Health Consequences of Child Marriage and Early Child Bearing in South Sudan
Children giving birth to children in South Sudan is one of the leading causes of the higher rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Early pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for girls age 15- 19 in South Sudan. A 15-year-old girl in this country has greater chance of dying in childbirth than of finishing school. Given the limited and poor health facilities and services, majority of these young girls who are married off early and get pregnant at an early age have limited access to decent health services during pregnancy. This is an emotionally difficult and transitioning time for these young girls who happen to be children themselves exposing them to diseases such as obstetric fistula. These young girls are also at higher risks of intimate partner violence and other forms of violence, some find themselves in multiple partnership networks in polygamous and inter-generational marriages, further exposing them to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In some communities, inter-generational marriages lead to practice of wife-sharing by men, their sons, brothers and relatives for reproduction and kinship maintenance.
To enlighten South Sudanese on this issue, throughout the month of October, the campaign focused on making the public understand the negative health consequences of Child Marriage and Early Child Bearing.
CREW reached out to the Director General of Ministry of Health, Dr. Alexander Dimiti, Women Reproductive Health Advocate and Former Miss World-South Sudan, Manuela Modong and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Gender Analyst, Viola Riak. All views which were later shared on various social media platforms.
In the conversation with Dr Alexander, he clearly highlighted the consequences of early child bearing and strongly condemned the negative cultural practices where a girl child is considered a “woman” the minute she gets her first period. Starting one’s menstrual cycle does not mean one is now a woman and ready for marriage and to bear children.
Manuela Modong being someone who engages with adolescent girls and boys in her field of work, she was able to share some of the devastating experiences she has had dealing with these young girls, pointing out the high level of exposure these young girls have to Sexually Transmitted Diseases. In addition, the fact that these pregnant young girls are not able to take care of themselves for example, sleeping under mosquito nets, eating balanced diet, going for antenatal visits, they risk getting pregnancy complications such as premature birth and death of the child or both mother and her baby among others.
On the last talk show, CREW hosted the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Gender Analyst Viola Riak who extensively discussed the role that UNFPA played in developing the Strategic National Action Plan to End Child Marriage in South Sudan by 2030. She also talked about the services provided by UNFPA to girls affected by child marriage and early child bearing in South Sudan; such as strengthening the midwifery in South Sudan to support young mothers, training mid-wives both national and international in 14 centres in the whole of South Sudan to ensure that no mother dies during birth, provision of family planning services among many others.
Poor and limited health facilities and services nationwide, illiteracy that hinders sharing and acceptance of information on sexual and reproductive health specially prevention of unwanted early teenage pregnancy are some of the main reasons South Sudan has the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity as compared to other parts of the world.
- Massive awareness raising programs and campaigns nation-wide on the negative health consequences of child marriage and early child bearing. Designing appropriate programs that provide families and communities with information/education and reproductive health services spearheaded by the Ministry of Health
- The government needs to prioritize the health sector in South Sudan and allocate enough funding to ensure health facilities are improved and services offered to citizens especially maternal health care.
- Sex education should be mandatory and incorporated in the education curriculum of South Sudan.
- Published in Events
Healing My Sister Phase II
Early this year CREW trained 10 mentors on trauma healing skills, the mentors in return conducted a two-day workshop for 242 adolescent girls from three (3) secondary schools namely; Promised Land, Juba Day and Don Bosco Senior Secondary school. The mentors for the two days while engaging with the girls in smaller groups were able to help the girls understand Trauma and Trauma overview, Symptoms and triggers of trauma, wounded-ness and psychosocial well-being, Mindfulness and the phases of healing, how to respond to trauma with self and how to help others, Emotional regulation, Mentoring and support system, Safety and relationships, IASC guidelines on mental health and Communication and Self-care. These mentors further encouraged those who didn’t feel ready and comfortable enough to share their issues before the group to write on paper and had private one-on-one sessions with each of them over tea and lunch breaks. An approach that gave the girls the confidence to participate and speak up.
