Coming accross an inspirational Rose

by Anorth Mabunda
As I step in to the Eden Grove hall I bump across a strong dark and afro-haired African woman in a red jacket, I could smell some professionalism in her; she seems to be always in her cell phone. I took a deep sight on her wondering if I sow or heard of her before. Finally my senses came back; she compeered during the opening of the Highway Africa conference on the topic, Truth is the first casualty of war.
As she drops the call, I walked straight in to her and introduce my self. She is a media veteran from Kenya, Rosemary Orkello-Orlale.
Rosemary has been in the field for two decades, she is currently the Director of African Woman and Child Feature Service, (a media NGO focussing on the development of communication in Africa situated in the capital Nairobi,Kenya). Fighting for the acknowledgement of women is something she says she has started very long time ago as a specialised reporter for Viva Magazine, a women magazine in Kenya.
This generous and down to earth African woman committed herself to empowering woman who have been stigmatised by the notion that they cannot do anything bigger than their men. She still plays a major role in creating awareness to women.
Rose worked as a government intern doing macro teaching in the 1980’s before joining the media industry. However, she still blames the Kenyan government for not doing enough to enrich the Kenyan women.”Kenya women’s voices are not heard, women are struggling since democracy”, she says.
“It is the time our government introduces the Affirmative Action because that is the only way gender issues can be addressed”.
Rose says that she believes that the African voices will be heard and that with the power of the mobile phones access is not really a problem “hence we now have the internet in the palms of our hands.”
Rose says she likes South Africa because it is one of the few countries in the world where feminine voices are heard.