Good Morning Africa

Chiara Sambuchi's film presents four strong African women. Ndeye is nicknamed Madame Garage, because she has opened her own service station in the Senegalese capital Dakar. She enjoys working with cars and plans to get married and start a family. However, she does not like having to share her partner with other women, as allowed by Islamic regulations. Marcia is married to a white man, has two kids, and teaches villagers in Mozambique to raise crops and weave baskets in order to make a living. Grace is a nurse in a ward for women who are HIV positive in the South African province of Lesotho. She is single and has no intention of marrying. Margaret runs a radio station in Uganda called Mama. It broadcasts from a feminist perspective on such themes as sexual violence and contraception in a country dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. Though the four women come from African states with differing cultural, religious and social backdrops, they share a sense of purpose and an unusual take on the world around them. They are breaking down stereotypes, not only in terms of gender, and all offer the hope of social change.