The three depressing stereotypes women in mining face!

Women in Mining communities face gender stereotypes, the packaging comes in different forms, whether as a joke, serious statements, practices towards them and so on. It does not matter how it is packaged, but stereotype is a stereotype, a worse form of gender based violence, acknowledged and accepted by communities. Here are the three very depressing and annoying kind of stereotypes that whether known as violence against women and violation of their basic human rights, they are degrading and dehumanize women work and living in mining areas in a way that not everybody can see how it affect them now.

1. You are a Woman, you can not Work Underground!

Yes, mining is a tough job! It requires muscles and strength. And yes, working underground can be dangerous and intimidating. But lets get the facts straight here! What makes the job done!... The hands! And what is the difference between men and Women..., the biological make ups, women having the women parts and men having the men parts, and their biological functions. It does not require the men parts to do mining and women parts not... which i mean to say, biological make up of women or men do not have anything whatsoever with activities they do, apart from the biological functions of their bodies - Reproduction.

Women should be left to decide what part of the mining activities they would like to undertake. Whether going underground, or doing administrative jobs or providing services, should be entirely free of their choices and will. This kind of statement is a patriarchal lie, created to scare women off the mining chain and benefit few.

2. Women Should Never go near Gold Mining Pits while on their Menstruation Period, because Gold Will Disappear.

What? Seriously? How in hell Women menstruation get in Gold geomorphology?  It raises not only eye brows but the whole face! A lot of questions on this as this patriarchal lie is designed to exclude women from understanding the quantity and value of the minerals mined from the land. This statement/belief is designed to deepen the patriarchal lies that women should be ashamed of their bodies and their state of healthy monthly period is a bad luck. 

Miners can be superstitious, using vodoo and Juju in their activities as they lack geological information and support from state to undertake professional mining. As a result, women bear the burden of try and error in ASM communities.

3. Women living and Working in Mining areas are Prostitutes.

The involvement of women in mining is mostly driven by poverty and mining is seem as a means of survival. In most cases, women in these areas are single and independent mothers, who came to mining areas as a result of either bad divorce, separation, early marriages or abandonment by their partners although, some of them are there as a matter of choice and mining is a means of economic activity which puts food on the table and children to school and roof over their head.. The first are the result of  patriarchy system which devalue women on the basis of what they do.

I knowledge that there are sex commercial workers in the mining communities. But before pointing fingers, lets see the reason why they are there( Forget about the simple answers like, its their attitude, they are greed etc). Think about the system, the families they are coming from, economic set up on this country, exclusion from economic opportunities, etc. 

You should also know that and sometime, sex work  comes as a form of resistance to injustices.

Share any other kind of stereotypes you know

Re Claiming Our Movement; Re shaping Women in Mining Resistance

The rights to resist: Women in Public March During World Social Forum 2012

Sometimes i wonder if we are in a right direction, if we have the same vision, if we are still focused, if we still have the strengths and determination, and the response varies according to time, place and context. Sometimes i think, yeah... we are, and sometimes i feel ghooosh, we are lost! And it is from this we gather our strengths, motivate each other, inspire  and mobilize others to join and we continue with our struggle. And in the middle of all these, we find that sometimes our movement is manipulated and our resistance is weakened. But all in all, we continue to fight and resist and move forwad. And this is because i think there is a need to re-claim our movement and reshape our resistance to reflect what we really aimed at.

First, we need to reclaim our movement because it is manipulated . It is manipulated by power, and patriarchy agendas and knowingly or unknowingly we loose focus of what we stand for and throw all the caution off the window. The current focus on development aid by funders, the government scrutiny  on Non Government Organizations working on natural resources, threats by mining companies coupled by  poverty caused by injustices and need for ready cash does, not only shift the focus of our movement but also put the capitalists agendas in our mouth and forefront  in the name of good cause! We need to look back and reclaim our movement. Redefine what does injustices look like to us and own our strategies and solutions.

Our resistance is weakening! We need to retreat and plan again on how best can we achieve the end result with our minds still sane, our bodies in one piece and  our spirit as pure as when we started. Women resist injustices in different forms, the emerging of women organizations in mining sector whether as self help groups or organized women's rights organization is a form of resistance that what is  happening is not right and women need a better and safe space. We are redefining the kind of resistance we want. This could be  women resist against mining corporations, or land grabs or environmental pollutions or bad social services and so on, the end result is justice and fairness! We are redefining our resistance in many forms and at different spaces, and it from this where women in mining play a very important role! Telling the story of injustices as they are living the reality!

