Enlighten women for a great harvest of votes

Juba – Josephine Mary Keji was taken up by surprise to hear that also the non-educated can exercise their freedom to participate in the forthcoming general elections due to take place in April 2010 in the entire Sudan. Like many women, she feels marginalised because of her position in society having not attended school and therefore thinks she will never exercise her freedom to vote for a candidate of her choice.

“I was made to rear animals, looking after grains in the field so as to keep off wild birds from invading and destroying the crops hence I missed out going to school”,  as she recalls. “ I would also like to cast my vote to the right representative but unfortunately I will not because I am not educated”. Like many of the Southern Sudanese who have never participated in any democratic elections, Josephine thinks elections are only for the educated. 

Students at Khartoum University

To her dismay, she has never seen her current Member of Parliament who represents her county (Juba County) ever since members were appointed in 2005 to represent during the interim period. “I have never seen my county representative meeting us at the grass root level” she said. “And this makes me think the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is only meant for the educated to enjoy the privileges of having the leaders at their exposure since that is the class with which they interact”, as she expressed her view.

“I grew up at such a time when they had a mentality that girl child education is waste of money and that girls are a material asset to benefit the future of their relatives as in dowry”, she said.  “My heart is grieved that I missed out school and I am now a house wife and it is too late”. Josephine however appeals to those members who will have gone through the elections not to be selective but work hand in hand with the women who are the most vulnerable to all forms of sufferings.

She is a hard working woman, who wakes up at 6:00am to begin with her normal domestic work only to retire to bed at 11:00pm after a long weighty day. Most of the time she is confined to home and therefore has got no idea of what is taking place outside. In most of the African communities, women are made to please their in-laws by working beyond eight hours and getting less time for themselves. As a voice of the women, she says 80% of women in southern Sudan have never had the opportunity of going to school and therefore need a special consideration. She therefore calls upon the top leaders to spare time and visit the women and listen to their views or else they will miss the votes of the marginalized.

Sudanese women balance many burdens

Her message to the Government of Southern Sudan is that they should consider improving on the living conditions of the women, since women are the back bone of the country without whom the Government wouldn’t stand. “Although we were given the 25%, the government has taken less care of the women”, she pointed out. “It was too hard for me to get clothes because even there were no kniddles or threads to mend our clothes but  we used to prick holes into thorns and sow clothing’s using sisals as threads”, as she painfully narrates. Her message to the girls now is not to miss the privilege they have but should study to create a big difference.

She however called upon the government to consider offering free education at all levels. She says that the government has only resorted to offering scholarships to those still in foreign countries and has taken less care of the children who are studying within the country. Government should exercise fairness and also think of supporting the children who endured the challenges of the war, some of whom lost their parents in the struggle. “Why not provide free education to our children so that those of us who missed out education should later have the opportunity of being helped by our children”, as she questioned. “The long successive civil wars made us miss a lot, perhaps the negative mentality people had would have changed and therefore we would have attended school”.