After a first conference in January 2020 at the University of French Guyana, the association En Terre Indigène and Anne Pastor will be in Kourou all January to lead a workshop in the framework of a youth reintegration programme of the association l’Entonnoir théâtre and to propose a conference on the Voice of Women.

If the city of Kourou is better known for the space centre and the bagnes than for its Amerindian past, it was for a long time a village of Kali’na, one of the first indigenous peoples of Guyana. Until the 17th century, when the first settlers arrived, this community of great travellers was the only one present in Kourou. And until recently, with the installation of the Space Centre, Kourou was just a small village inhabited by 600 fishermen and farmers. Today the town of more than 25,000 inhabitants is a cosmopolitan and transient land.
The town is also returning to its origins and celebrates the remains of rock art and the culture of the Amerindians. Women and their know-how are valued.

The year 2021 opens under the sign of women’s rights to build together a more respectful and fairer world.

“Stimulate initiatives to advance the cause of women and improve their lives”.
This motto borrowed from Valentine Boniface will guide the proposed interventions.

First at the Entonnoir Théâtre, Anne Pastor will lead a workshop for 12 young people from Kourou: 6 boys, 6 girls, from 17 to 22 years old. She will make them discover the radio tool to tell their stories and meet other inspiring women.

The Premiers of Guyana and Valentine Bonifacie, member of the Council for Women’s Rights and Equality of Guyana, will be invited to share their experience.
As a woman and a black woman, Valentine Bonifacie has had to fight back. Working harder and proving her skills at every hurdle. This is why this passionate woman is committed to the Soroptimist women’s network and creates the First of Guyana. What does she want? “The best for women”.

Similarly, Josy Cajuste, a young health facilitator, and Rachel Feza Mutata, coordinator, from the Ader association, will be talking to young people about the “Let’s talk about it again” programme, one of the objectives of which is to raise their awareness of sexual violence and risks.

These meetings will feed into collective work on sexuality and consent. The young people will thus be led to share their personal experiences of love and seduction. But also about the violence they have suffered, homosexuality and their relationship with their body. A difficult subject that they will tackle through recorded intimate stories.
Particular attention will be paid to new radio scripts adapted to the needs of young people and their impact in the community and their ability to transmit using new technologies.

Live and public documentary

Nourished by all these encounters and the reports that these young people will produce, they will present a documentary in public at the funnel theatre.
During the radio show, the young people on the set will be able to switch between live and recorded reports, revealing other facets of themselves as the other side of the more intimate setting we are given to witness. An affirmation of themselves, their identity and their gender.
Through this documentary, the power, beauty and wisdom of these young people will become actors and actresses of their own story and therefore of ours. The idea is also to weave new and deeper forms of collective listening, to transcend social networks into an organic web born of public awareness.

Native Women Voices Colloquium

Finally, the association En Terre Indigène and Anne Pastor will propose a conference on the Voice of Indigenous Women and will invite to discover these women who, all over the world, are still very often exploited and discriminated against as women and indigenous people. They have to fight for their place and the respect of their rights.
Yet today, some of them are proposing original alternatives whether on the issue of education, justice, poverty or gender-based violence. They show us that a fairer and more respectful world is possible.
So perhaps it is time today to listen, to exchange with them and to build a future together?

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*proposals collected by the Funnel Theater

Credit: Funnel Theater