A bag of seed, Tsh 100,000, a pair of Khanga.... and Voila! You are empowered!

 

Women Participating in workshop for Violence Against Women in Mining Areas, in Singida Region

I once visited this " very good responsible" government institutions and  i asked how do they work with women, the person at the desk was quick to say... "We are empowering women. Last year, we provided 200 bags of maize and Tsh 100,000 to 40 households. Women now are empowered" My eyes opened wide and i asked again, how does this benefit women in the long run, and the guy minced the words and lunch time was there so, i left with my question still in my mouth...

Women empowerment... It often come in form of services, training, cash, the give away that benefit women at one time on the particular moment! In most cases, the training for empowerment are mostly instructional, with the expert - ignorant approach, with no follow up, and very technical where women like my mother who live in Nzogonaminze village would never understand a word. In these trainings, power point presentations with highly fashioned graphs and numbers and percentages are presented to women whom their whole lives have been around their land, children, mining, food and survival. 

A friend of mine once said, "We do not empower women, every woman has a strength which, because of our culture and  tradition towards women, it is suppressed, deep down it is still their, and our work, should be working with them to rekindle that strength... To re surface that strength, and that is empowerment" And it is from this point of view where we should assess ourselves whether the trainings we conduct is empower women! Do they bring the best out of women, do the trainings we conduct give women power or take  power  away from them!  

In one of the  very resource rich community here in Tanzania, a mining company had a project on women empowerment and they were providing money to women groups to develop their business. After some time, they found out that the groups had broken down  and some of the women would not talk to each other because they thought others had a bigger share on the money the company provided. When i asked how did this benefit women, they were quick to say "That is how women are, they hate each other" ... I think you may have heard about this from somewhere else, where this kind of patriarchy approach have taken place and it ends up with the same lies.. Women hate each other!

Supporting women initiative as part of empowerment is one of the best approach, although the process and timing of support should be critical. Strengthening women capacity should be one of the step before providing resources. Working with women to develop self awareness, different capacities and independence to manage and work with resources provided as a journey to demanding their rights, question the political agendas and advance their livelihood! Empowerment is a process from within, the personal quality that every woman possess.

The bag of maize and tsh 100,000 and a pair of khanga, and two days technical training which has no connection with anything whatsoever is not a miracle for women empowerment. It is not a fair substitute for the resources taken, land polluted or rights  violated. It is a patriarchy approach which places women as receiver of services and favors rather than key players in the sector governance and management.

A letter to my president -3: Our Livelihood Depend on land

Dear Mr President!

I hope this letter finds you well, and you probably read the first two. Today, i want to remind you that we depend on  land for our livelihoods.

My president, we woman from mining areas, like any other area in Tanzania,  depend on  land for our livelihoods. We depend on the land for food, firewood, medicine, grazing the animals, water, and many other uses. We also produce and sell the extras and  exchange for other important needs. For example last year i sold six bags of maize and pay school fees for my daughter who is in secondary school. I also paid medical expenses for my other son who was ill. I know other women will support me on how important our land is.

Mr President, your mining plans are taking away our land. There are tens of land deals in Tanzania which we as land owners are not aware of. These land deals are entered without our knowledge and participation. They normally come to us a surprise and in a matter of an eye blink, we loose our homes, our sources of food, water, services and our dignity.  I have lived long enough to see and understand the pattern. Tanzania was one of the  countries in the world where even the poorest could own land. When i say the poor, i do not mean the shallow meaning provided by neo-liberal ideology that poor people are the ones  living under one US dollar per day!

Mr President, the compensation provided for the land taken in most cases are not enough, the valuation processes is cumbersome and does not take into account gender needs - Women participation. Women face double challenge in these processes and your people seem to turn the deaf ear on this. 

Mr President, If you happen to want our land for your mining plans, first of all we want your people to consult us first before signing the deals. We know the law gives our village council some power on this. We do not want the raid and take as your people normally do. Please tell  them we want to fully participate in the process. Secondly, we want women participation in the process. The valuation and compensation process MUST  involve women whether single or married. (In most cases they contact only men and after compensation which is mostly in cash, men run away with the whole money). Third, we want a share of the income from the mining which take place on our land. Remember  this is the land   have used for very long time. Fourth, we want jobs from the mining projects. before its starts, make sure that you work to develop the capacities and skills of women and men from the same community to be able to participate in jobs provided by the mining projects. Fifth, if you cannot comply with the above suggestions, leave our minerals in the soil. We do not eat them after all!