As a result of this out of school intimate engagement, the girls’ academic performance immensely improved in their next term. Don Bosco Secondary school had a total number of 21 girls (best performers) leading in all the classes. The school had to organize a celebration to recognize the girls and invited CREW to celebrate with them. “We owe this improvement of these girls’ performance to CREW, this is the fruit of your talking to these girls” says the Principle. They did it, our little angels broke the school record and made us so proud. Sometimes all you need is someone to just talk to, someone who can help you lift some of the baggage you are carrying.
In October, we organized another 3 days’ half day workshops but this time within the school premises and brought the mentors to engage with the girls again. The half day workshops were organized per school. This was simply;
- To ensure the numbers per mentor were really smaller to give each mentor ample time to engage with each girl, and
- To instead use the money that would have otherwise been spent on hiring a venue, transportation costs, snacks and refreshments…etc. to procure sanitary towels and washing soap for the girls. Lack of proper menstrual hygiene management products is one of the main challenges that’s is affecting these young girls’ school attendance on monthly basis. Being the final term of the year, and knowing that some of these girls are preparing for their National Examinations, we knew what keeping them in school during these days for those few remaining months would mean to them.
These mentors were able to reach out to 455 girls as compared to the 242 girls during the first joint two- day workshop that was held outside the school premises. And each girl got three (3) packets of sanitary pads and two (2) bars of soap at the end of each day.
The girls where excited to have received the sanitary pads because due to poverty many of them lack the basic support from their parents, and if they got it’s never enough.
The girls acknowledged and really appreciated the fact that their mentors are in touch with them. This workshops gave these girls an opportunity to speak up
However, not all of them were able to open up/speak up. Especially the girls who missed the previous two-day workshop and were meeting some of these mentors for the first time. Some really have a lot of stress and trauma from the violence they have experienced and just didn’t feel ready enough to share.
The girls wish to have more trauma healing sessions as the previous ones were very helpful to them and they hope these kinds of engagements will be frequent because building relationships and trust is a process and they need that with their mentors. They also shared how the sessions are helping them build their confidence as they start to feel better after speaking up about some of the things they have never shared with anyone in their lives. The fact that most of their mentors are young women makes them feel comfortable enough and trust that this really is a safe space for them.
Some of their key recommendations included;
- Need for sex education. At family level sex is not a conversation parents/guardians have with their children. On the other hand, the South Sudan education curriculum has not really embedded this aspect in the curriculum. These adolescent girls lack information about sexual and reproductive health in general, unwanted teenage pregnancy is one of the main reasons most of these young girls drop out of school and married off at an early age
- They need to have more trauma healing sessions not in their schools but wish this could be extended to other schools if possible to initiate the idea of ‘speaking up’ among the girls.
- There is need to advocate for reduction of the prices of sanitary towels because many girls across the country can’t afford to buy enough pads because it is too expensive.
- They also suggested that the sessions be in really smaller numbers and a little longer to give each and every one ample time to engage with the mentors
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FINANCE OFFICER VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
(ONLY SOUTH SUDANESE FEMALE NATIONALS)
Title: Finance Officer
Location: Juba
Duration: six (6) months
OVERALL JOB DESCRIPTION FOR THE FINANCE OFFICER.
The Finance Officer performs a key supporting role in Crown The Woman-South Sudan(CREW). She is responsible for managing all the financial records and providing daily administration and financial support to the Executive Director. The Finance Officer ensures that all employees adhere to donor requirements for making expenses in accordance with the approved budget. The Finance Officer Will also be responsible of manitaining sound financial systems and controls to ensure effective implementation of programs. This position will produce timely reports , including variance and budget monitoring reports to assist management in assessing the financial performance of grants. The Finance Officer will promote adherence to Crown The Woman Standard Operating Procedures, Donors’ rules and regulations as well as South Sudan Law. In addition, this position will provide daily administrative support functions including office Management, logistics, Procurement and coordination of trainings, meetings and workshops.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Ensure proper internal control procedures are maintained for day to day financial activities within each grant/ project.
