Elieshi Lema

Elieshi Lema (born 1949) is a Tanzanian writer and publisher, also active in Tanzania's civil society. Quotes Feminism The main commentary that the book poses is that of taking a feminist stance against well-established social values and ideologies. Doreen is, initially, happy to accept these social practices by agreeing to a traditional marriage, but there remains in her some doubt about her expected role as a mother and wife. Love Love is shown through mainly a romantic form in the relationships that Doreen establishes with different men across her lifetime. Whilst she is content with her marriage with Martin, it is more a role she is expected to undertake. Their love is not passionate, and later, becomes difficult what with their different perspective of her role in their marriage. Unlike this, her relationship with Joseph is based on her being an equal. Society The breakdown of Doreen’s first marriage is partially as a result of the societal expectations placed upon her. There is an expectation for her to give birth to a son, so as to fulfill her apparent role as a mother. Her failure to do this, however, leads to her being shunned and mistreated by her family. Major themes in her work Parched Earth: A Love Story A girl in my class revealed this to me after I had badly defeated her in a game. She took defeat badly and in her moment of shame and mine of pride, she remembered something that brightened her mood. She laughed, and said, `I let you win of course, and you are so poor you need to win sometimes.’ She opened her eyes wide as she gesticulated, her whole body shaking, her hands flying in all directions, sticking out her tongue like one about to vomit. She screwed up her mouth just so, in that way makes the the one scorned feel like scum, like a dirty and useful rug. I no longer agitate, getting worked up by issues outside my power to change. I have now largely, though not completely, accepted that fate will invariably carve out the route my life will take. Now I can say that I, like any human being, am like a speck in the whorl of the God force which rules life. There was a living daemon inside me constantly pushing for action, for pre-occupation of the mind. This daemon found residence in me when I left home to study teaching. It took the form of a lingering loneliness that accompanies me everywhere I went, like a shadow. It was a quiet presence that seemed to threaten my sanity and my sense of peace. The image of the spider comes to mind, the way it spins its web from the very inside of its stomach, for itself, and for trapping others into its power and into death, for is life for itself. Death for one, life for another. The spider spins its power web from the secretions of its stomach in order to survive, doesn’t it? Does it not know that it is not just the fly that can die inside that web,but also one of its own kind or even itself? The state of private-sector publishing in Africa has never been steady historically. Shifts have happened between governments between taking center stage in publishing and distributing textbooks. And in other cases, there's been private-sector publishing, and government buying through tenders. And these two positions have shifted in most of the African countries in East Africa, where about 45 publishers are publishing — they fall within the three groups. Group one can be exemplified by Kenya, and to some extent Rwanda, where the private sector is publishing all materials for schools and also for the open markets. In Tanzania, we have government which is producing textbooks and distributing them, while private publishers produce supplementary materials - with a difference - because the supplementary materials that are being produced with government approval, have no markets because funds are still concentrated in the hands of the government. In other states like South Sudan, they do not have indigenous publishers who are publishing. They have foreign publishers from the region who are publishing. So those are the three groups that are operating in the East African region. In an interview Book distribution to rural areas has been difficult for a very long time. And this is because publishers and all the other actors in the blockchain are involved are working in towns and cities. They are not found in rural areas.” All actors in the blockchain need to find out, why do products like sugar, salt, [and] matchboxes, for example, reach the remotest villages, when books cannot? There must be a reason. We need to get books to the people needing them. So we need to explore what channels other private sector [actors] use to get those products into the remote areas. In an interview A sustainable distribution model will come out of our own exploration and efforts to see how we can use existing structures. It is difficult to establish new structures that will only deal with books. It's much better to integrate links within structures that already exist and that are selling other products. I think the private sector should take up the challenge. Ms. Lema, a tireless advocate for girls’ and women’s rights, spoke about the challenges that girls and women face in Tanzania. She emphasized the importance of gender equality in advancing society and the role that gender equality education plays in building self-confidence in young women. She discussed with the girls their vocational training activities, including sewing and batik making. Ms. Lema encouraged the participants to work together to achieve their goals by building bonds of friendship and cooperation and assisting one another in their business ventures. She indicated that by working together they were more likely to obtain financial backing from banks and other institution. External links Category:Women authors from Tanzania Category:Publishers Category:1949 births Category:Women born in the 1940s Category:Living people