The Women Voice is an Earth Voice!

"The devastating environmental and social impacts (of destructive extractivism) will continue unchecked and exacerbated by the high levels of energy and water consumption (and pollution) that accompany the processing and value addition to raw materials. These costs are mainly borne by peasant women in the region who have the development solutions we must recognise and build on," 
 
Samantha Hargreaves:   SADC People's Summit
2014- Bulawayo

visit:  www.womin.org.za for more information on women struggles on extractive industry
 

A letter to My President - (2) -We want a space on the table

Dear Mr President, we want a space on the table!

Mr President, My name is Zoila, i wrote you a letter few days ago. I do not know if you have received it, but i will keep on writing. This time, i want to tell you that We women from mining communities want a space on the table. We want to be part of the decision making processes particularly in the ministry of energy and minerals. Most decisions are made without women involvement and it results into bad policies and practices. And when i say  women involvement, i do not mean women from urban areas who do not understand our situation clearly, i do mean women who come from mining communities, who understand  our situation and priorities and who  represent the reality, not the assumptions. These women can only be found from areas such as Kalalani, Mirerani, Namtumbo, Londoni, Sambaru, etc etc..


Mr president, please do not misunderstand or misconstrue the meaning of Involvement or engagement. I mean we want to participate from the beginning to the end. From deciding when, where, who and how the mining projects should take place on our ancestral land, to be part of the activities, and benefit from the land we cultivate. We want to be part in deciding how the benefit from our mining resources should benefit women and we want to be part in deciding who we will work with. Tell your people that we do not want that "consultations" they call community involvement. Tell them we want women to be thoroughly involved and they choose who they would want to represent their issues and priorities on the table.


Mr President, we may not know how to read and write, but we know what we want and how we can get them. First, we want fairness, and this starts by involving women, working with women, facilitating women, understanding women's power and so on. We are not powerless, but we choose to be quite and use our power wisely. And this time we want to prove this by having a space on the table, because we want to contribute to this countries' development.

A letter to my president - Part 1

Dear Mr President,

My name is Zoila and i am a woman from mining community in Tanzania. I have tried so many times to reach you but in vain. Your security guards and ministers and secretaries have been so hard on me, they say you are busy and you do not have time to meet me. This is my hundredth letter to you and i hope you will read it and respond.

My  President, i want you to know that i voted for you  both in the first term and second term. You promised that you would give more opportunity to women... i have been waiting and waiting and waiting, i am now becoming impatient. I heard that you appointed women in various political positions, but how does this reflect on my empowerment as  a common  woman from the interior of interior, in mining community where social services, such as water hospital, school, sanitation, road,  electricity etc etc is limited.

Mr President, I want you to know that where i live, there is no respect for women. Women are being abused, raped, and mistreated by virtue of being women and most importantly be being  Women in Mining. We are being abused by both people and system, it was  last week when my niece was raped by six men and when reported to the village authority, they said that she is a women miner and she consented. She could not go to the police station as the facility is located 60 kilometers from my village. Also, the dispensary here could not treat her because they do not have doctors and drugs. Please tell your people that we want them to build us a police station with functioning gender desk. We have paid our fair share of taxes and levies and revenues and contributions. We want result. I mean we are calling for  Big result Now! Tell them that their budgets should never overlook our need for getting pregnant and having children just because they cannot build us a decent hospital with trained health personnel. Also, tell them that we want a police post on every mining community. The extent of crimes against women is very high here.

Mr President, i have been waking up at 2 am everyday to scramble for water, This is not fair. My community is a source of precious gold and other agricultural products. I do not understand why we have only one source of water for a community of more than 10,000 people. I want you to tell your people that we want water, we women are the ones who bear the brunt of poor planning and implementation of poor polices made by your government. Tell your people to that we want water, clean water for us and our families.

This is my son who went to fetch water since 2 AM  this morning and he is coming back at 5 PM

SADC PEOPLE’S SUMMIT ROARS INTO LIFE

Bulawayo, 15 August- The 2014 People’s Summit opened  (14 August 2014) with over two hundred delegates from WoMin, La Via Campesina Africa, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the People’s Dialogue demanding  renewed focus on issues affecting farmers, rural women and mining impacted communities.