- Verify accuracy of invoices and bills from suppliers, to ensure that each invoice and payment request has proper authorization and coding before payment.
- Follow up Staff to liquidate advances on timely basis and make sure their Accounts are cleared to Zero every month and research advance requests ensuring that no advances are outstanding for that particular individual.
- Maintain up-to date books of accounts for the Project, comprising of cash & Bank register.
- Manage account relations with the project banks and book all money received promptly.
- Ensure that all payments are allowable, allocable and in compliance with each donor requirements.
- Review and control all postings in various budget lines under various supported budgets in liaison with budget holders in addition to performing data analysis and advise the senior management on the progress/ performance of the organization.
- Manage the cash flow of CREW and monitor the bank balances every time to ensure that there is enough cash.
- Preparation of monthly financial Report accurately and on timely manner for review by the Executive Director.
- Develop and maintain a filling system to ensure efficient access to information.
- Work with the programs to design budgets for the project activities.
- Prepare financial statements and reconciliation for the organization.
Terms & Conditions
- A six (6) months volunteer contract with possibility of extension
- To be based in Juba, South Sudan.
- Full time
- Monthly stipend to be facilitated by CREW
Academic and Professional Qualifications:
- BSc degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics or related field from a recognized university.
Requirements
- A minimum of 3 years of professional work experience in accounting and finance.
- Proven work experience as a Finance Officer or similar role
- Experience in designing project budgets
- Excellent computer skills with advanced MS Excel Skills.
- Solid knowledge of financial regulations and accounting procedures
- Experience using financial software (quick book)
- Ability to work independently
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Excellent communication and organizational skills
Application Process:
Interested applicants should email their CV and cover letter and relevant documents to Nadia Sarah via sarabaringwa@gmail.com and copy info@crownthewoman.orgor physically drop their applications to CREW office located at ThongPiny Business Center on Airport Road, Juba South Sudan.
The deadline for application is 5:00pm EAT 10thNovember 2018
[ONLY SHORT LISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED]
- Published in Volunteer
TO END CHILD MARRIAGE IN SOUTH SUDAN, A WELL-FUNCTIONING EDUCATION SYSTEM IS KEY
Without proper education system that is benefiting even the poorest households, parents/guardians will continue to convince their young girls that marriage is the biggest achievement they can ever accomplish. Unintended teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage are two of the main reasons adolescent girls and boys drop out of school in South Sudan. However, the reverse is also true, the poor education system in South Sudan is also a contributing factor to these unintended teenage pregnancy and child marriage in South Sudan. The average number of years in school by a South Sudanese is only 5.4 years and the national literacy rate is 27%. About 37 % of girls enroll in primary schools but only 7% are able to complete and only 2% go to secondary school. Most of the existing schools are public schools where teachers are rarely paid on time, lack descent facilities and scholastic materials. There are some payams and Bomas that barely have well-functioning primary schools that can accommodate half of the children in that area leave alone secondary level of education. School has become a mere waiting ground for marriage especially for young girls whose families see no value in the kind of education they are receiving.
The #TooYoungtobeMarried campaign for the previous 5 weeks has been focusing on highlighting the effects of Child Marriage and Unintended Pregnancy on Education. The weekly Radio Talk-shows hosted students (adolescent girls and boys), teachers, parents and an Advisor of Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) program.
What clearly came out of these engagements both on radio and social media platforms is the fact that majority of South Sudanese communities have not yet understood the value of education, especially when it comes to girls and the unpromising existing education facilities and system continue to affirm this. Harmful yet highly treasured cultural norms continue to dominate and frustrate efforts in place intend to promote Girl Child Education and end Child Marriage in South Sudan. The cultural assumptions that term any girl-child who hits puberty/gets her period a “woman” even if she’s 12 years old comes with the pressure of the next expected step being marriage.
