Feminists

"I approach every character with the intention of making them as complicated as we all are."

"I had that accent which prejudices people against you so instantly, or makes them respect you so falsely."

"“I hope women will say, this was the moment we became visible. This office wasn’t just symbolic; it was systemic.”"

"Live a life in alignment with their true passions and purpose, and create meaningful change in the world."

"I Am Not One Thing: Breaking The Mould to Achieve Your Full Potential."

"“We see media not just as a platform, but a catalyst for social impact. We’re shifting mindsets, elevating community solutions, and putting women’s health squarely in the public consciousness.”"

"“We are laying the foundation for a future where no woman is left behind, no matter her income or location.”"

"Through her unwavering determination and mobilization efforts, Ineza continues to inspire a new generation of environmental activists, empowering them to create meaningful change in their communities and beyond."

"The ceiling disappeared, and I remember being woken up and feeling like I was drowning because of the rain."

"I am working hand-in-hand with the youth who graduated from University of Rwanda to design the project which will have a positive impact on the environment and the agricultural sector. This is the starting point in the process, to have more youth fighting for suitable land management in the region"

"In rural areas, for example, people just know that Rwanda is a beautiful country but they do not know how to keep the land sustainable, and how to practice more in conserving the environment. This is a big challenge because rural people are more vulnerable to global warming but they don’t know how to protect themselves from that."

"From my small research I realised that we do not have adequate information, like how desertification is affecting Rwanda, how we respond to this, how much are we saving or losing, the soil erosion going on and so forth."

"UNCCD stepped forward in opening a door for the youth around the globe in order to mitigate and adapt to this by also protecting the environment for us and the future generation."

"We engage with other youth through a series of events organised in schools; that is, capacity enhancement in different areas and elevating our country’s experience beyond our borders to advocate for proper youth inclusion in climate action."

"Also, minor research I did in 2016 showed that girls graduating in hospitality and hotel management did not have jobs because they do not know where to turn to. I thought of a sustainable and reliable project that can connect the two parties and create an open platform for the youth and help working parents feel better at work."

"We realised that, although people were being recommended to stay indoors, for some of us it was not the case. That was the same year that Rwanda experienced serious flooding, and people were not able to stay indoors to protect themselves from Covid-19."

"When I finished secondary school, I had the option to go for civil engineering or water and environmental engineering but when I searched the Internet and saw the global wars of climate change, I realised that environmental engineers are the ones able to find solutions and that is how I opted to be an environmental engineer."

"During my course, I realised that in terms of land neutrality, Rwanda can do more, and that was my inspiration. The land environmental engineer is one that can take care of the environment and community because both of them can live in harmony in order to attain sustainable development."

"I am honoured and grateful because it is like a simple highlight and recognition of how much the world is ready to understand and take risks in investing in working with today’s generation."

"Rwandan children need the Loss and Damage Fund because children are vulnerable. When you see what happened in Rwanda in May this year, schools were destroyed by disasters and children were much more affected. If the Loss and Damage Fund is there, they recover faster. The fund could help the country avoid heavy debt in rehabilitating the damages ."

"e are the generation that is past the phase of only blaming leaders because we are also pacing the solution."

"We are living in an era where climate change is interlinked with every sector, especially sustainable economic development sectors for communities, but then we are not having the same urgency of action in the political phase."

"We work closely with the government on a vast level that allows us not only to augment our voice as active stakeholders but also by equipping us with a safe space to learn how to reshape our vision and engagement while receiving capacity enhancement platforms that help us contour an enhanced future."

"The future for us is going to be achieved if we address the climate crisis to the full extent of its magnitude, that it is happening right now."

"She is a person who listens more than she speaks."

"In Nicaragua, everybody talks poetry...We have two sports, two national sports. One is baseball, the other one is poetry."

"I believe that all of us are political, in a very broad sense, and – and if I write about a – a housewife that is battered or that is disdained, that’s politics, it’s my understanding of politics, you see. And if I write about women’s issues in general or about a – a waitress that – that has been mistreated by life, that’s politics. So I have been writing these poems through which I – I want to speak for women, you know, to ad, I pretend to – to interpret the feelings of my fellow women and translate them to poetry"

"I don’t believe in heroes and heroines of one day. I believe in heroes and heroines of everyday life, that it is hard enough, you know, to wake every morning and to do what you have to do, no matter what happens in your life."