The opening touched on wide ranging issues that SADC needs to focus on to ensure that the rights of communities are pushed ahead of those of corporates. Through song, poetry, dance and solidarity messages the delegates expressed concern on issues of forced relocations in Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond community,criminalization of political protests in Swaziland and the Palestine crises.

Women from Marange acted out a drama on forced relocations and rights abuses experienced in Marange following the discovery of diamonds, which resulted in the direct flouting of community rights to prior and informed consent. Since the relocations the community has had to endure food shortages and loss of their livelihoods, which included the rearing cattle.

Farai Maguwu in his speech on extractives industries addressed the plunder of Africa’s natural resources by the Global North and now the emerging economies like BRICS. He cautioned communities to closely monitor mining operations and transport systems that are involved in moving stolen resources out of the region. He further called for a stronger movement that challenges the power of our post-colonial governments that have lost interest in defending people’s rights: “it seems like our former liberators… fought not to replace the system but to rather replace the former oppressors and occupy the position of power to enrich themselves”.

Samantha Hargreaves from WoMin warned that the agenda of value addition and beneficiation of natural resources to retain greater wealth nationally – the major agenda of the Heads of State summit – is inadequate. The devastating environmental and social impacts will continue unchecked and exacerbated by the high levels of energy and water consumption (and pollution) that accompany the processing and value addition to raw materials. These costs are mainly borne by peasant women in the region who have the development solutions we must recognize and build on.

Mercia Andrews of the Rural Women’s Assembly asked why the Head of States have not asked the people of the region what issues concern them. Instead they have gone to the corporates and investment banks to shape their development priorities. She emphasized the importance of this gathering of activists from social movements and grassroots organisations across the region. This represents the sort ofalternative people-centred African community that is needed to advance development and ensure solidarity between peoples.

Brid Brennan from the Transnational Institute (TNI) in Amsterdam spoke about howgovernments are being captured by the interests of corporates and serving their interests. The Southern African Permanent People’s Tribunal which organisations in the region are building will establish a platform where we can expose corporate interests and collusions with our governments.

Issues of seed sovereignty were also touched upon at length with Elizabeth Mpofu, thegeneral secretary of La Via Campesina Africa noting that “Food sovereignty unlike food security is not just about whether we have food but rather it is about how food is produced, land ownership and having power to own our own seeds”. Food sovereignty is being threatened by the corporates that are grabbing our land and water – “why aren’t they using land and resources in their own countries?” delegates reminded us that land and seed represent life and hope for the peoples of the region.

The delegates were reminded to be at the forefront of movement-building and solidarity to so that we never suffer another Marange and Marikana.  A call to action was made with one delegate stating that “Now that we know what we know, what is important is to take appropriate action that betters the lives of the affected communities otherwise they will lose trust in us as a movement”

Meet the Two Leaders of Tanzania Women Miners Association

Martha Bitwale: The  former  Chairperson of Tanzania Women Miners Association:

She is a long time activist of rights of Women miners.  Her passion on women's rights and the struggles to organize women in mining to advance in the mining sector is known among most women miners in Tanzania. She is a witness of the transformation in mining sector and how it accommodates women in Tanzania. Her story as a woman miner, leader, a mother, an activist, business woman and her passion to engage and organize other women in the sector has contributed a lot to the women in mining struggles today. She is calling for the "Re-Focus" on the priorities of women in Mining Tanzania.

Eunice Negele: The Chairperson of Tanzania  Women Miners Association

She is woman miner based in Tanga Region, the activist, a mother  and  Leader. She works with more than 400 women in 11 districts of Tanzania to advocate for the rights of women miners and women living in mining areas.

The election for the new chairperson will be held this year. TAWOMA needs a feminist leader, who holds the deepest of values for justice and equality. This leader will need to work with women in two levels; supporting  women miners to build self consciousness and self esteem so that they understand and stay  on top of their challenging context (2) Linking women miners and women in mining with different resources, networks, struggles and movement so that they effect change.

Who will be the next?

We Are Not ANGRY Enough!

I am a woman, and i am a feminist! i work with women  from mining communities in Tanzania and i am angry. In the past few days i have been assessing myself if i am angry enough to effect change, i do not have a clear answer yet... i am still reflecting.

