First for Friends in East Africa
First woman presiding clerk appointed in East Africa.
Bware Yearly Meeting (YM) in Kenya has appointed the first woman presiding clerk in East Africa.
Monica Makungu Dalizu has been vice presiding clerk of Bware Yearly Meeting for the last three years and has served a three-year term as the YM recording clerk. She is also the recording clerk for Friends Church Kenya (the national umbrella organisation for the eighteen Yearly Meetings in Kenya).
Monica was born in Vihiga and grew up in the Lumakanda Settlement Scheme, an area in which the government assisted farmers to resettle on land formerly held by the British. She trained as a primary school teacher and has a diploma in special education. She is deputy head teacher at Edemba Primary School in Migori.
Eden Grace, global ministries director of Friends United Meeting, said that although the United Society of Friends Women International (USFWI) movement has provided important opportunities for women to exercise leadership at all levels, women pastors still encounter cultural taboos.
‘The groundbreaking significance of Monica Makungu Dalizu’s appointment as presiding clerk of Bware Yearly Meeting cannot be overstated, and all Friends are encouraged to hold her in prayer as she takes up her new office,’ Eden explained to the Friend.
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