WfWI Interim African Regional Director Karen Sherman shares thoughts about her recent visit to South Sudan, including the difficulties of moving around the country, for both WfWI staff and WfWI - South Sudan participants.
Little was moving as we made our way along the dusty stretch of dirt road connecting Juba to Yei in the scorching mid-day sun. What should have been less than a two-hour drive took more than double the time due to the difficult terrain, which was more akin to a slalom course, requiring the driver to swerve from side to side to avoid large ditches and pot holes. Herds of goats and cows grazed by the side of the road while a handful of cars, motorcycles, and trucks – some ferrying soldiers, others daily commuters – rumbled onward.
Small groupings of grass and mud huts dotted the rural landscape. White markers denote areas previously cleared of landmines. Most of the villagers had sought some kind of shelter from the oppressive heat. Men gathered under traditional tukuls playing cards or drinking tea. Yet the women were out working, always working, carrying heavy loads of firewood, produce, or water on their heads in preparation for the evening meal; most had small infants swaddled around their backs. A typical day in South Sudan.
The vegetation grew denser and more varied as we approached Yei, with some areas appearing positively lush. Located within the Greenbelt Zone in Central Equatoria State, Yei River County is the new program site for Women for Women International in South Sudan. With a population close to 500,000 and few organizations providing gender-specific programs or services, Yei is home to many socially-excluded women who have significant potential to impact their families and communities.
Central Equatoria’s fertile land and consistent rainfall offer a promising opportunity for women to earn a sustainable income through agri-business and related sectors. In fact, the majority of households depend on crop farming or animal husbandry for consumption and livelihoods. Additionally, the state’s prime location at a major crossroads between Uganda and the cities of Yambio and Juba is ideal for women to access markets and trading routes to sell their products.
Central Equatoria is still recovering from decades of civil war, intertribal violence, and the influx of refugees fleeing conflict, mostly from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. War has all but decimated the local infrastructure: 44% of the population lives below the poverty line, with an average income the equivalent of $8 per month. Education and health indicators are among the lowest in the world, reflecting the impact of protracted conflict and limited provision of social services. The situation is potentially dire given the impending fiscal crisis in South Sudan.
Women, in particular, bear the brunt of these challenges. Female-headed households make up a significant percentage of the urban and rural poor. Women account for 84% of the population who are unable to read and write.# They encounter limited economic opportunities, assume a majority of domestic responsibilities, and face discriminatory cultural practices such land ownership rights and widespread sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and domestic violence. South Sudan’s Deputy Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare considers violence against women as one of the key contributing obstacles to the country’s development.
“No one thinks about the women,” says Jennifer, a prominent leader in a coalition of eleven women’s groups from the Mugwo Payam, or District, in Yei County. At a recent meeting, she and other women spoke openly about the hardships and humiliations that come with daily life. Men frequently attack women on the road to the market, taking their produce or animals by force or stealing the money from their pockets to buy alcohol, according to several in the group, most of whom had experienced violence firsthand.
The prevalence of HIV and alcoholism among men and women in the area is primarily attributed to poor education; however, poverty, frustration, and an utter lack of hope and opportunity are large contributing factors. Educating women was considered the top priority by coalition members.
Although the women expressed strong interest in becoming active producers and community leaders, most lack the knowledge and skills to stand up for their rights and participate in the formal economy. Women for Women International addresses these challenges through its transformative yearlong education program, which integrates rights awareness and life skills with market-based skills and business training. With these skills, women rebuild their lives post-conflict and lead change in their families and communities. It is about creating voice and choice.
In South Sudan, as well as many other parts of the world, what women lack most is voice and choice. By investing in their social and economic empowerment, women gain the self-confidence, means, and status to advocate for their rights and contribute to public dialogue around critical issues of prosperity, peace, and stability – exactly what is needed to propel this new nation forward.
1. Key Indicators for Central Equatoria, 2010.The Republic of South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics.
2. Key Indicators for Central Equatoria, 2010. The Republic of South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics.
Meet WfWI - Kosovo graduate Nefise Gashi!
Nefise is 57 years old. She is married to Ahmet (63) and lives in a house with her husband and his second wife Melihate, with whom he has a son Asdren (15). Nefise is a noble woman and great-hearted, but she has had a not-so-easy life. She was married to Ahmet for 20 years but she couldn’t have a baby, so her husband decided to get married a second time, to have children and to extend his family. Nefise told him she would accept his second wife, and any future children. So Ahmet married Melihate and after the short time she give birth to a son. Since then Nefise's life became more difficult. This situation Nefise explains with few words: “Being a husband’s second wife is like being alive in a grave.”
For Nefise a big change in her life came when she rolled in WfWI-Kosovo program and attended handicraft training. While she was in program Nefise was very active and had a very good results. After she graduated from the program, she joined WfWI-Kosova as a weaving trainer. She has taught 4 groups of women about weaving. She met with women of Breznica village, and mobilized them to enrolled in the WfWI program. She also encouraged graduates to make handicrafts.
Nefise is a model for every Kosovar mother. This year she was a speaker at several WfWI program meetings, where she told the participants about her life path and her development, from an isolated women between four walls, to an active women in her family and community, with decision-making capacity and courage.
