Zitat des Tages von Joyce Banda:
I'm indeed a mandasi seller, and I'm proud of it, because the majority of women in Malawi are like us, mandasi sellers.
You can still sit under the tree where Dr. Livingstone negotiated with slave traders to set people free.
I have spent all my life advocating on behalf of the poor, oppressed and marginalized. As a social justice and human rights activist, and now as President of the Republic of Malawi, I have a deep appreciation for the challenges of those on the margins of society.
An African woman carries heavy loads anyway. That's how we are trained; we are brought up that nothing is unbearable. I use that now, positively. I use that now to have the thick skin that I have, and not fear, and move forward, and push; and push forward.
I am tremendously inspired by many women around the world who work under dire circumstances to make a difference for their families.
My dear husband, Richard, has been the driving force behind my success and rise to whatever level I am now. My story and legacy is incomplete without his mention.
What I am saying every day to Malawians is that time has come for us to move from aid to trade. We have picked several sectors that we think we can focus on immediately in order for us to grow our economy. So we have decided to diversify agriculture, we decided to develop our tourism sector, we have decided to develop our mining sector.
I'm used to hitch-hiking.
Misogyny not only for Joyce Banda but for women.
You ask how I feel to be the first female president in southern Africa? It's heavy for me. Heavy in the sense that I feel that I'm carrying this heavy load on behalf of all women.
It's heavy, but I am able to carry it. Why? Because I'm an African woman. An African woman carries heavy loads anyway. That's how we are trained; we are brought up that nothing is unbearable. I use that now, positively. I use that now to have the thick skin that I have, and not fear, and move forward, and push; and push forward.
What I have said to my team is that at a point such as this, with 40% adjustment in our currency, it means that Malawians are paying the price. While that is going on, they need to see, us, the commitment on our part, particularly right at the top. The political will needs to go through this with the people, side by side.
I prospered very quickly. Very quickly, I became politically empowered. I was running my own business.
I learned that leadership is about falling in love with the people and the people falling in love with you. It is about serving the people with selflessness, with sacrifice, and with the need to put the common good ahead of personal interests.
When I gave birth to my fourth child, I suffered from post partum hemorrhaging. I almost lost my life. I was lucky to be under the care of trained health care personnel. I started wondering then what was happening to women in rural villages.
After President Mutharika was declared a winner, there was life after State House. For those Malawians that know me, I am an international public speaker. So I went back to my speaking engagements.
Lula da Silva was my hero when he was president. I Googled him so many times. The fact that he got 20 million people out of poverty... that happened by encouraging entrepreneurship, by supporting small business.
I convinced myself economic empowerment of women was going to be key, especially in a country like this where most women didn't go to school.
Women didn't go to school when they were young because parents preferred to send their brothers. The women couldn't access loans in their own right because the banks sought the approval of a male dependent.
I will forever be thankful to the Malawians and international community, and my professional army and army general, who said: 'No, we will follow the constitution.' That's why I'm here.
At the end of primary school, I went to secondary school. I paid $12 a term to go to school.
Overall, I have formed three major organizations: the National Association of Business Women, the Young Women's Leaders Network, and the Joyce Banda Foundation. Under the foundation, we have a huge program that targets women to teach them about HIV and other diseases and to give them economic empowerment.
Most African women are taught to endure abusive marriages. They say endurance means a good wife but most women endure abusive relationship because they are not empowered economically; they depend on their husbands.
