Radio Miraya
2713: Kalam Neswan: Empowering Girls in Education and Peace Building
[MUSIC PLAYING] Kalamuswan, the voice of women in South Sudan with me Lucia John, everyone is there between 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Kalamuswan, let us make a difference. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Hello, good morning, and welcome to the program Kalamuswan on Radio Miraya. Kalamuswan is a weekly program that comes to you every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. And in the program today, we shall take a special focus on empowerment of girls, and specifically the value of education and peace building. We want to understand the work of Hope for Girls Africa organization, and to know what they are doing to empower girls through education. You can listen to us on Radio Miraya on air, and you can also follow us online. You can also find us on Facebook and follow us on our X-- our X kindle is at Radio Miraya. I'm Titio Beatty, taking you through the program. And today in Kalamuswan, we have our guest in the studio from Hope for Girls Africa. And the guest we have in the studio we have Michael Ocano Ocote. He is the program coordinator of Hope for Girls Africa, and we have Emanyoka, a protection officer of Hope for Girls Africa. I would like to say welcome to my guest in the studio, Eman, and Michael, you're all welcome. Thank you so much. Well, to start with our program of Kalamuswan, looking at the name of the organization alone, Hope for Girls Africa. You know, it sounds really great. And it sounds also like encouraging to the women and girls outside there. So to start with Michael, let's start by understanding the work of what Hope for Girls Africa do in South Sudan. Welcome. Thank you so much. Before I give the work of Hope for Girls in Africa, I would like to give a brief introduction. Welcome. Hope for Girls in Africa is an indigenous national organization that aims to empower girls and young women to live a unified life devoid of violence through education and social economic empowerment. Now, the work for Hope of Girls in Africa, you have to focus on the education, because when you look statistically on the girls education in South Sudan, girls who go to school are lacking behind around 28%. And the overall literacy rate of South Sudan's population is around 34.5. That live about 65.5 population uneducated. So we are trying to beat the Gulf to make sure that girls have access to education, provide the basic needs for them, those who are lacking, of course, and also to avoid them with some needs, those who perform better at school. OK. Well, coming to Nionka, why is your focus-- why is the focus of your organization specifically on girls education and peace building? Yeah, thank you once again for having us. Our organization is focusing most on girls, because currently, basically in South Sudan, girls are the most unprivileged people. They are taking, as like, for instance, they're taking girls to be a community. Someone raised them, and at the end of it, he sells them off for the warrior and stuff. Majority, we had some small interviews and, like, passing through education. We've been with girls, and a lot. They are the main people suffering. That's why we choose. And I was in a lighthouse, international, where our-- our director used to tell us that to educate a boy is to educate an individual. But to educate a girl means you educate a nation. Girls has a lot. That's why, basically, we go for gas. Yeah. Well, coming back to Michael, as we know, girls are everywhere in South Sudan, in the rural areas in the town. And maybe, let me say, in the town, yes, those ones may have a little bit of chance to get education. So where do you focus, your work? Which areas do you cover in South Sudan? Currently, we are best in Java because the organization was founded in Java last year. So as they say, sharrative gains at home. So we are starting from Java here. And once we are in position to reach out to those in rural areas and other parts of the states and administrative areas, we can be in position to help them. But the most important thing is starting to do something. At least, we are doing something right now. And with time, we will be in position to reach out to those one in rural areas and other parts of South Sudan. Do you have a specific time of maybe when you're able to reach those areas? Yeah, we also have a goals. We have to make sure that by the end of this year, we would have reached-- we would have covered most of the schools in Java that need our help. And we will reach to the states. Last year, we were about to reach West and Baral-Gazal and Waravistat and Zhonglei. But the funds were not enough, so we didn't make it. But for this year, we are trying our best to make sure that we reach out to those ones. Well, Niokka, can you tell us, since the start of your work, as Michael mentioned, the organization started last year, since the start of your work, what was the achievement we can count on so far? Thank you. The achievement so far, we went to some schools. Of we did some mentorship program with the girls, and we distributed for them some needs. Like, we went so far to sit with the girls and ask them what they are lacking. We understand what they need. And what so far can help them to go through education. Some were telling us books, some were saying pens and stuff. We were able to afford some stuff. And we take them back to the school, the way we are happy. And it's not just as a mentorship program, but it's for