“The government should enact laws that will protect girls to go to school and also protect them from being married off at a tender age” Says Yolanda Felix, The Education Advisor of Girls Education South Sudan Program.
Prohibition of sexuality education for adolescent girls and boys is also a contributing factor to the high unintended teenage pregnancy that leads to school dropouts and Child Marriage. Although the Ministry of General Education and Instruction allows re-entry of married or pregnant girls to school, these young girls are already burdened with new responsibilities and in most cases their new marital families are not usually very supportive of their education.“The government should enact laws that will protect girls to go to school and also protect them from being married off at a tender age” Says Yolanda Felix, The Education Advisor of Girls Education South Sudan. Ending Child Marriage will help keep more girls in school and expand opportunities for girls, their children, community and country as a whole.
It was also evident that all the efforts in place to end Child Marriage and promote education especially girls’ education are heavily donor dependent. GESS is funded by the UK government, the current Strategic National Action Plan to end Child Marriage in South Sudan by 2030 is mostly financially supported by international organizations led currently with UNFPA at the forefront, UNICEF continues to be the backborn of primary education needs in South Sudan to mention but a few. Such processes require utmost National Budgetary Prioritization and commitment for massive and measurable success to be realized.
Some of the key recommendations from the 5-weeks engagement included:
- Commitment from National line ministries of Education, Health, Justice and Gender, Child and Social Welfare.
- Accessible, affordable and well-functioning primary and secondary schools across South Sudan especially in the remote areas.
- Provision of menstrual hygiene management kits to school going girls.
- There is need to review the existing laws and policies in place to protect children from child marriage, especially girls.
- Implementation of the existing laws and policies to ensure perpetrators are held accountable.
- Sexuality education through extracurricular activities.
South Sudan has a national commitment to end Child Marriage by 2030, this can only be realized if the strategic National Action Plan is strongly spearheaded by the line ministries of; General Education and Instructions, Health, Justice and Gender Child and Social welfare. Indeed, there has to be something accessible and affordable keeping children engaged and that something is none other than school. Girls who have a secondary education are six times less likely to marry as children.
A well-functioning and effective education system in South Sudan will systemically and automatically reduce Child Marriage prevalence in South Sudan.
- Published in Events
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The first National Conference of its kind in South Sudan. The International Day of the Girl Child National Conference brought together over 250 participants from diverse backgrounds including schools, Development partners, Chiefs, Diplomatic missions, Civil Society groups, Donor agencies, community representatives, executive leaderships of Parents-Teachers’ Associations (PTAs), the media to mention but a few.
11th October is annually celebrated globally as the Day of the Girl Child. The main aims of the day are to promote girl’s empowerment and fulfilment of their human rights while also highlighting the challenges that girls all over the world face. This year the international theme is “Empower girls: Before, during and after conflict”. However, CREW in partnership and with support from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) celebrated the day under the theme: Protect our girls from Child Marriage during and after conflict”
The One-Day conference is one of the activities under CREW ongoing media campaign “Too Young to be Married” supported by UNFPA to raise awareness on the issue of Child Marriage in South Sudan.
Child marriage is one of the most widespread violation of children’s rights with girls being the most victims. Over 40% of girls in South Sudan are married off before their 18th birthday. To promote girls’ empowerment and fulfilment of their human rights in South Sudan begins with eradication of Child Marriage. Young girls in South Sudan are hungry for education and can only be empowered through their increased enrolment, retention and completion of all levels of education.
The objectives of the conference were to:
- Give young girls a platform to share their challenges and aspirations
- Generate solutions in form of actions points by both government institutions and donor agencies on how to address the challenges young girls face in South Sudan
The presentation of Child Marriage Situational analysis based on the rapid assessment of drivers and consequences of Child Marriage in South Sudan, 2017 at the beginning of the conference gave a clear contextual analysis overview that guided the conversation throughout the day.
The One-Day Conference entailed: Two extensive panel discussions with moderated sessions of engagement between panellists and audience through question/answer sessions.
