We were able to visit two of the centres and the contrast in the strength and authority the women had in each community was vastly different. In the first community, the women have been organizing themselves since the war. In fact, the women of Kakata played a very critical role in bringing peace and security to their community. Since the end of the civil war in 2003, these women have continued to fight against abuse and GBV that has plagued their community.They built a Peace Hut where they will take accused community members who they have arrested to be put on trial. If the women find the accused guilty and feel that charges brought against him were serious enough, they will take him to the local authorities to have a legal trial, otherwise they will determine as a community what punishment he should face. Now both men and women in the community come to the women of Kakata to help resolve conflicts and you can really see how much respect and authority they have earned.
In contrast, the second community we visited the women are still very suppressed and constrained by their traditional roles. Many of them complained that they were not able to regularly attend the literacy and microfinance trainings because their husbands did not want them to leave the children for two hours, three times per week. Unlike the women in Kakata, who have started a communal savings fund that can be used by women in their community to finance business ventures. The women in the second community have not managed to start any kind of savings fund. From our brief meeting with the women, it seems that many infrastructure problems are hindering their ability to mobilize and build their capacity and strength.
I believe the first issue is road access. The current road to their community is very poor and has been further destroyed recently after a mining company came in to do some exploratory surveying and did not fix the damage caused by their large trucks. No one in their community has transportation so they rely on motorbike taxis, which they must call to come from the nearby town. Because of the road conditions and the isolated location, no school or clinic has been built in the village, so the women are relying on a local midwife who is older and whose health is deteriorating. There are loads of children in the village (possibly due to lack of sexual education, birth control and decision making power the women have) and no school available. This means the women have an increased burden of caring for the children all day long in addition to their agricultural duties.
My hope is that in the final report SFCG can make the recommendations to the Ministry of Gender and UNWomen to put pressure on the local county representative, so funding can be allocated to fix the road. With better access to the village, perhaps they will be able to attract a local teacher and mobilize the community to advocate to have a school built. In the meantime, SFCG is going to put the leader of the Kakata women (Ma Annie) in contact with the women’s leader from the second community. She is one hell of a powerful force, so I hope that it can bring some strengthen and inspiration to these women!