them to boost their morale. Some, basically, we give those books, pens, and bodulations, and a shop for those senior students for the year, basically. That is the first year, second year study, is that I need to do better to reach that one also to do it another way. Thank you. Yeah, I additionally told you yesterday, the mentorship program is open to all the students. But we are focusing mostly on those students in CNF4 and Sinatra, that are about to leave the school so that they are preparing to join the university. So it's basically like career guidance or something like that. OK, well, we have looked at it a little bit about the education aspect of it. What about the peace building aspect of it? Yeah, you cannot talk about education without mentioning peace, because when you look globally, the most educated people, they are highly, taller than one another, they can tolerate it. So if you are talking about peace building, you have to talk about education. Educated population can easily understand, among themselves, they can live together, and they coexist together. So educated population will be definitely a peaceful society. OK. Well, and then coming to look at the criteria of selecting the people you're working with, how do you come to identify that this is the group we want to work with, or these are the schools that we want to work with? The selection is based on the-- you go to schools, you reach out to the management of the school, for instance, you go to the head teacher, and see the overhaul again of the school and the overall again of the students. And when you identify them, you will be in position to help them. So like, how many schools have-- are you a partner? Oh, are you working with in Juba? So far, we have reached out to Stone Charity Schools. That is primary and secondary school. We also reach to Atlavaa secondary schools, and Daling Wisdom. Daling Wisdom is yet to be a shift probably next month or by June. Well, Emma, what are some of the barriers when it comes to gas education and empowerment? The barriers we normally get is it's a charity organization. When you call someone and be like, help me do this, it's free. It's kind of hard to achieve it, yeah. And for the girls also, for you to convince a girl to come and attend a program like, for instance, the mentorship program is very hard. You first call them at the end of the day, be like, you guys are not paying us. What's the profit? What am I getting at the end? Then others, like, for instance, in some schools, they are likely to have a gas club where it was normally conducted on Wednesday and Friday. And during the gas club, boys were being released like to go home, and they leave the girls only at home at school to attend the gas club. Some parents will not understand it. At some point, a parent will know that my daughter normally comes home at 3 30. But on Thursday, when she happens to go home at 4 30, that one raised a conflict. Where were you? How come your colleagues came up early, and you like to explain to the parents exactly what we are doing with the kids it's had. And for a girl to accept the fact that I matter. And to be able to tell you to have that or mom that I was in a school because of ABCD, it's really hard. It's willingly. Yeah, yeah, that's right. So Michael, how are you able to overcome some of these challenges? The challenge is really hard, and that's one of the reasons why we are here to create awareness, especially to the parents. If, for instance, your girl is selected for those kind of program, you have to give them enough time. Because the reason why most of the girls are educated is not their own choice. Sometimes it's parental situations. The groups, the category that we are targeting, we have girls that denote attending school completely. We are trying to bring those one in the program. And those who dropped out, it's quite challenging. But we are planning to launch an accelerated learning program, A.L.P. for those ones, so that instead of ideas in primary, they can be taken only four years. That's how A-level works. Well, you mentioned that you're targeting girls who dropped out and those ones who were not able to go to school. So what about those ones who are in school? How do you encourage them to ensure that they do not reach to that extent of dropping out? That's why we provide mentorship program and some motivation for the best performing student. And this motivation is not at all the time. Sometimes we go and then we just select all the girls in a cluster and then we provide them. That's what we did in Eastern Charity Schools last year. It was not based on merit, but all the student girls they deserve to be helped. Well, sometimes some people have the belief that some of these local NGOs, they only go and support schools that they are somehow attached to or some of their relatives or their study or schools that are owned by their relatives. So how can you convince the public outside that the schools that you are supporting and not in any way linked to you or your relatives? OK, thank you. Let me start by saying that. That's true because I remember we went to school in Goodele. Willing leave me and my colleague, she's not there. She's not here, actually. We went there and we happened to speak with the director. By then, we were on holidays. We spoke with him on mentorship programs. Like willingly, we want to sit with the girls, ask them the challenges they are facing. He was telling us that it's a good thing that we came up with that idea, actually, girls are having