The first panel had panellists from the ministries of Health, Education and Gender, Child & Social Welfare. The ministerial representatives made presentations on their commitments towards the implementation of the Strategic National Action Plan to end Child Marriage in South Sudan by 2030.
The second Panel Discussion had donor representatives from Girls Education South Sudan, UNICEF and UNFPA-South Sudan and a representative from the council of chiefs. The donor representatives shared their commitments for South Sudanese girls.
The testimony from a Child Bride visually brought out the magnitude of the horrific realities of early unwanted teenage pregnancy/child marriage and the effects on young girls in South Sudan. Poni Hellen had the audience in tears of sorrow and joy at the same time. However, a 14-year-old Daresalam lightened up the day with her aspirations that strongly reminded each and every one of their role in ensuring that children grow up in a peaceful country with functional institutions that support children to realize their dreams.
The interludes inform of extremely insightful & educative drama plays and poems from students highlighting not just Child Marriage but the various forms of gender based violence ranging from family to institutional levels, including a closing performance a newly produced song one who produced a song on ending Child Marriage by a local artist all contributed to the success of the day.
This National Conference was the first of its kind in South Sudan to bring together adolescent girls and boys, local chiefs, donor agents, government and community representatives, parents, teachers, diplomatic missions, development partners, civil society groups and various individuals together to discuss challenges young girls face with focus on Child Marriage and commitments from all stakeholders on how to realize full and effective implementation of the National Action Plan to end Child Marriage in South Sudan as the first step towards empowering girls.
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Establishment of hotlines system in schools
Gender Based Violence (GBV) acts mostly affects vulnerable groups of people in our communities especially girls and women. All forms of School Related Gender Based Violence, Sexual and Gender Based violences…. rob girls and women off their dignities and rights. In the South Sudan context, culture, not forgetting the stigma associated with speaking up and the weak legal framework continue to mute women.
On 26th September 2018, CREW established hotlines system in schools to enhance the communication channels of the GBV Prevention Clubs in the six (6) secondary schools (Don Bosco, Promised Land, Juba Day, Nile Model, Juba Commercial and Juba Diocesan Secondary School) CREW engages with. This was accompanied by sharing and leaving copies of the Updated Urban Juba Referral pathway with the school administrations.
One of the main challenges the clubs were facing was lack of cellphones and the unclear reporting mechanisms.
This was an opportunity to raise awareness among the students and teachers of the existing referral pathway and how they can access the services in place meant to benefit them. The club leaders and GBV prevention mentors/teachers in these respective schools were tasked to ensure the phones are accessible to students, always charged and have credit at all time
The establishment of the hotlines system in these schools will ease the reporting mechanism of cases of GBV not only at the schools’ levels but the communities around these schools will get to benefit from this system. The landlines or phones are meant to be accessible and used by over 5,000 students to reach out to CREW GBV department or referral pathways.
It’s important that such cases are reported and attended to urgently and survivors provided with the rightful medical, psychosocial and legal assistance in the most confidential and dignified manner.
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Team Building: If we can laugh together we can work together
“We can never find peace in the outer world until we find peace with ourselves” – Dalai Lama
We often focus on implementing activities, beating deadlines to achieve the organization’s set goals and forget to take time off to just reflect and reconnect with each other. Working in a group is not always a smooth ride but how we handle the humps is what determines how far we can go as a team.
To commemorate International Peace Day 2018, CREW team members spent the day trying to understand where they are and how they think they are progressing as a family guided by a facilitator at Juba Oasis Camp. The one-day Team-Building exercise targeted three (3) main capacity areas: Social, Mental and Physical abilities.
The focus was on how CREW Staffs can in future mitigate internal issues by putting the three capacities in to appropriate use to avoid organizational mistrust and encourage the spirit of working as a team (CREW).
The methodology used was tailored to allow the staffs have first-hand approach to their own problems, and how to practically employ lessons learnt to ensure a conducive working environment for all. The exercise employed games that aimed at literally understanding challenges that come with working in a complex environment and how best they can overcome them.
