| Interview AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE Reading my column on net(working) for women by coincidence, Sandra Rafaela wrote to me via Email to tell me about her initiative for an Afro-European Network for women. As it sounded very interesting to me and, I assume, to our readers too, I would like to present her Sisters-Network to you. Additionally I asked her about how large her net of wonderful women already is, what feedback she is given by the visitors on her website and if she has a story to tell about connecting Afro-European women via www.aesn.eu successfully. Here is what Sandra Rafaela had to say! Question: Ms. Rafaela, when did the idea to create the internet platform Afro-European-Sisters-Network appear to you and why? Ms. Rafaela: It appeared to me during my vacation in November 2005. There isn't really a why but more becoming aware of the fact that there are not many black women organizations or websites in Europe and therefore not many role models. The idea just came to me and I worked it out, did some research and came to the conclusion that I could wait for someone else to start or I could do it myself. Question: How long did it take after the idea appeared to realize your platform? Ms. Rafaela: It took me about 5 months to get everything started. I already new that it would be called the Afro European Sisters Network but I had to get the domains www.aesn.nl and www.aesn.eu The EU domain took until April 2006. Didn't know anything about web design so I had to get into that too. But I did some IT study in the past so it was just a matter of reading about it and than understand how it all worked. After the technical part I had to think about what I wanted to achieve and how I was going to do it. So during the months that I had to wait for the EU domain I thought about the lay out of the web site. The different pages that I would create and how the network will develop. Question: What kind of women join(ed) the AESN, where do they come from and what are their aims and contributions to the network? Ms. Rafaela: When I started my virtual network AESN I was concentrating on Europe. Of course first with the Netherlands but I didn't get the respond that I wanted so I decided to cross the borders. Without realizing it the network went global. I started getting emails from everywhere. Women from the United States, South America, Caribbean, Africa and of course Europe. The aims of the women are that they really want to connect to an European network and their contribution is that they spread the word and send in articles and want me to start activities. Question: Where do you see the AESN and yourself in five years? On what projects are you currently working on or planning for the future concerning the network? Ms. Rafaela: In five years, that is exactly the time that I gave myself to make this network work. In five years I want the network to work as I have it visualized. Currently I'am working on bringing structure in the large database that I have gathered in the past few months and am working some plans out. Question: What do you think about networks for women in general? Do women need networks and for what purpose? Ms. Rafaela: Well networks are great! And yes women need networks because why would you invent a wheel that already has been invented. Why not make use of the knowledge that is already there. In my network you will find house wife's, business women, authors, celebrities etc. All these different women can help other women to achieve their goals and they really want too! Question: Do you yourself feel well connected to other networks and if so to what kind of networks? Ms. Rafaela: Yes, I have joined a lot of different networks but not especially on black women but black women in a line of business. By joining all these networks I have increased my reach and information source. Most of the networks are not European Question: The success and the soul of a network depend on the people who join and contribute to it. Can you tell us a story about how your network has connected or supported women up to this point in time? Ms. Rafaela: Because of my network you see that a lot of women become aware of the fact that we black women are not that different. We might speak another language but that's about it. Further you see that black women (outside of Europe) are eager to learn more about black European women. So the bridge has been build!A good example is the mix that I made on www.myspace.com/aesn you see that all the women are connecting to each other and that is great. |
Afro European Sisters Network
Sandra Rafaëla
Odastraat 13
3073 ZM Rotterdam
The Netherlands Europe
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