I have been talking with women i work with about different issues in mining sector in Tanzania, and my observation is... Women are not angry enough.  Most of them would say "The state is very powerful and we cannot change, or the mining companies have BIG money and any other loads of excuses, but if we were angry, very angry, and very constructively angry, we would look forwad and continue with questioning  the POWER.

The power that give the same mining corporations our resources and remain silent when they abuse us.  The power that use our money, our bodies, our resources, our children, our families and manipulate our economy for their own benefit.

We are POLITELY angry, and being politely angry will not bring the change we want.We need to re- direct our anger towards the system. for the cause we have been believing in. JUSTICE and EQUALITY. We have done our fair share of protecting our land, and natural resources, and environment, and our bodies, and our economy and so many more you can name the rest,  but we need to do more, go further than looking at our being women or men but shaming those who stand on our way!

Lets be angry enough to change what is not right!

Taking care of lives in Artisanal mining- Beatrice Story

Beatrice comes from Dodoma, a capital town of Tanzania. She migrated to Sambaru in Singida two years ago to provide services to miners. Her business is located four kilometers from the village center, where there is no water, power, sanitation, hospital or school. She left her two children in the village with her children and she sends money home

 Beatrice in her room

The business area

The bar

Beatrice is the only female  among more than 30 men in the settlement. She sell them food, drinks, water and medicine and she takes care of them when they are sick."You have to be strong and focused to be able to live and do your business here, it is risky. We are not only afraid of wild animals, but also these men can be dangerous. I have made friends with few men here and they are protecting me and my business."

Beatrice joined the women in mining movement few months ago. She was introduced to the group by one of the young woman who participated in the women leadership development. She says the settlement is growing fast and more people are coming in. "I want to introduce the practice of respecting women in this area so that when new people comes in, they follow the rule"Beatrice  managed to acquire land for mining activities. She does not have capital and equipments to start mining activities but she is working hard and serving some of her income.

10 Reasons Why CSO should invest in facilitating Self Organization of Women in Mining

Ten Reasons Why CSOs should facilitate self Organization of Women in Mining

I once worked with a women's rights organizations for six years. In the first four years, this organization was working on service delivery, providing legal aid, food, shelter, health services etc to women victims of domestic violence. In one project, the organization provided Tsh 50,000 ( about 42 USD at that time)  to 50 women survivors of DV to start small business. After one year, only three women had the said business, 47 women did not continue  for various reasons one of them being domestic violence.

Service delivery have been a strategy for Civil Society organizations in Tanzania for reaching women and particularly women in rural areas. Handing  women food, seeds, clothes, money or paying for their health services and education for their children is a short time fantasy which we cannot afford anymore in the current economy. If you go to a mining community today and ask how you could support women, the fist thing they would ask from you is Capital, in ready Cash, which is  no different from other communities. And this is the reason why CSO should  invest in facilitating women in mining to self organize because:

1. Women in Mining are key player in the sector and not receiver of services and favors

2. Women in mining can  articulate their challenges and solutions: They are women with different life skills, visions and mission. Bringing them together will create a platform of resourcefullness for the women movement in Tanzania

3.Mining activities affects women  and children more than men: From land grabs, sexual violence, health risks and exploitation, women have more reasons to come together and voice their concerns.

4. Mining areas are in remote areas, with few, or no and poor services. Women need to organize so that they re- claim the quality of life which equals the value of their resources.

5. There are few development programs and organizations specifically targeting women in mining sector:  Where are NGOs located in your country?

6: Self organization of women in mining will make  them strong allies of CSO movement in Tanzania:  

7.CSO cannot afford service delivery for long period of time. It is time to organize women so that they   claim their rights from the duty bearers.

8. Mining Sector is a dangerous one. From mining corporations to individuals, women are at  more   risk. The higher the voice, the lower the risk

9. Women in mining movement is a noble cause, its important to join hands

10. Women in mining issues are women's' rights-women's rights are human rights 

The Cost of Revenues Calculation in Mining

Our Dignity

Our Land

Our Settlements

Our Jobs

Industrial Mining costs us a big deal in the name of revenues. The predatory extractivism taking place in Tanzania does not only reap our wealth but our lives as well. From land grabbing, health issues, gender based violence, food insecurity, exploitation, water scarcity, decrease in household income to sexual violence, the list could go on. 