a lot in the school. He also promised to put our program in the timetable. I'm promised to get back to us. But as I speak to you right now, they never called. Reason being too, I think they might have misunderstood that at the end of the program, we'll need something from them. But all we just needed to do was to sit with those young girls and understand their challenges that they are facing. Because we are also girls, like you get. We've been through education, through secondary school, through promally, we know the challenges we're facing. And we got lucky because by then we have mentors. It could be moms, aunties, and some role models. Like, for instance, mine is so much. I like someone who is my role model currently in Dubai is Dr. Yulanda, the Minister of Health. I admire her a lot. We had those things and we agree with ourselves that we matter. That's why we are doing it. We want them to also see that way. That's what they can say. Yes, my god. To add to that one, to prove that we are helping schools, regardless of whether they are related or connected to us in any way. The organization itself is formed by people from various communities. So we cannot be related to any school in any way. So it's just their luck or those that are lucky to reach out to them, they will be helped, regardless of where they come from. Because even at schools, you cannot find that all the students or the poor fields are from the same community. It does not exist. Like, at school, people who exist together, regardless of where they come from. OK, well, you are still listening to the program column, this one on Regent Maria that comes to you every Wednesday from 9 to 10 a.m., to deal with you. And today with us in the studio, we have Michael O'Keno, our co-ed, the program coordinator, Hope for Girls Africa. And we have a menu protection officer of Hope for Girls Africa. And today, we are looking at Girls' education and peace building. So soon, we shall be opening our lines. And if you have a question to the guest in the studio, you'll be able to have a chance to have the question or comment on the program of discussion today. So first, let's go for a break. [MUSIC PLAYING] Broadcasting from the heart of the nation's capital, this is Radio Mariah, 101 and 101.5 FM. Radio Mariah, the voice of peace. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] to break and you're still listening to the program Kalam Nussuan, I'm Titio Beiti and today we are looking at girls empowerment and specifically the value of education and peace building and as I'm mentioned earlier on today with me in the studio we have Michael O'Poker, Michael O'Kano, Ocote from Hope for Gas Africa and we have Emanyoka, Protection Officer, Hope for Gas Africa. So today we are discussing gas empowerment, empowering gas through education. So to start with Michael, there's this slogan that said education cannot wait. Can you highlight a little bit about that? Yes, it's true education cannot wait because the population, the overall population of South Sudan is one of the lowest literacy rate in the world. It's possible one of the worst probably so we don't need to spend much of the time because there is on us to why most of this population is not educated is because of the war that have ravaged the country for more than I don't know 40 years or 50 years. So right now that we have peace at our hand we have to make sure that we pull out pull up our socks and make sure that we educate our population and just to start with the very few people I educated myself included and the organization at large. The education cannot wait team comprised of three things. Number one is awareness and this basically what we are doing right now. We have to make sure that we create awareness to the population that need to be educated and to the shareholders or the stakeholders and donors probably if their well wishes come in and help us because we cannot do this thing alone and the third phase is implementation of the program. We have a time frame we want to make sure that we achieve our goals in the next two years at least to change the statistic of the literacy population in the country. Thank you. Okay now looking at the long-term benefit of your program to the youth and the girls education what are there you know what do you think are the benefits of what you're carrying to the entire youth not specifically girls child let's hope that you know we need to empower the youth yeah Emma yeah to basically like what he said we are reaching out to them we are informing them about their their rights to choose who they are to identify their identity if you know who you are and you accept it from within you be able to acknowledge that there is also someone who has the right who needs to be had yeah and additional to add to that one the youth they are like they say that the youth are the peers of the country when you look at the those who are educated the 34.5 percent most of them are youth that mean our all population they are really lagging behind but if there is a way we can help them we can help them but basically we have to start with the youth because an educated youth is more energetic and they can be in position to reach out to the older one and pull them off together and we develop as a country. Well it's now a time you can call us in the studio and have your question or you can have your comments to us in the studio or a question to the guest in the studio the number to call is 0-9-2-9-6-8-6-2-9-7 that's the number you can call and have your questions