The Sunnyside Magazine Online

This picture represents a Kem woman carrying an infant on her back, which is in order to carry out her daily jobs. The woman represents life, stability, and the home which is represented in the picture by a hut. The woman represents the protective force of the family. The woman is the family, she is the voice of the home.

In life, we often have difficulties in solving our problems, by the way we don’t grant value to certain advice which could have been used to guide us on the right track. This tale pays homage to the woman who is our mother, the source of life and the cradle of humanity because she occupies a very important place in our lives and in society.

There was a village, where there lived a chief and his villagers.  But since the appointment of the chief, it was as if misfortune had struck the village. There was not sufficient rain to produce a good harvest. Thus, the hungry population was not able to eat. Also, none the chief’s wives ever had children. Rumors ran all throughout the village because there were too many questions about the heir to the chief. One day, the chief convened a meeting with his notables and the wise ones of the village and all inhabitants without distinction, so that they could see together how to solve these problems before the situation went from bad to worse. All of the villagers answered his call, and thus the wise ones and the notable ones proposed their ideas and the debate was open.

At a point when the meeting became very intense, they were disrupted by a rabbit who was being chased by a dog. The rabbit fled into the courtyard, directly beneath the seat of the chief to take refuge from the dog. The dog slowed down when it saw people and sat right where it entered the court to wait for its prey to try to escape. As he waited, he heard the people speak of the difficulties which arose while trying to find solutions so that the chief could have children and for there to be enough rain for the next seasons.

The chief threw his hand under his seat and snatched the rabbit from its hiding place. The rabbit then requested permission to speak. Having listened to the goal of the meeting, he addressed the chief in these terms, “Chief! Chief! Now that my survival depends on you, I ask you for help. I will be grateful to you. In my family we produce a good medicine which allows any woman to become fertile and to have children.”

Continue reading Homage to the Woman

We, the people of the diaspora, must return to the originators of civilization to reclaim our dignity and humanity.

Is it true that a woman’s work is never done? Maybe. Our drawer full of hats, that we as women wear, proves how many roles we play throughout our lives. We are sisters, wives, mothers, and daughters. All of the above are busy working, cooking, cleaning, serving, teaching, dancing, washing, sewing, healing and raising children. Although none of these duties or expectations are small, this is what makes everything about a woman so great. The woman provides a sense of stability and harmony in the lives of others, from the household to the community.  We would take more pride in our role as women if we truly understand how valuable it is.

As a student at the Earth Center, I had the privilege to go on a pilgrimage to Merita (Africa). Besides the beauty of the land, the beauty of the women left a permanent mark on my mind and heart. Yes, their outer beauty was apparent, but it was something much more than an image out of a coffee table pictorial.  I observed how incredibly hard they worked. No woman was left to fulfill a task alone. All the women there take responsibility for each other and the genuine appreciation they have for one another was, and is, an unspoken language. Their energy was so pure it could melt one’s heart.  The women in Merita truly exemplify the definition of sisterhood.

Continue reading Sisterhood