Dear Readers,
In comparison with other societies, Mayotte could be considered as a matriarchal society due to the power that women hold. They are solely responsible of the education of the society, are the guardians of the traditions and the instigators of any social economic and political changes. Mayotte wouldn’t be French is Zena M’Dere with “her ticklers” movement didn’t get involved. Paradoxically, women are not well represented on the political scene and are under a lot of pressure to conform.

I come from a weird and pioneering family, why? Because we were incredibly lucky to have had a dad like mine, who was as well as being present, had unusually almost his children with only one woman i.e my mother. I know it is cheesy but without the support and love of my father, I wouldn’t have fulfilled half of my dreams. Culturally speaking, my father is a hell of an exception as he wanted to have a large family, which he did, 12 kids! He also wanted all of his children to have a good education and to become all independent. Dad did his job to instill good human values ( love, respect, determination, hard work, resilience, patience, entrepreneurship etc..) and ​​I hope to instill the same values to my children one day!

My father has never ever questioned my intellectual abilities to be successful, so much so that he seemed like he didn’t  care whether I had good marks  at school or not . For example,  on the D-day of the A levels exams, I was obviously nervous and I began to cry as I was scared to fail because it was the first time anyone in my family has gone as far reaching the A-levels. The pressure was on but luckily my mother reassured and comforted me that everything was going to be fine. My dad’s approach was not at all maternal and I found it very hurtful at the time because he asserted the following: « Why are you crying? You know very well that you will succeed, of course you are going to pass these tests « .

Till this day, I still remember those words and they planted the idea in my brain that I had no choice other than to succeed. In hindsight, I now understand that my father  knew that his little girl would have a bright future and would transform his family forever. If we analyze the facts, it turns out that I did transform his large family as I am his only child with Master’s degree, who traveled the most and lived in 3 different countries, speaks 4 languages ​​and runs a business. However, I sometimes wish dad could improve his communication skills and could be strong enough to defy society as he broke my heart 6 years ago by not speaking to me for 2 years, why I hear you say? Because he was scared and it was a lot easier for him to reject me than to defy the whole society. Dad wanted me to  return to live in Mayotte after university but instead I decided to move to London to follow the love of my life. Back then I had a job I enjoyed, friends and I was very happy as London became my new home. The context in which dad chose not to speak to me exacerbated the situation given the general strike in summer 2011 against the expensive living standards, which didn’t help our disagreements. I challenged my dad’s views by telling him that the crisis in Mayotte was normal because of the world ‘s economic downturn. Those were difficult times for everyone and everywhere and striking was actually worsening the situation because it dug a  massive hole in the very fragile and vulnerable Mayotte economy. I went on to explain that Mayotte was no longer isolated therefore whatever affects the world would affect them especially when a huge percentage of the population voted to become a French Overseas Department. This new status means concretely an increase of taxation, heavier regulations and maybe the end of  some traditions, the man was terrified and stopped talking me for 2 long years.  I became a stranger to the person I always wanted to impress, I was heartbroken but I wasn’t willing to give into my dad wishes. I had become an adult capable of forming my own opinions and expressing them freely and I knew deep down that my dad was very proud of me and wanted to shout it out loud but he was aware and afraid of the consequences of standing up for what is truly right and fair.

With the help of my mum and and a visit to Mayotte in summer 2014, Dad eventually broke his silence and welcomed back into his life. I learned a valuable lesson from that horrific experience i.e to follow my dreams, my instinct, my heart and to always do what it is best for me. Needless to say that it is hard and lonely sometimes to live according to my own rules or what makes me happy rather than living according to the rules of society, friends or family and my parents. With time, I came to appreciate that sometimes people can be nasty or critical because they are frightened that people’s actions or decisions challenge their way of thinking and I hope that  the poplulation in Mayotte will be receptive, will welcome and support the forum and festival that we are organising from the 1^st to 5^th August to empower them to become the master of their destiny instead of handing the power to the others. Here is a quick reminder of our objectives.