"To be a woman is hard. In any, anywhere. And in all parts of the world, it’s hard."

"Poetry makes us be in touch with ourselves, with our communities and with the world at large. It’s like a door we open to our inner self and to the outside and different realities; a bridge that connects us as species in a divided and constantly changing world. I try to express all that through my poetry and I am constantly looking to do it in a way I have not done it before. It is a permanent search for a better way of saying whatever I want and need to say. My poetry also evolves through reading the works of other poets, and through many other readings. It is like an endless personal revolution, an underground river, a relentless inner sea that must keep moving to avoid stagnation and repetition."

"poetry is about truth, about revealing something of our human nature and about the world."

"almost all women participated in Nicaraguan revolution. But after the revolution, there is a tendency to go back to old patterns, cultural patterns, especially in our countries. So, it was hard for us, women that have gained our space in the revolutionary process, to maintain that space. That’s why my poetry has to do also with the difficulties of everyday life being a woman, because to have a revolution doesn’t mean that – that, you know, it’s a miracle, then everything will change. It’s just the – the starting, it’s the beginning of the change."

"I feel that we are the lost generation. We didn’t want to be as our mothers were. We dreamed to be different, we are trying to be different, but we will never be the women we dreamed we were going to be, because we – we have all this burden of the past, calling us every day, we are in no-woman’s land, you know. With cross fire, but we are staying there, to – to be able to – to cross the fire. (BM: And poetry is a record of that journey?) DZ: Yes."

"I traveled a lot around the country in those first years working as Vice Minister of Culture and I witnessed that the cultural and artistic explosion that took place in Nicaragua right after the Revolution had no precedent: it was like a renaissance and rebirth of all of the cultural richness which had once been oppressed and buried under the weight of the Somocista dictatorship."

"Poetry is essential in the human being, is part of the human essence we all share."

"Many of the truths that poetry reveals are not accepted in this era of so much banality. In this sense, a poet is per se a social activist who, through poetry, shows something that should be acknowledged, but it’s usually overlooked."

"There were many women who fought to make a revolution within the Revolution, since power is held by men and they won’t give it away by themselves."

"Cuerpo vivo, eslabón que asegura la cadena infinita de cuerpos sucesivos."

"yo temblaba estremecida como la tierra cuando la parte el rayo."

"She is a very good Nicaraguan poet—very, very good."

"women were “sold out” by the men that they fought alongside, because those men were uncapable of understanding — much less articulating — a different concept of power."

"Among the finest and most prolific of Nicaraguan poets today are a number of women: Michele Najlis, Vidaluz Menéses, Gioconda Belli, Daisy Zamora, Rosario Murillo, Ana Ilce Gómez, Maríantonia Henríquez, Olivia Silva, among others."

"But to be fair, in any covenant and time and in any land and place, has it ever happened that someone was told "my darling…" and she replied "shut up"? If a man doesn't say thousands bad words to a woman and doesn't hurt her, that woman won't give an ugly answer even once."

"Not every man is greater than every woman, nor every woman inferior to every man."

"The land is good, the land is fine Gold we have, diamonds we mine Yet we fight; we cover it all in blood Tell me why we wallow in the mud Africa! Africa! Africa!...Mama Africa We cry for peace...Africa! Tell me why you fight...Tell me why we fight"

"I always see Wiyaala on TV. I sing MzVee's songs everyday. Today I am seeing them. I think I am dreaming."

"Did Wiyaala say churches make unnecessary noise praising God and praying to him? How I wish there is sense in what she’s said. You play your secular music in very loud speakers for people to dance, sing and praise the devil by doing the unnecessary and you have a problem with those who will make a joyful noise unto the Lord? Well, I think you must put some clothes on to be taken serious. GOD FORGIVE YOU."

"Rock My Body, is a sex song but if it comes out people will just put me in a certain category that is not me. I'm versatile. I can sing any style but I really need to start well. If I don't lay the foundations well and I come with the wrong start, that's how the industry will receive her. Rock my body did that."

"If Wiyaala came from Funsi and has succeeded, then me too, I can make it."

"I like the way she (Wiyaala) is doing her things because she has been herself and she only has to improve on her music. But her concept and the way she portrays herself is clear indication that she is on the right path."