Iten, Kenya – Runner Lornah Kiplagat was not going to let a lack of money or contacts, and especially distance, stand between her and the biggest race of her life – the 1994 Kenya Cross Country Championship.
Kiplagat, 20 years old at the time, travelled to the competition with a fellow athlete, and the two slept in a public bathroom while making the 350km journey from their home in Kabiemit in Nandi county to Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi.
“My friend and I looked for some boxes [cardboard], locked the toilet from inside and covered the mouth of the toilet and slept on either side till morning,” she told Al Jazeera. “It was the safest place we could think of to sleep since we didn’t have money”.
Justin Trudeau’s government unveiled a women-only task force that will help advise policymakers on the economic recovery ahead of the spring budget.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Middle Class Prosperity Mona Fortier said Monday the group will harness expert voices across the country to help the government with a plan to address gender equality issues laid bare by the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement was made on International Women’s Day.
Frances Donald, global chief economist and head of macro strategy at Manulife Investment Management, Hydro-Quebec Chief Executive Officer Sophie Brochu, former British Columbia Finance Minister Carole James and Atkinson Foundation fellow Armine Yalnizyanare among the group’s 18 members. The task force will hold its first meetings in early March, in the lead-up to the budget, according the new release.