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For someone like Buchi Emecheta, even though she had lived a hard life mainly because of her gender, race and class, she was not about to disavow her African roots in pursuit of a strange ideology that might take away whatever was left of her identity and dignity. I got to know Ms Emecheta when I worked for AMwA, an international development organisation for African women in London from 1991-2001. When AMwA was established in 1985 by a group of women from various African countries based in London, it was expected that Buchi Emecheta, someone who had become an icon in the African community, would lend her support to a unique cause which was seeking to provide a platform and voice for African women. The early members of AMwA such as the late Wanjiru Kihoro, Jerusha Castley, Lauretta Ngcobo, late Efua Graham Dorkenoo, late Annie Mubanga, Amina Mama, Mabel Ikpoh and others, all had strong social justice, political and feminist credentials. Their life experiences as liberation fighters, refugees, migrants, wives, mothers, academics, professionals and women of dual citizenship gave them unique insights into how an African feminist agenda could be expressed. They had all endured years of racism, some of them from their home countries in Africa, and in the UK. They were determined to challenge all forms of discrimination against women regardless of the source or cause. They were therefore very critical of African cultural practices that held women back on the continent and also haunted them in the Diaspora. This group of women, alongside women from the Asian community, advocated against practices in their communities such as early marriage, condoning domestic violence and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
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