on air and as well you can send an SMS to 0-9-1-2-1-7-7-1-4-1 that's the line to send your text message but remember only send your text message in English because if it's in Arabic it may not be able to be read out to the public so the lines are open you can now dial in and call in well coming back to my guest in the studio what should we expect to see in terms of guns empowerment in the future we start with Emma our goals like our our vision our vision is that we want to make sure we create a good environment and the society where a girl or a woman can can can express their feelings yeah also you will have to make sure that girls are free from the gender-based violence they also have access to education because our girls are lagging behind a lot you go to the village you find that a potentially primary aid student is already marked out to 50 year old man or 40 year old man so we have to make sure that we pull up the narratives and try to change the narratives to make sure that these girls access education and be in position to change their lives at least if we change the lives of individual we change the country because all of us we are made up individuals but if we pull up together individually all of us can do better you know my goal are people sometimes some people in the community or especially in the rural areas they do say that our mothers we are not educated and for us we are living you know success please so why do you think it's really important to talk about girls education to empower girls who educate girls it's really important because the overall country cannot evolve if for instance the girls are not educated there's a saying that when you educate a girl you educate a country one educated mother for instance if you have one influential honorable or someone who is very important in joba here goes to those girls in the village or to the parents and talk to them don't listen so you see the power of educating one one woman they can be in position to influence decision-making and all that so that is it if we are to do it we have to at least incorporate those who are educated and the seed benefit for themselves at least the admire people who come from you are by the way this one thing you go to your village where you come from and you're from you people look after you so don't listen to you definitely yeah Emma do you want to add something yeah from the idea of education education is basically to address injustice okay get with in history we know our leaders who really fought for slave because of slavery and they were able to to break that bandage through education they they were able to discover their differences and know what they stand for yeah okay okay we have a call on the line let's uh get to know hello [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] [speaking in foreign language] so that's from James he's asking about girls who may get pregnant and they may decide to terminate their pregnancy what can you say about that and also those parents who give out their girls for marriage at an earlier age so before we could come to answer that question wanted to know because this is let me say still a young organization which is coming up as you said it's about a year or a year and a half are coming to two years now what lessons have you learned from other organizations that have been working in the area of promoting girls education empowering girls that you are going to apply to ensure that the success is achieved yeah thank you very much let me start by answering his question the second one on pregnancy and abortion thank you so my game is from 20 those girls that got pregnant and they terminate the pregnancy that's abortion we can at least provide emotional support to those ones but if we can reach out to them in time then it can be accessed because the decision to make an abortion from a medical personnel perspective is not easy it's only if the child is at risk or the mother assault is at risk so we don't really advise that they should be aborting children unless it is necessary in that context and why are parents marrying our dear girls you know it's very hard that one is it required collective effort to address it at our organization level we can try and try and try but it has to be it boils down to a personal decision making thank you okay yeah about the about the challenges it's not easy to convince all to educate children because the traditional our girls are valued as a source of wealth our girls are married up for instance if a boy is having a sister that boy can go to school and the sister remains at home one the girl is married he can come back and use those well to marry also for himself so it's very hard we are trying to reach out to make sure that girls are not married out early because the longer they stay at school for instance if she reached by the of 25 we can be sure that that that girl has already completed university that if there's access is cool at an early age so we are advocating for them to at least stay at school throw awareness this what we are doing right now yeah education cannot wait it's one of the things we are doing well michael i was asking the question that okay they are organizations that have tried in promoting gas education and empowering girls but still you know the achievement is low so what is it that you're going to do differently to ensure that you this you join these other organizations in achieving the you know the praise of empowering does or achieving gas education and empowering them you know it's