Nefise said:” WfWI-Kosova has helped me on improving my economic situation and being an independent woman -this is my success.”
Meet WfWI - Nigeria praticipant Roseline. Roseline lives in Mgbidi. A 45 year old mother of seven, Roseline is subject to an unfair tradition in Nigeria by which she is forced to remain an unwed mother and have children in her parent’s name and remain in their home. She lived her whole life believing that as a woman, she was worth less than a man, and that the ideas, opinions, and voices of women were of less value than those of men. In WfWI-Nigeria's year-long training program, in addition to learning a marketable, income generating skill like poultry farming, Roseline also learned about her rights. WfWI-Nigeria’s program instilled in her a renewed sense of confidence and the understanding that women are equal to men. Now she is focused on ensuring that all her children – her sons and daughters alike – are given an education and opportunities she was never afforded.
In Nigeria, religious codes and family traditions that subject women to unequal treatment tend to outweigh national laws asserting gender equality. Despite the 1999 Constitution which gives equal rights to all regardless of gender, Nigeria’s decentralized legal system has resulted in inequitable treatment of women on a state-by-state basis. In Enugu State, where Women for Women International-Nigeria’s offices are located, women are learning for the first time that they are in fact equal to men, that their ideas and beliefs are of equal value, and that the education of their daughters is as important to that of their sons.
For Roseline Nwamaka Anukwa, a 45-year old mother of seven and participant in the Women for Women International-Nigeria program (WfWI-Nigeria), these lessons have been eye-opening and exciting. The environment in which she was raised taught her from a young age that her opinions and contributions to society were of lesser importance than those of the men in her village. Roseline is subject to an age-old tradition in Nigeria that limits her freedom as a woman and a mother. As the sole living child of her parents, she has been forced by her family to remain at home unmarried, a common custom for the eldest daughter in a family or, in Roseline’s case, as the only survivor of her many siblings. She is not allowed to marry and she has never had the joy of falling in love.
“I never got married,” she says. “All my siblings died and my parents compelled me to stay home and have children in their name. Impliedly, I am never to get married to any man but I can have affairs, get pregnant, but the child will bear my father’s name.”
As a result, Roseline’s body was no longer treated as her own. She belonged to her parents, and to the men who impregnated her without worry of commitment or marriage. “I have had many male bedmates who took advantage of me and my situation. Once I get pregnant, the men disappear. I go through the pregnancy period and delivery…all alone.”
After three months in the WfWI program, Roseline said: “What I have learnt from Women for Women can neither be quantified nor measured. I learnt how to write my name and this is what I never dreamt of in my whole life. I learnt that a man and a woman have equal right in the family.”
The unfair treatment Roseline has undergone throughout her life is difficult to undo; despite what she has learned, she is still not treated as an equal within her own family. But what she has learned this year will ensure that her own fate is not repeated among her children. Her three daughters have all been educated – two have finished primary school and one is still enrolled. She speaks of her childhood and of the barriers to education she faced. “When I was young, girls do not go to school. Parents believed that…when girls have good education, they do not respect their husbands and so many men will be afraid of seeking their hands in marriage.”
Her favorite lessons have been on equality of men and women, and in raising her boys and girls. “This lesson opened my eyes to start correcting the mistakes I have made in the way I have trained my children. I assign more [chores] to my daughters thinking that I am preparing them well to serve their husbands and to be good housewives, not knowing that I am limiting them in life. … I can’t stop telling people around me, both men and women, about equality in raising boys and girls!”
Roseline’s life has undergone many changes in the three months since she began as a participant in WfWI-Nigeria’s program. She can now write her name, something she has longed for all her life. “I can identify the letters that make up my name and whenever I see them even if it is in a crowd; I will make people around to realize that this letter is the beginning of Roseline, Nwamaka or Anukwa.” She has also learned more about the importance and influence of her own opinions that her voice can and should be as loud as any of her fellow citizens of Nigeria. Roseline has only ever voted once. “Actually, I have never bothered going to vote again for years because I felt it is for politicians alone,” she said. “Obviously in the upcoming election, I will be at the forefront because I learnt from Women for Women that I have the right to chose who leads me.” There is a renewed confidence within Roseline. She now speaks up in large crowds, whether it is among men or women. “I feel younger as a pupil every Thursday when I dress up to go for our manual classes.”
Roseline is not alone in these feelings. Upon graduating from WfWI-Nigeria’s program, 96% of participants have reported that they have a greater understanding of their rights. There is a great sense of unity among all the participants through their shared experiences as survivors of conflict and their collective gain in confidence. “Women for Women made me realize that I am not alone in the race, ”Roseline said.
There is great hope for the future of gender equality in Nigeria when women like Roseline have the strength and the courage to empower and educate the next generation of Nigerian women like her three daughters. When she was asked if she believed girls should go to school, she said “Capital Yes! … I said this because families that sent their female children to school when we were young stand out in my community now. They live comfortable lives and their daughters work in big offices in the city.” Roseline has such pride for women who are able to achieve these accomplishments. She finds great joy in the prospect that her own daughters might too have “big offices in the city.” But for Roseline, it is not as much about the big office as it is the respect that comes with it. “Indeed,” Roseline wisely adds, “Knowledge is Power!”