The ministry of energy and mineral has passed its 2014/2015 budget last week, where conducive environment for investors is one of the many agendas. Yet no budget allocated for mitigating the risks brought about by mining. or enough budget with good strategy and easy access of funds for empowering small scale miners mostly Tanzanians and specifically women.In my opinion, i think it is time we as a nation pause for a while and assess ourselves in terms of large scale mining  against its benefit to Tanzanians.

Defending Our Land: Defending Our Livelihood!

This green land is in Sambaru and Londoni villages in Singida region. It is a home of a nomadic  tribe called Mang'ati. They are  depending on land for grazing their animals and farming. Young girls and boys are responsible for grazing animals and they are depending on this land. Women collect firewood from this land for domestic use. Maize, millet, sweet potatoes, beans, green vegetables, onions and rice grow on this land once sometimes twice a year. But underneath it, there is an enormous deposit of gold.

This land is now owned by Shanta Mining Company. Production have not started yet. The company is putting up structures and fencing the land. There are areas within the land where people are not allowed to access. It is guarded by state police paid by both the state and mining company.

There is no much hope among communities of benefiting from this project. They already know that they will not be employed by the company or provide services and goods to the company. Women are much more devastated. They will loose their source of  food, energy and water. The current fresh air  will be polluted by dust and their children and their families will be sick. HIV prevalence will increase due to the immigration and their families may disrupt.

In this community, men own cattle. They will loose the land for grazing and their economy will be shaken. They are still wondering how they are going to provide for their families once their land is gone. This areas will turn into desert in a couple of years, taking away  livelihood of more than 10,000 people. 

Why Promote and Support Women in Small Scale Mining

 There are million reasons why the state should support Women Artisanal and Small Scale miners, Here are few reasons why: (TAWOMA Report; 2011)

1. Evidence suggests that small scale mining enterprises owned by women are generally better
managed than those under male control.
2. Women, on average, are more concerned with environmental, health and safety issues of
mining than their male counterparts.
3. Women appear to be much more likely to spend mining incomes on children and the running
of households than the men, who are instead prone to wasting it on drinking, prostitution,
gambling and personal gratification.
4. Artisanal and small-scale mining is critically important for many poor communities,
providing temporary or full-time work and offering potentially the only source of income
5. Adopting a gender-sensitive approach that gives particular emphasis to the role of women;
6. Encouraging ‘fair trade’ markets for mining products;
7. Looking for ways to give women more power in their communities and their households.

Violence Against Women in Mining Area.... Unspoken Truth!

Kangaa* is a woman of 33 years old,  a single mother of three children all of them with different fathers. She lives in Londoni village in  Singida  region (in central Tanzania). Kangaa do not have a permanent job. She works as a bar maid depending on tips from customers and sometimes she works in mining sites, panning and washing sand for gold production.

 It is a rainy morning,  Kangaa emerges from her tiny one room mad house with grass roof. She looks at her bruised hands for a while and call her oldest daughter. She asks her daughter to start fire so that they can have breakfast. The only meal they will have the whole day, until she comes back from her "job" in the evening. Their breakfast today is boiled  sweet potatoes and maize porridge; the food she managed to buy previous day using her little money she earned in her job. Her children are all out of the house and they are siting around the fireplace in a small hut they named kitchen. Kangaa takes off to the job in one of the mining site that morning, and she will be working also as a bar maid in the evening to earn some extra cash. She is working even harder now to pay for her daughter's school fees as she will be starting secondary school. Kangaa is very pleased and proud of her daughter and she is doing all she can for her education.

Kangaa migrated to Londoni ten years ago with her three years daughter. Her first marriage did not work because of the abuse from her husband. "He used to beat me and send me out naked, my in laws did not help me because i was not of the same tribe. I went to the local government authority and that is when they drove me away... they said i cannot report my husband for beating me. I left the house with nothing, but my baby and the clothes i had on..." Kangaa tells us while standing up and put her blue-red slippers.

 She started living with a friend, who also had one room and a boyfriend. She worked at a mining site, washing and panning and she served enough money to rent her own room. She bought a piece of land and erected a two room mad house. "At least my house had a real roof, like that one" She says pointing her finger at the nearby house. In two years she already had a gold mining pit, a home and a small business, all of them in one place..life was good!