it's not easy to address because we have organization that we are tackling gas education one of them is anaphy anaphy is an organization that normally give incentives to girls at least these incentives keeps girls at school so if we are in position to do like what all of anaphy is doing then we can be able to at least keep girls at school longer than they would if they were not motivated yeah okay you can call us on 0 9 29 6 8 6 2 9 7 and have your questions or comment to the guest in the studio and today we are looking at empowering girls through education and peace building and the guests with me in the studio we have michael ocano or court at the program coordinator ho fo gas africa and we have ema nyoka the protection officer ho fo gas africa well ema do you have something to add on in regards to the question from james yeah i will go let me start with the second question girls decision to life yeah when a girl when a girl is growing up and she she happens to be in a large family where a girl you have to just do domestic work go to school and come back and wait until you are of age to be married she will lack a lot of things like for instance in those days back uh it's also good to have stories with grandmothers they used to say a lot about gas decision to life they were like you just have to to be there be obedient to your mother or your grandmother then when you're of age they now teach you how to handle your home because you're going to be married often stuff uh though like let me say we we normally comes in and we we took it like on our chest like we comes in to mentor those girls like what we said we go to different schools to mentor them is for them to know the advantages and the disadvantages like majority we normally jumped into the advantages i'm in school after school i'm going to be married i'm going to have a home and start having my kids and stuff but the disadvantages of it this advantage is of if you're not living life right there are some things that you you get on the alongside the way then uh on the first questions about uh parents' hands on their daughters in marriage is really tricky because uh like basically in jubba in jubba some people some people normally when you talk to them they listen but in uh the remote areas they'll be like we've been there like we grow up in that stage whereby if a guy reach of age we just marry her off and you have nothing to do or to say about it because she's our daughter and stuff it's really tricky but we are not giving up as uh as what my colleagues say we are not giving up we are also planning to to have a campaign where if possible we sit with the parents themselves not only the girls but with the parents we sit with them and we also mentor them on some things that you really need to do on the other tells them that would help a lot sitting down with the parents because the decision make make us in the hours most of the time exactly and looking at that um area of you know including their parents you know in south Sudan we have a lot of uh traditional beliefs and people can you know consider the community the chiefs the elders as the final people in the house so how would you work to to to change that mindset in the community do you think it's an easy task it's not easy but we cannot say that it cannot be done we have to make sure that we give it our best try and reach out to the community and maybe they'll listen to us and they will change the narratives at least we cannot do it alone we have to reach out to them and see it from their own perspective and we give them also what we think would be the best alternative as to what they're thinking thank you well we also have that same mindset especially with some girls who grew up in the rural rural areas they believe that their work is only to be in the family keep the family take care of their brothers and sisters who are younger so what can you tell them it's those girls who grew up in those communities the conditioning or the thinking that they came to embody is societal thing that was that they saw as the only thing available to them but if they can access alternative message something that sounds better like we are doing right now then we can be in position to change things for them can i add please yes please why thank you that takes us back to education to like what to one of the achievement we've made so far like sitting with the girls and helping them empower their the power with them like there are people outside they are um lucky that we were we were able to be online and for some people to hear us the thing is if you're going through something you you feel like the world is all against you basically for girls you grew up in that society you have that banning desire inside you but there is no one you feel like no one is listening to you you're just doing that for your family but if uh we we were able to like to to reach to some girls and you know what they say they were like they didn't know that there are people out there who really care to to hear what they have to say you get yeah if you reach out and uh luckily like what i just said we did there are some girls who are happy and willingly they stood up and they say that i matter and i'm going to do it no matter what someone said i'm going to do it and you're going to help people basically in such situations okay well we are left with some few minutes to end this discussion and if you still want to share your uh idea your comments or you have a question to the guest in the studio the line is 0 9 29 6 8 6 