState University to study Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS with a focus on stigma and women in Cape Town. This opportunity accorded me a chance to meet women either seeking asylum or already granted refugee status. Most were from countries afflicted by war and had been victims of rape as a weapon of war. I wanted to do more for refugee and asylum seeking women from that moment on. I think of myself as a scholar-activist, women's advocate, social entrepreneur and educator. Most importantly, I am a student of life. I aim to make a positive difference in every person's life, especially vulnerable because people have done that for me all my life and.
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ROSEMARY;
Wow Thandiwe, firstly I am every bit certain, your parents are celebrating your success in spirit and are very proud, as I am to get more of an insight into what you do. I am speechless and I feel furthermore empowered! You are clearly a lady of substance! Amongst many titles, you are also a blogger under 'AfriWoman', interesting name, what made you choose it? What is the aim behind it?
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THANDIWE;
Thank you Rose - the same could be said of you and I am humbled by the reference. I have always had a strong affinity to identifying myself as a daughter of Africa. Even more importantly, having lived most of my life in Africa I have always been drawn to the grace, warmth, vigour and determination with which women carry themselves. The unquestionable strength that sees many African women triumph in the most challenging circumstances encapsulates what I visualise when I call myself 'AfriWoman'.
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I want to be a part of it and I don't want to lose any part of it that I already have. Women of African origin are powerful but often unheralded matriarchs the world over. Whoever said that educating a woman means you educate a nation could not have been closer to the truth in this particular context. I use the term loosely to refer to women of African origin and/or orientation globally. The aim of it is to primarily establish myself within that identity. It gives me a sense of pride, belonging and direction.
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'AfriWoman' brings to the fore the faces of my loving grandmother in an African village, my late mother who could not have loved more had she tried, Maya Angelou who is a pinnacle of wisdom to many, the girl child in Africa who is the head of child headed homes, many women who had held the forte and fought against apartheid in South Africa when the men were away working in the mines or imprisoned. Rosa Parks, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Dambisa Moyo, Graca Machel, Wangari Maathai, Adrianne George, you - Rosemary and many other unheralded women are just some of the AfriWomen I can think of. This is the heritage that I embrace. These are just some of the women who make the term AfriWoman significant to me. The aim therefore is for me and others to reclaim this unique identity.
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ROSEMARY;
Oh, thank you. Now I am humbled to note, you see me as an 'AfriWoman' in the same line of reference to Wangari Maathai; Dambisa Moyo, Adrianne George!! Speechless!! Talk me through DEWA (Development & Empowerment for Women Advancement) that sounds powerful, how are you affiliated?
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THANDIWE;
I am pleased that the intended prowess is captured in the name. I am the Policy and Campaigns officer for the organisation. DEWA Project is a Social Enterprise operating as a Cooperative with charitable status. We started DEWA with friends whom I had worked with on various projects within the region, especially at the Northern Refugee Centre. We have a clear vision - Dignity, Equality and Respect for all women. As such, we lend our advocacy, campaigning, research and training skills to vulnerable women from varying backgrounds to help them reach their full potential. We also work with men, recognising that we can only attain our desired goals by partnering with them. DEWA started off as a charity however, following funding cuts to many areas of the third sector, we decided to become a social enterprise. This will enable us to sustain ourselves, our client services and also to create employment.
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ROSEMARY;
You co-founded DEWA, that is powerful! and you have a book out at the moment entitled 'Different Cultures, One World' that was one of my other biggest 'oh wow' moments, the title sounds like it could be a movie, what was the reason for writing it? what are the key messages in the book?
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THANDIWE;
Different Cultures, One world: Women's Voices from South Yorkshire' is a collection of voices of women currently living in South Yorkshire of varying backgrounds and experiences. Yvonne Cass who wrote the foreword said: 'Tell your story and your story will heal you and someone else'. The book lives up to this. Full of poems, stories and recipes, the book was produced by DEWA Project. I am a contributing author to the book but my primary role was in the core group that brought the book into realisation.
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The key messages in the book are on women's empowerment, challenges and their triumphs. These are real life stories that other women can relate to and most importantly, they are inspirational and educative. It serves as a multi-purpose reference publication for any woman out there, especially those seeking sanctuary. Some of the contributions are also quite self-reflective. Women's Voices is also light hearted with interactive workspaces for readers to become a part of the authorship. Anybody can write, but getting to start writing is not easy. So we included these self-start workspaces which are just awesome for the beginner.
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My particular contributions to the book include a personal perspective on violence against women which I dubbed 'A woman's worth?' as well as a poem called 'Life on a sorbet' which translates my perception of a blissful life through the passion I have for sorbets. I have also contributed an article on my relocation from Brighton to Sheffield. The process was quite empowering and the writing workshops played a big part in encouraging the women to write. At one point, we thought they would never stop writing! Allow me to acknowledge the Poet Laureate River Wolton who conducted the writing workshops. She was a huge inspiration to us all.
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ROSEMARY;
Thandiwe, you are too amazing for words! With regards to writing / publishing, there are many people out there putting pen to paper, myself included, eager to release that book! What advice / tips can you give them / us?
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THANDIWE;
That initial reason you have for writing should not escape you. Start writing regardless of whether or not you have access to a publisher. Write like you know you will get published, you just don't know when. I think we had it easy because we have a very strong network of organisations that we availed ourselves to. There was a pot of funding available through a DFiD funded project and the Helen Tetlow Memorial fund which we tapped in to. Also, we had a lot of material support from organisations such as the Northern Refugee Centre and Sheffield City Council who aided us in launching the book during the Off the Shelf Writing and Literary festival.
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Can I just say that networking and chasing up on the networks you have made is very important. Ask - never be afraid to ask potential funders. You are more likely to meet someone who would be interested in publishing your work within your networks as they will most likely be of the same interest group as you. Our publisher, CAM Yorkshire publishes books by, about and for women. Again, the publisher is someone whom we had met through our various networking opportunities. We set out our vision and we spoke to the publisher who was very pleased to come on board.
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That's another tip, set out a clear agenda of what you would like the book to be about - whom you are targeting and don't forget to ask yourself 'why' you want to write. Also, there are many players who you will need to help you sell the product. In our case, we took advantage of the Off the Shelf Writing and Literary festival and strategically launched our book then. Due to the profile of women we work with, the local press coverage was also quite good. We had a turnout of just under 80 people at the launch, which was more than we had been expecting.
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ROSEMARY;
You are truly blessed and only our heavenly father knows how you manage all of this. I am guessing, this is due to your passion! How can fans, buyers, potential business associates etc, etc, get in touch with you? Where can we find more of your current published work / projects?
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THANDIWE;
I can be reached via FOLLOW THANDIWE'S WORK @AfriWoman on twitter and by email to Tchiyiwe.Chihana@dewaproject.org. Our book is available from WHERE TO BUY IT? - DIFFERENT CULTURES; ONE WORLD -(ISBN 978-0-9532423-5-1). We have actually just reprinted the book after it sold out. The reprinted copies are also selling quite fast. I'd urge anyone who would like a copy to get in touch as soon as possible.
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ROSEMARY;
Thandiwe, it has been a HUGE pleasure to interview you and I am more than 100% certain, the majority of your existing and new fans will be so empowered, motivated and pushed to fulfil their dreams! Thank you so much for your time and support 'On the Couch With Rosemary' I look forward to having you for a live interview:).
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THANDIWE;
As earlier mentioned, it's been a real honour to be interviewed by you. Thank you for having me.