In 2008, they were told that their land had been allocated to the large scale miner. They were given 24 hours to move out of the area. Kangaa had nowhere to go. Within 24 hours she had lost everything! Their house was demolished and their business trashed. They took whatever they could and leave, and she had to start again from the scratch.

A good Samaritan gave Kangaa a place to build a house for her and her children. with no money or husband, Kangaa build a small hut in one day. She started living their with her baby. Who had already started grade 1.

Kangaa went back in working as a labourer in mining pits. Her baby fell sick three weeks after everything was taken away. She worked to earn money for medicine and food but it was not enough. She started borrowing money from friends but again it was not enough. Kangaa says a man approached her and offered her help. She could not resist it but she says there was  a pay. She had to offer sex in return. She continued to sleep with that man in return he gave her some money. She became pregnant. "when i told him i was pregnant, he asked me what my name was...he claimed he didnt know me and i should go away, that is how i came to have my second born" Kangaa says pointing at a boy with a white like shirt and gray-black  pants standing few feet away, eating sweet potatoes.

Kangaa raised her two children depending on processing gold, and as a bar maid, living in the same hut which practically did not have a door. Kangaa says that her second born was one year and two months when she got raped. She was coming back from her job and a group of men attacked him, carrying her to the nearby bush. They raped her in turns. " I laid there for hours my eyes closed while they do their business. They said if i scream they would kill me and go back in my house to rape my children. I kept quiet.. for long time.. I could not tell anyone because it was a shame, and the authority would just cal as miners, so there would be no case. Nobody would believe me, no matter what! I became pregnant  again, this time i do not know the father. and that is how i came to have my third child." Kangaa says pointing at the beautiful six years girl, with no shoes on. The girl smiled at us and offer her sweet potato... How sweet!

Kangaa is still waiting for  compensation for her lost land, if at all there will be any!

The story of Kangaa is a story of so many women living in the mining communities. The respect for human rights and particularly women's rights is a reality which needs to be addressed. Most women own property and particularly land by so much efforts. Taking their land with no compensation equals total improvement of women. It as a silent violence and the truth has to be told!

 

Women at Work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With  baby on the back, a woman small scale miner in Geita working as laborer to suppliment for their family income.  Salute to these mothers!!!!

Lack of different skills in mining, poor technology lack of access to information and strong and organized leadership limits women participation in policy reforms within mining debates

Pili (Mjomba Hussein) A typical example of women Small Scale Miners Struggles ..Her story

Pili, popularly known as "Mjomba Hussein" (Uncle Hussein) is a Tanzanite Miner in Mererani, Northern Tanzania. Pili is in her middle 50s and owns Tanzanite mines. Apart from mining, Pili also engages in farming food crops such as maize, beans, millet and potatoes to feed her workers. Pili comes from a poor family of 12 children and 2 wives. Her parents were small scale farmers from Singida and they never engaged in any mining activities. Married at young age, Pili does not know how to read and write as she never been to school. The bride price paid to her parents was used to pay for her bother's school fees.

Pili migrated to Mirerani in mid 70's, aiming at working on mining as her marriage did not work due to violence. She started working in mining pits disguising as a man as traditions and customs barned women to work underground. She later managed to own three mining plots. In 1979 Tanzania enacted mining act which encouraged industrial mining. As a result Pili lost two of her mining plots to foreign investor and remained with one.

Currently, Pili is employing more than 100 people in her mine. She is providing for her family and owns other business which helps in running of her mining. The government of Tanzania and financial institutions have not provided any support or loan to run the business as they claim small scale miners can not be financed. Pili
depends on other business and farming to run her mining activities. The government of Tanzania under the ministry of Mineral and energy allocates budget for small scale miners but Pili has never received any funds from the government. There is no clear strategy on how these funds supports small scale miners and particularly women.

Pili accumulates an important knowledge on policy practices and geo-morphological information as she has worked underground and live in mining communities for three decades. Although she does not know how to read and write, her experience and knowledge could be used for research and policy formulation. She seats in Tanzania Women Miners Association (TAWOMA) commettee and share her experiences with other women.

Since 2012, Pili joined leadership program coordinated and facilitated by HakiMadini. She is mobilizing women from her area to claim for the women positions in leadership in the mining sector. She is finances small struggles organized by women and youths to claim the right to land, dignity and violence free lives of women. She is very unhapy with government unfullfilled promises and encourages women to work and not wait for government to provide everything for them.