Coyah, Western Guinea: International City of Peace
We welcome Victoria Williams and her colleagues of LET THE WOMEN SPEAK (LWS) who have established Coyah in Western Guinea. Founded in 2016, LWS has the purpose of creating a platform in which women should stand and exercise their rights and empower women through skill training to enable them to discover their talent and live on those talents. LWS has been organizing activities for the past years with Victoria and her team.
Note: Introduction page with information primarily at the time of joining International Cities of Peace. For updates, please contact the liaison.
ABOUT “LET THE WOMEN SPEAK”
LET the WOMEN SPEAK (L W S) was founded in 2016 out of the quest to address the growing degrading human conditions affecting women.
For centuries, women have been marginalized and it still continues. African tradition has been a huge treat to Women in terms of exercising their right of contributing to the society.
Even though there has been rapid development on women empowerment, women’s right, gender equality, active roll women play in politics etc, Africa and the international communities are still striving to establish a clear path on which the right and voice of women would be heard.
With the huge resources, time, engagement and effort the international communities are rendering for the right and voice of women to be heard yet some people are still ignoring the right of women and gender equality.
Guinea, a country in the West of Africa with strong religious and traditional belief, needs great attention and awareness for women to be heard. Tradition and religious beliefs in Guinea are serving as an obstacle to the crystal picture of the SDGs (Gender Equality).
Some religious beliefs forbid women from being in public areas, education, social activities etc. It is clear that when you come to Guinea you see some set of groups covered with black dresses from head to toe. They believe that no part of the body should be exposed and if it does she should be disciplined and even shown away from the family.
This is a civilized slavery in another hand. In Guinea, when a man has taking advantage on a woman, they normally say take courage, you are a woman. And the woman is forced to go and kneel down before the man to ask for forgiveness upon her right!
In some places in Guinea women are not allowed to go to school or do anything that is in line with western education. It is upon this fact that LWS was established to create awareness for the right of women and their role in the society.
MISSION
To be catalysts, to transform women from the sense of slavery to a free and equal freedom to life and to live. we also empower women through skill training like hair dressing,tailoring ,capentry gara tie dying, computer studies, soap making, children and adult education, etc.
GOALS
• Since women are highly marginalized in our community, one of our goals is to empower young woman through vocational skills training. We empower women to believe in themselves, take public roles in the community and create awareness on women’s right.
• Advocacy is one of our pined goal as women are suppressed through tradition, cultural and religious beliefs. If women are empowered the level of moral, social and economic development will trigger an all wanting change in the society.
• We want to see women take the lead and create a platform for gender balance.
• We aim to see women serving as example an accomplishing the SDGs.
LETTER OF INTENT
ABOUT THE LIAISON
Victoria Williams was born on the 25 December 1996 in Free town Sierra Leone but grew up in Coyah Guinea Conakry. She is the founder of Let The Women Speak (LWS) in Coyah and beyond.
Victoria attended the Gate Way international School from grade 1 to grade 12 and was certified in business management from the Nako Jabate Institute. She has worked with Kosmark World LTD and MasterPeace Guinea.
CONTACT INFORMATION
To contact or support this initiative:
Victoria Williams <victoriabangs07@gmail.com>
ABOUT COYAH, GUINEA (from Wikipedia)
Coyah is a town and sub-prefecture located in western Guinea. It is the capital of Coyah Prefecture. Population 77,103 (2008 est).
Guinea is a west-coastal country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (French: Guinée française), the modern country is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry in order to distinguish it from other countries with “Guinea” in the name and the eponymous region, such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of 12.4 million and an area of 245,860 square kilometres (94,927 sq mi).
The sovereign state of Guinea is a republic with a president who is directly elected by the people; this position is both head of state and head of government. The unicameral Guinean National Assembly is the legislative body of the country, and its members are also directly elected by the people. The judicial branch is led by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest and final court of appeal in the country.
The country is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. The English term Guinea comes directly from the Portuguese word Guiné, which emerged in the mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the Guineus, a generic term for the black African peoples south of the Senegal River, in contrast to the “tawny” Zenaga Berbers above it, whom they called Azenegues or Moors.
Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population. Guinea’s people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. French, the official language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media, but more than twenty-four indigenous languages are also spoken.
Guinea’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the world’s second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds and gold. The country was at the core of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Human rights in Guinea remain a controversial issue. In 2011 the United States government claimed that torture by security forces, and abuse of women and children (e.g. female genital mutilation) were ongoing abuses of human rights.
Note: If information or photos used here are copyrighted, please contact us and we will immediately delete the copyrighted material.
