IMOW - The Unmanageable Generation

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STATISTICS:


•	According to a 2006 United Nations Report, in Africa the top three causes of newborn death are infections, pre maturity, and asphyxia.

•	According to UNICEF’S 2007 report on Human Development, in the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia, approximately 30 per cent of women felt excluded from decisions on household purchases, while in those countries surveyed CEE/CIS, East Asia and Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean, women reported having a greater degree of control over these decisions.

The Unmanageable Generation
Nasra Abubakar

Somalia

CONVERSATION

My generation of women is called the unmanageable ones because we are working mothers who are trying our best to be independent. I am different from my mother because she was a camel girl, meaning when she was young she took care of camels in the forest. Camel milk is free of sugar and fat and full of calcium. This makes anyone who is brought up drinking camel milk strong-boned. Those who care for camels also emerge as very good wrestlers. Because of her endurance and practice, my mother became an extraordinary wrestler herself. She was the best wrestler of her time; she actually had no equal, and men dreaded wrestling her. My mother never wrestled with us kids, and she never beat us. She was very kind and forgiving, and neighbors always complained that she was too lenient. But when she wanted something done she had a look that said, “You would rather do what I want you to.” The things she wanted us to do included washing ourselves, wearing clean clothes, having afternoon naps when not going to school, and in my case, washing my hair twice or thrice a week. We were to wake up early in the morning to prepare for school, and we were also to do our homework. My mother never went to school herself, but she wanted us to get the best education we could. I went to school and didn’t have to take care of animals. My mother would never have dreamt of going to university, but I earned a diploma in armed conflict at the University of Nairobi.

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Mothers and Daughters
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