A BOOK ABOUT A WOMAN, AN AFRICAN AND A GAMBIAN RENOWNED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST PERSONALITIES OF OUR TIME

                                                 Synopsis

Bella Abzug, the First Jewish Congresswoman in the United States once said; “Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over.” Truly, those days are over. LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD establishes this view, and brings to real life, the idea and wisdom of Laurie Sue Brockway, who stated thus; “Women who live the life of their dreams don't get there by being dainty and darling. They demand what they want and they do what it takes to make it happen. That could mean breaking a few rules, a few hearts, and a few habits along the way, especially the habit of apologizing for who you are.” Following this, the book illuminates the great courage and bravery of Fatou Bensouda who walked and excelled with a noble dream and ambition, through the spiteful face of an adverse patriarchy that bizarrely afflicted women in her early life and made the great saying of Elvis Presley that; “Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine,”  a true statement.

During the early life of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, women were at birth initiated into the world through a baptism of heartache and adversity. For women in those days, patriarchal tyranny was monstrous, terrifying, overwhelming and incredibly diabolical. One may rightly ask that society, as Susan B. Anthony, a 19^th century feminist asked a United States court; “Are women persons?”

 Fatou Bensouda as a teenager thus knew the woman in her then society with dreams in her hearts, clamoring to be heard, ravenous to tell her stories and narrate her ordeals. But she needed one who could help her realize those dreams in her heart, so that she will find happiness and meaning for her life. Fatou’s dream as a teenager thus became focused on answering her society; yes, women are persons! What a promising heroine! According to Maya Angelou, a renowned African-American Poet; “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou further stated; “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our … heroes (she-roes).” Thus, in this book, the author celebrates this heroine (she-roe)!

Living A Dream To Change The World is the first published book (literary work of non-fiction) about this promising teenager who later became the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and a woman who is a source of myths and legends. It is loaded with useful messages as it projects the valuable significance of her childhood dream-inspired mission and heroism. Following its laudable salient plot, it is an essential literature, especially for women who would want to live their dreams in life; it guides and exemplifies! In the main, it is a priceless effort by the author which can be found very useful as a reference material by all involved in diverse forms of gender development activities; from students and teachers of women studies, researchers, writers, policy-makers, to civil society organizations, gender activists, etc.

‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’ can be grouped in the literary type or genre of non-fiction. Though it can rightly be describe as a biography, it is not burdened with much of history and its chronological narrations, as it is chiefly meant to educate, moralize and inspire the reader through its illumination of the inspirational life path of Fatou Bensouda. It thus seeks to shape the character of a reader in the process of defining her heroic character. ‘Ipso facto’, it is a didactic biography. It deliberately strives to use Fatou’s feats to build an inspirational base for women, especially those women who feel constrained by obnoxious societal norms and values. From this perspective, the book can be rightly viewed as vehicles for transformation ignition in the world of women, with even men inclusive! The book also points out her toils, perseverance and endurance of near impossible odds in order to live her dream, and thus celebrates her heroic determination, the hope she brings to women everywhere and the pace she sets for them.

Therefore, armed with facts based on research findings, varying conversational views and biographical essays, among others, the author focuses on the childhood society of Fatou Bensouda, and how it predisposed her into cultivating the noble dream of relieving women from the harsh norms and values embedded in the society’s obnoxious traditional structures, and hence offers a constructive reasoning with the aim of creating and providing a beneficial literature for our present generation, and those of the future who may be prone to the destructive society’s antisocial ‘religion’ of inequality and its attendant recklessness, ineptitudes and inhibitions to the vulnerable victims.

In this light, the book thus points to the heroic Fatou Bensouda who as a young girl refused to conform to the dictates and inhibitive manipulations of the patriarchal system prevalent in her society, rather, she conceived the pursuit of a life career in the legal profession with the sole aim of shielding her fellow women against the inherent dehumanization and abusive tendencies of patriarchy. Consequently, her diligent strives to realize this childhood ambition catapulted her to an epic stardom marked by an array of legendary achievements.

