Tag: August

Some now snicker, but August has remained a remarkable month in Igbo land. It is a time women gather, assess their challenges and those before their communities and start resolving them. So many health centres have been built after the August convergence. Dilapidated schools have been touched up and brought back to life. Intractable feuds have also been settled at the gathering and everyone returned home cheerfully.

In Imo State, the women are counting down to this year’s edition. Many will come in from every part of the world and join their home counterparts in every local government area of the state, with the wife of the governor playing a prominent role. It lasts through the month.

Preparing for the August meeting is no mean task, especially for the average woman who will strive to keep up appearance. It is also a trying time for the men as they have to work hard to meet the needs of their wives. This is because their husbands’ social and economic status is reflected in the women’s appearance during the August meeting.

Indeed, this has provided critics with barbs to throw at the August meeting backers. They say quite a measure of vanity has slipped into the annual convention and that the women have found a whole month to flaunt their real or imagined clout and glamour.

Still, no one can deny that out of the yearly get-together have come many dividends. For instance, most community projects like health centres, markets, schools, women development centres and settling of some frictions among some members of the various communities or members of a household are often conceived and funded by women groups after every August meeting.

Women have been identified as agents of development and during such large gatherings, communal challenges like poverty, diseases and sometimes communal crisis are tackled by the women who usually influence their husbands to assist in community development projects.

The August meeting, which is compulsory for all women, also affords the women the opportunity to re-unite after years of separation and build stronger ties between the women at home and those based abroad.

Also, misunderstandings and business matters involving Igbo women in the cities are resolved during August meetings and appropriate punitive measures are taken to discourage acts that could endanger the unity of the women.

It is also during the meetings that issues of scholarship to deserving brilliant but indigent students and empowerment programmes for widows and other vulnerable women in the society are conceived and implemented.

The beauty of the August meeting is that it helps to bring the people together to tackle their problems unanimously under the Igbo aphorism Igwebuike or unity is strength.

Some regret that the annual convergence is not quite what it used to be. They say manipulative politicians may have hijacked the fixture to further their interests. It is also said that governors’ wives have become too visible, and that the meeting has become no more than political assemblies. The women are also said to seize the opportunity to show off their good looks, wealth and even power.

Another regrettable deviation in the August meeting is the high expenditure involved in the preparation of the month-long event. Average women are forced by peer pressure to borrow money or pressurise their husbands to do so in order to meet up the standard set by the politicians.

It is also painful that with the introduction of partisan politics in the running and organisation of the gathering, most people with different political views are no more comfortable to attend or allowed to fully participate in the proceedings.

No everyone is a critic. Commenting on the gains of August meeting, Sir Peter Okala, a community leader, said the gathering together of the women will lead to the galvanisation of ideas for the future and development of the various communities where the women belong to. It is good that women gather to share ideas and experiences.

He said: “When great minds gather, they can canvass for peace and development in the society. It is highly important for people to come together, not just the women but also the men and youths to brainstorm the challenges confronting the society.”

He, however, added that, “but one major disadvantage is allowing the gatherings to be sponsored by mischievous politicians who hijack it to cause disunity and disaffection. Some of the women who could ordinarily not afford to attend the meeting can go to extremes to attend in order to show off, a situation that has resulted in some married women doing all manner of evil just to meet up. They now attend the meeting for the mere reason of showing off their cars, clothes and jewelries.

“It is also significant to note that after August meetings, most families are thrown into chaos because the women return home to mount pressures on their husbands after the display of wealth they were exposed to during the August meeting.”

For Mrs. Grace Ejerenwa, a woman leader in Mgbidi, Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State, something urgent should be done to reposition the August meeting in order to achieve the set goals of the founding members. This is so because the concept, she said, has been swallowed by partisan politics.

She said: “August meetings these days are no longer what we used to know them for. In the yesteryear, every woman is allowed equal opportunity to contribute her idea towards solving the problems of the community. No one was discriminated against or anyone treated as a sacred cow.

“All women were equal and spoke in one voice. But today, many families discourage their women from participating in August meetings due to the non- pleasant results which had led to the breakdown of many families.”

She further said that religious groups that now frown at the conduct of the women during the gatherings have also withdrawn majority of their members from attending the meetings.

“Most churches now see August meeting as a sinful gathering which is attended by all manner of evil and as such bar their women from participating. It has actually turned to political jamboree, where the rich and fortunate ones intimidate the poor women among them,” she said.

A clergyman, Reverend Mathias Izuka called for a return to the old ways of organising the August meeting.

“In the past, our women were always eager to return home to be part of the event. The men are also happy to release their wives to be part of the event but this is no longer so because politicians have hijacked the August meeting,” he said.

For instance, the grand finale of last year’s August meeting in Imo State which was held at the Heroes Square, was a huge political gathering; with the state Governor, Rochas Okorocha and his cabinet members in attendance.

A quick look at the women in attendance revealed that they were all powerful and successful women who could fit into the power play and open display of material wealth of the day.

There were no widows or indigent women in the forefront. The few that might have summoned the courage to attend were “swallowed” by the euphoria of the event, leaving one to ponder if August meetings are still tools for community development in the hands of Igbo women.

Although at the event, Governor Okorocha showered praises on the women for their resilience, steadfastness, creativity and accommodating spirit, he said August meeting under his watch has seized to be some sort of political jamboree, adding that his administration has evolved some innovations with a view to adding value to the gathering of families, communities and the entire people of the state.