Nigerians coming out of my ears

The Women in Nigeria (WiN) leadership delegation arrived from Nigeria about three weeks ago on March 16th. I was sick, but I had to suck it up - I had been planning every single step these women were about to take for the next six weeks. Having the flu? The least of my concerns at the time. The women arrived on time, bright eyed, excited, and cold. They don't stop complaining about the cold. Martha and I keep trying to explain to them that this is on the warm side of cold, that if they want to, they can feel free to walk around with their jackets unzipped! But they aren't buying it.

We've been so busy. We've visited United Way, the Catt Center, ACCESS, the Bureau of Refugee Services, Terrace Hill, Sisters on Target, the State Historical Society, Youth and Shelter Services, YWCA, the Capitol building, two mosques, Department of Human Rights, Iowa Secretary of State, Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, the Capitol Press Room, WHO Radio, IPTV, John Stoddard Cancer Center, Iowa Heart Center, the AIDS Project of Iowa, Des Moines University, Iowa State University, Primary Healthcare, the botanical center, Fort Des Moines, and other places. We have been introduced formally to both the Iowa House and Senate. We had a breakfast with the Women's Caucus, attended by various female senators and representatives, as well as Lt. Governor Patty Judge. We had an event with the Friends of the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women, where Patty Judge, former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack, and various other women of importance. The women have been interviewed for local radio, newspapers, and television.

These women deserve it. IRIS (Iowa Resource for International Service - www.iris-center.org), the non-profit I work for, was given a grant from the U.S. State Department, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This grant is supporting five exchange trips for women from Iowa to visit Nigeria, and women from Nigeria to come to the Hawkeye State. These five women, Nafisat, Hauwa'u Evelyn, Elizabeth, Mmaasuur, and Saudat, are women who are leaders their chosen fields, in a country where women don't become leaders of anything. These women are political activists in a country that restricts women from politics as much as possible. These women are fighting for the rights of women to be heard and respected, something that is considered radical to many of their peers and family members.

These are my heroines. (Well, four of them are, one of them is the comical/stressful thorn in my heel.)