Sometimes it is not the end in itself that is important, but journey to get there

It’s been a while since a weekend spurred TWO posts for my blog…Here's the first one. Or maybe the second one depending on the order in which you will read them?

For those of you who are unaware, Saturday March 8th was International Women’s Day. I decided to support some of my friends who were helping to coordinate women’s day festivities by participating in their activities. The day was to start with a march at 08h00. I had invited a French friend (new to Lusaka) to join me. We arrived at Northmead ‘on the run’ & found not one woman or marching band. I called one of my friends & caught countless apologies “Ahh, we were supposed to send you a message, we forgot to tell you the starting venue has changed…just go to Police headquarters in town, you’ll find them there”.
Sigh.
Iris & I decide to take the thirty-minute walk & try to head them off as they head from town to the ‘freedom statue’. As we’re nearing town we find a female police officer & after exchanging International women’s day greetings, she explains that the ladies were actually marching from Longacres to the freedom statue. Refusing to admit defeat, we toe-heeled it over to the statue. By that time I was thinking I was going to be late for my 10h00 meeting. I needed to start heading in the direction of my meeting. So Iris & I agreed to the happy medium: we would walk into the marchers.
It actually turned out to be a beautiful morning. All of the different groups had different matching outfits, so it was like walking past a rainbow. People were singing & dancing & marching along. In the end both Iris & I agreed that it was better to be walking past them rather than with them, because we got to see everyone, rather than being sandwiched in between two groups.

Later that evening a colleague had planned a Ugandan dinner/ baby shower for another colleague’s wife. And what an evening we had. Alison went over the top with scrumptious Ugandan cuisine (she’s Ugandan), prizes & baby gifts. It was a special evening for the ladies, with some reflection on the days’ events. Alison was especially furious with the gallantry of the march; she noted that the budgets for participating in such events are exorbitant. She felt (as an African mother), that the money would be better spent decreasing maternal mortality in Zambia. It was a valid (& thought-provoking) argument from a woman who works closely with the Ministry of Health, with maternal mortality being the worst performing MDG (Millenium Development Goal) in Zambia.

Regardless of the politics behind it, there is something to be said for getting a group of women together. Whether celebrating woman-ness, or to discuss our challenges, there is merit in being together. I had a memorable International Women’s Day 2008 to be sure.