Therefore in the book, the author spotlights Fatou Bensouda as a great African woman, a trail-blazer, a role-model, and one of the strong leaders of that industry that tells women that they can be a diva with just some effort; and a woman who is living her dream to create a change in the society, to make it a better place. Her story as contained in this book sums up a heroine who climbed through the mountains to realize her ambition in order to follow her passion to live in the career she conceived out of a determination to set her fellow women free from the captivity of a system and social order that has held them spell-bound for millennia. The book thus underscores and celebrates her accomplishment and her realization of her noble determination with a high degree of exactitude.

Furthermore, the book lights up how Fatou Bensouda is living her dream today by her evident leading role and unyielding crusade against gender-based violence and the various dimensions of man’s inhumanity-to-man existent in our midst today. In this regard, it notes that on assumption of office as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, her first policy records clearly expressed her poise to rid the world of gender-based crimes by classifying them as crimes against humanity; and thus she criminalizes any crime of this magnitude. Today, the court convicts war criminals found guilty of rape and allied gender-based offences. The book further spells out her ‘effect’ and how it is reinventing the woman and her rights, as well as restoring hope to the voiceless people in our society. Further to this, the author traces all these marks to her early life; her experiences and her then society characterized by a systemic patriarchy and her resolve as a young girl to bring about a change in society. She once stated, as noted in the book; “During My teenage years I worked for some time as a court clerk at a local court. I saw many women appear before court being the victims of rape, sexual and domestic violence…. From that moment I knew I wanted to study law, to be able to assist women victims…. …. I have come to actually believe that this is my calling.”  True to this, today, with the aid of her strong and undying courage and resilience, she is living in line with this calling with a precision synonymous to that of a professional marksman. Herein lays the rationale of the title of this book! ‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’.

 ‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’ also highlights the struggles women face on a daily basis. Hence, in this book, the author presents the social perception of the woman in the global society and within the context of the erstwhile Gambian society. Thus, the book explores deeply into the society in which Fatou conceived and pursued her noble childhood dream to be a source of change and a cause of joy for women in the world.

‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’ further brings to a clear light, how she is using her hard-earned success and the resultant access to privilege and authority to provide opportunities for women and all other vulnerable people to live with dignity and guaranteeing their basic human rights which they all deserve, in a manner very much in line with her early life ambition. The book also illuminates the vivid dividends of her early life valiant vision for today’s humanity. In the light of this, the author points to women’s achievements for mankind. It also spotlights further how the achievements of women can energize other women, as well as how appreciative women can be in regards to the great efforts and accomplishments of their fellow women.

The book in the main, teaches some lessons on how women can get themselves empowered using the Fatou’s model, as it affects the importance of mentoring, among others. In this aspect of the book, the author drew attention to Amie Bensouda, one of Fatou’s acclaimed mentors.

Also, using a realistic intellectual framework in his analysis of the ‘African Question’, the author strives to debunk the erroneous view held by some self-serving African politicians that the International Criminal Court is against Africa. In his perspective, the author views the Criminal Court as dutifully serving Africans, and directly expresses that the Court amounts to a saving grace for Africans who have for ages been subjected to the merciless, counter-productive, violent and selfish ambitions of a few ‘strong’ ones. In this section of the book, the author poses the question; is the African leadership institution characterized by the dominance of men also patriarchal? Hence, the author brings to bear his perception that the leaders seem not to be comfortable with a woman’s leadership of such a powerful institution meant to bring order and sanity to a misguided and debased humanity of which some of them are culprits. At this juncture, the author dwells a little on the doctrine of gender diversity as a smart solution to the critical issue of gender imbalance as evident in the African leadership structure.

On a general note, in the book, one fact remains very prominent, and that is the author’s primary goal to describe trends in women’s achievements and how women can use personal efforts to tear off the barriers often times posed by gender differences, socialization and stereotypes in order to live their dreams!