Keynote Address by Graca Machel

After lunch we were addressed by the keynote speaker for the conference Graca Machel who is also Nelson Mandela’s wife. After her address it was announced that she would receive the WAGGGS Citizenship Award for all her work. She was very touched by this and in her acceptance expressed how this award furthers her sense of debt to girls and women who are deprived to exercise their rights and serves as a reminder to her that she must pay back (or pay forward) the women who opened the world to her. She shared that receiving awards such as this gives us the responsibility to continue doing the work we do. I thought that was very well expressed.

I also had the opportunity to ask Mrs. Machel a question after her address. She talked about how opening up opportunities for young women to take control of their lives in an important duty of people from her generation. As a young woman, I wanted to know what she would encourage someone as myself to be the best way to seek help in this endeavor from older people.

She first offered her congratulations to WAGGGS for being an organization that does promote young women in this way because there are few places in society that this is done. Still she shared that the world is more complex today than when she was growing up, so understandably, she is unable to know how it is young people think and what our challenges are. Accordingly, she said she is not equipped to give guidance to young people until she understands them. For this reason, first steps for young people are to consider how you communicate with your parents and older people in your life such as through community groups or education. She shared too that seeking role models in your private and public life is an important developmental step. For the older generation, she emphasized the necessity of opening up the space for intergenerational interaction.