The following poem was found in the document “A Report of the African Women’s Economic Policy Network (http://www.developmentgap.org/uploads/2/1/3/7/21375820/women_standing_up_to.pdf)” on the The Development Gap website.
The Story of Women
The story of women and economic justice
is a story of death
A story about endless agonies
A story about managing the unmanageable
A story about endless work and toil
A story of sleepless nights
A story about destitution, squalor and neglect
A story of hearing policies
that determine our lives but never being
there to participate
a story of the voiceless and powerless
a story of trials and temptations
a story of lost personalities and dignity
a story of survival behind the battle fronts
as women and children flee bomb raids
A story of structural, emotional, and physical violence
A story of struggle and humiliation
A story of dreams and hopes unfulfilled
A story of hope
A story of combat and resistance
A story of withdrawal from structures of exploitation
A story of innovation and creativity
A story of breaking new frontiers for survival
A story of heroic people marching to
the future with new alternatives for
the survival of the human race
By Agnes Chepkwony Abuom,
Kenyan Poet