The Female Ambassadorial Core

COUTURE Africa magazine had the honour and pleasure of sitting with and celebrating female diplomats living, working and enjoying Kenya. We spoke to them about their travels, their thoughts on women empowerment and the future of women in Africa in the lovely setting of the Lord Errol restaurant in Runda. The day-long affair had these leading ladies start their day with a light brunch, a beauty session with Lancôme Paris and a chance to have a fashion moment with Lisa Christoffersen, Deepa Dosaja, Lucy Rao and Carole Kinoti.

- Jackline Mukami

AMBASSADOR DR. PINDI CHANA

Tanzanian Ambassador to Kenya

I have been in Kenya for the past two years and what I have come to love about the country is the culture; Kenyan people are very welcoming and hospitable. Being a member of the East African Community, communication has also been easy for me considering we all use the same language – Swahili. I really appreciate this fact. I also love that we all have similar food and the fact that our culture is not that different, for example we have the Maasai people both in Kenya and Tanzania.

I am a strong believer of women empowerment, which means showing women, who occupy almost 51% of the population that we really need to focus and prioritize on our development. This is the group that needs to have a strong representation and focus on socio-economic matters and activities, which is why we say that if you want to empower a nation, you empower the woman. And even as we plan and budget for our nations, our budgets should be gender sensitive. We have to make sure that we allocate enough funds to reduce maternal mortality as well as empower women economically.

As a woman in leadership – being an ambassador and a lawyer by profession – my number one priority is to guide other women to better understand their rights and how they can go about accomplishing whatever they are after. I also strive to create awareness for women and capacity building for our community.