Peace is at the gate, say Sudanese women - WCC-AACC Women's solidarity visit to Khartoum, Sudan
by Aruna Gnanadason (*)
Free high resolution photos available. See below.
"Peace is coming. We will be able to go back home." This hope was voiced again and again by the internally displaced women we visited in camps and church communities in Khartoum and nearby Medani. It is this voice of hope that sustains the church and the people of Sudan as they wait eagerly for lasting peace.
An ecumenical women's delegation, made up of five women from Africa, Europe and the United States and organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), visited churches, community centres and women’s groups in and around Khartoum from 29 June - 9 July.
From what the Sudanese women we met, mostly from the south of the country, told us, it is clear that women play the most important role in post-war Sudan. Their husbands have either been killed in the war or are still in the war zone, so the women have had to look after the children and to be the breadwinners as well as the decision-makers of the family.
As the communiqué from a Sudanese Christian Women’s conference held just a few weeks before our arrival stated, "Now is the time to make everything new" (Rev. 21:5).
Twenty-one years of war have left deep scars on the psyche of this nation. The women we observed were hesitant to speak of the various forms of violence they have experienced and continue to endure.
The ongoing fighting in the Darfur region has once again shown how rape of women has been used as a systematic, intentional weapon of war. Sexual violence has been used to suppress the will of the people as well as as an instrument of ethnic cleansing.
Government-backed militia, the Jenjaweed,have terrorized the people of Darfur so as to force them out of their lands. For the past 21 years, similar tactics were used by the government in the Southern region of the country, we were told.
According to the United Nations, the situation in Sudan's western Darfur region is currently the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and it has claimed some 10,000 victims, with more than one million displaced people since the outbreak of the fighting in early 2003.
We were able to meet with women who do not normally get a chance to tell their stories - of violence, desperation, displacement. In Omdurman prison near Khartoum, most of the prisoners are internally displaced women of African background, from the South of the country.
As we entered the prison, we were assailed with the smells, sights and sounds of prison life. 823 women inmates and 227 children are currently crammed together here, sleeping on the dirty floors in a zinc-roofed temporary building.
Imprisoned for three to six months, the women have to pay a fine to be set free. If they can't pay, they will be detained even longer.
They are in prison for petty crimes such as brewing and selling a local beer - in many cases one of the few possibilities for uneducated women to earn at least some money to feed themselves and their children. "They are not bad women," one of the men responsible for the prison told us. "Poverty drives them to this."
In the desolate Joborona Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp, we saw miles and miles of broken-down houses, interspersed with makeshift huts made of cardboard boxes and plastic sheeting. The women living here shared with us their stories of desperation. Ironically, the word Joboronain Arabic literally means, "we have been forced".
Many of the women have repeatedly been forced out, their homes demolished to make way for city planning and private housing colonies. One woman told us: "I was working in the fields. When I came back home, my whole family was displaced and the village had been burned down."
Four million internally displaced persons are registered in Sudan, we were told by an official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Many of them have not been settled for more than 10 years.
In spite of these stories of suffering, we left Sudan with a tremendous sense of hope for the future. Even in the midst of state-sponsored attempts to Arabise and Islamise the whole society, the church stands strong in its faith and commitment to its Christian identity and responsibility to its people.
The women, through a deep spirituality expressed in their prayers, songs, and dances, demonstrated that their profound faith has been the sustaining force throughout the war and their displacement.
The Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and the women's organisations of its member churches have all initiated projects for economic self-sufficiency and peace, crucial for women's daily post-war life. Churches are also responding to the problem of children affected by war, many of whom are either orphans or street children.
Lack of training, unemployment and illiteracy are other challenges the women's initiatives are facing, as well as poverty, sexual and domestic violence against women. Prison ministry groups visit the inmates and assist the imprisoned women to, for example, sew and sell baby clothes for the new-born children.
The struggle against HIV/AIDS is a also crucial issue. "AIDS is present here and we are so afraid of it - more than the war that has displaced us from the South," said a woman who was forced to move to Medani, a four-hour trip from Khartoum. "AIDS is now the greatest battle we have to fight."
In the Haj Yousif Displaced People's Camp, called Nyaret, a group of women from different tribes and religions tried to find a solution to their problems by living as a community and organising their daily life together. Most of them are widows and single mothers. The group managed to buy a small piece of land and to set up a shop to sell items for daily use. You can find everything here, from cups to TV sets; larger items, of course, have to be ordered. The aim is not to make profits but to serve the community.
"The collaboration of these women transcends the traditional limitations of gender, tribal or geographic origin. Women have to cooperate if they want to survive, and they have to take responsibility for themselves and their children," noted Kirsten Schwanke-Adiang, a German member of the WCC team. "In spite of all the tragedy of the ongoing situation in Sudan, the women themselves admit that the war has taught them cooperation beyond the traditional boundaries." Women are working together to build up the nation.
In our conversations with officials from the UNDP and with staff of the SCC, one of the main concerns is whether the international community plans to help communities to return and reconstruct their lives. There is fear that donor fatigue may affect the complicated operations planned by the UN, which will require strong engagement by the churches and civil society in the Sudan.
This visit, following the 2003 Sudan focus of the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence, and hosted by the Sudan Council of Churches, is part of an ongoing series of solidarity visits to women in conflict situations.
The international women's team which visited the women of Khartoum brings back concerns about these women's situation to the global ecumenical community of churches, agencies and ecumenical organisations. They are now challenged to accompany Sudan beyond this fragile peace agreement.
Aruna Gnanadason coordinates the work on Justice, Peace and Creation of the WCC and is also responsible for its Women’s Programme.
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Background information on Sudan
The conflict in Sudan can be considered as Africa's longest-running civil war. Apart from an 11-year period of peace (1971-1982), Sudan has been torn apart by civil war since its independence in 1956. The current conflict broke out 11 years ago when the government tried to enforce Islamic Sharialaw in the country and, with that, caused a rebellion beginning in the South, which is inhabited by African Christians and people belonging to traditional religions. The civil war in the Sudan has left some two million people dead and over four million displaced.
The recent protocols signed at the end of May 2004 may bring an end to the war and mark the beginning of a long and difficult process of reconstruction and reconciliation. This agreement does not include the Darfur region in western Sudan, where some one million have been displaced due to fighting between rebels and the government-backed militia forces.
The churches of Sudan, as well as the World Council of Churches, actively participate in the peace-making efforts. WCC supported the engagement of its ecumenical partners in Sudan, the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) and the Sudan Ecumenical Forum (SEF), the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the National Council of Churches in Kenya (NCCK). In response to a request of the SEF, the WCC named Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in 2003 as a special ecumenical envoy to monitor and contribute to the peace process.
Three main areas of WCC's work in the Sudan since the early 1970s are: supporting the process of peace and reconciliation, laying the foundation for a renewed civil society, including the reintegration of combatants and displaced persons, and contributing to the country's infrastructure, especially in the areas of education and health care.
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Click here for recent WCC statements on Sudan:
www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-04-07.html
Click here for information about the WCC DOV focus 2003 on Sudan:
www.overcomingviolence.org/dov.nsf/f2b3c6f6c91ade2ec1256bea002bc786/da5afb18aad82311c1256d240023e083
Click here for free high-resolution pictures:
wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/sudanwomen-2004.html
Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the author.