297 or you can send a text message to 0 9 12 17 7 1 4 1 those are the lines you can use and coming back to Michael in the studio well as we already in April and we are concluding April what are the key things that you're going to do within this year to reach out or to empower the girls yeah we are already left with some few months probably around eight months so by the end of this year we will have to make sure that we cover most of the court schools in jubba in terms of mentorship and the motivation that we spoke about earlier so what we have to do we have our specific time frame if we we have the pants at hand right now we kind of gonna start tomorrow but it's not easy we have to lobby for the pants from the donors because the organization itself is still young but we have a bigger vision we are starting small but we are reaching out to the entire population of south Sudan yeah and then looking at the issue of funds where do you get your funds and who is supporting you that is not an easy question we are reaching out to the international organization because we are national organizations those international organizations they would want to do some things but they cannot involve with the community so we reach out to them and we implement those kind of projects that is if our interests align with them what they want to do and what we are doing if they align they can't be in position to help us so what does this mean doesn't mean that if you don't don't get the funds then there's no one it means that we are fighting until we get the funds we are reaching out to iom to unmute you if they're listening right now they can we can reach out to them anytime but we are trying our best they have to know that we are here for the community and we are ready to solve anytime okay Emma that goes to membership uh in membership we are open to people of good world if you align with our values of the organization and the court of conducts we are good to go yeah as long as the purpose is to serve the community okay as we conclude to come to conclude this program we are just left with about two three minutes to end it and maybe i come to michael what would you like to see for the future of youth and girls in the country in the next five years of your work yeah thank you so much we are focused much on education because we believe that with education you can achieve sustainable peace so by the end of five years a program we will have to see that the literacy rate that is very low would have changed to maybe 60 percent or 50 percent that will not be bad for the starting uh about uh mentorship program we have to make sure that we are there for those young girls that are still making decisions because it's not easy to choose where to go and study on and what cause to go and study something that at least align with their purpose so the mentorship program is really important to them and the literacy rate is what we are fighting so hard to make sure that we educate enough population thank you okay thank you so much michael and emma as you work for to promote girls education empowering the girls what's your final words uh on the importance of supporting girls in sausu dan the importance is of supporting girls in sausu dan is that uh like what i've just said when you educate a girl you educate a nation girls uh normally play a big role in the country they are not just girls but they are our future mothers and leaders to be and we also want to to to break the gap the gap we are having now in sausu dan um to be specifically where we have uh let me say 24 25 percent 25 percent of women that are working up there presenting us they are presenting us well but the other thing is that their generation is almost coming to to to a cool like let me say right but if you see the gap between them and the young girls in school it's a very big gap we really need to work on it and to fix it and the other thing goes to to to everyone that is listening to us right now is that if we knock at your door at any schools and we offer to to to mentor the girls it's not that we are going for fines and we need something in return we just need to sit with the girls and to get to know them and how best we could help them you know capacity well michael do you want to summarize in just one minute or less than one minute okay thank you education of girls is really important i really stick to statistics i don't know why but over over all population across the country only eight percent of women i educated can you can you imagine how bad that is so we have to educate these girls because these girls are going to be the next mothers at least we have to change it to 50 percent just a quick one why did you get that research or did you do a research and you found that eight percent of the women is educated i did i didn't do a research but there are sources out there you can't go and look them up yeah credible sources okay but i thank you so much for your time to talk to our uh public out there on girls education and i would like to say that uh by this we have come to the end of our program kalam nusuan where we have been discussing about empowering girls and through education and peace building and i guess with me in the studio have been michael okano or court who is the program coordinator hope for gas africa and we had ema nyoka the protection officer hope for gas africa and we had of course i've been looking uh in uh areas of how to empower girls in the country thank you for being with us keep tuned i've been with you t D O B E T [Music]