The objective of the Team-Building was to re-establish a friendlier, effective and understanding working team with an enabling environment to carry ahead with realization of the organization’s mission and vision.
The day had activities that aimed at improving the staffs team work; The team started the day with an hour and a half scavenger hunt game, where they underwent a series of stages to complete the puzzle of finding the facilitator’s location.
In the course of the day, they were involved in various games, puzzles and activities to try and bring them to the task of realizing that indeed life is never as easy as they think.
The exercise had brain, muscle and social teasing games. This was intended to improve on their communication skills and get to know their strengths and weaknesses both personally and as an organization.
It is worth noting that, despite challenges and short comings here and there, the overall exercise was very beneficial to the team as they seemed to have enjoyed all the sessions. The knowledge gained was of great significance and had an immediate compensation to their time consumed. The team members were able to identify some of their personal strengths and weakness but above all deeply connected with each other emotionally as everyone shared something personal about themselves they had never told anyone about.
In the last session where the facilitator requested the team members to share their brief reflection of how they felt about the day, all appreciated the training and went ahead to request for more time among themselves to improve on their personal and professional images from time to time with or without a facilitator.
They committed to continue to work collaboratively together in ensuring, excellent work relationships and improve the rigid harmful behavior characters into characters with dignity and respect for humanity that can ensure a positive direction towards love and trust.
At the beginning, it was clear to see that some team members showed up for the team building exercise unwillingly just to fulfil the requirement of the day, but it was pleasing to see that, it turned out to be such a fruitful day as its reflected in the general direct feedback session and their improved inter-relations by the end of the day.
- Published in Events
Who is Too Young to be Married in South Sudan?
“What are you doing to contribute to a South Sudan where girls fully enjoy their childhood free from risks of Child Marriage and Early Child Bearing by 2030?”
In June 2018, South Sudan launched a Strategic National Action Plan (SNAP) to end Child Marriage in South Sudan by 2030. The initiative was headed by the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other development partners (CREW inclusive) committed to accelerate eradication of child marriage as part of the implementation of the Agenda 2030. SNAP aims to build a strong national level foundation for a programme to end child marriage by 2030 when the country will report on its progress on achievement of the SDGs including the Target 5.3 “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations”.
The Action Plan development was informed by regional and global level evidence on what works and what does not to end Child Marriage. It draws on lessons learned from the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage, the UNFPA and UNICEF-led Global Programme to End Child Marriage, and the work of Girls Not Brides’ (GNB) Africa Regional Coalition. The SNAP ultimately aims to guide all Child Marriage stakeholders to work in a coordinated manner and to design, implement and monitor effective interventions that progressively lead to the eradication of Child Marriage in South Sudan.
It’s based on this background that CREW with support from UNFPA-South Sudan designed the “Too Young to be Married” campaign. The media campaign is intended to target adolescent girls and boys with an aim of raising awareness on the issue of child marriage through multimedia. Over 70% of South Sudanese population are youths below the age of 30, this campaign is intended to engaged with youths both within and outside the country on social media platforms because this is a percentage of the population that can bring about change in their respective communities. The goal of the campaign being to contribute to ending Child Marriage in South Sudan.
In as much as the campaign is targeting adolescent girls and boys, the goal cannot be achieved without involvement of their gatekeepers. Parents, teachers, health providers and legal practitioners’ views will also be captured in short videos and shared to inform and empower both boys and girls and boys with correct information, skills and networks to enable them recognize child marriage and early pregnancy as a gross violation of their rights and take mitigating action is key in championing Child marriage in South Sudan.
The five (5) months campaign (August to December) entails:
- weekly one-hour talk-shows on Radio One-South Sudan every Wednesday from 5:00-6:00pm
- Themed weekly video posts for discussions on CREW social media pages (Facebook and twitter)
- Production of a song on ending Child Marriage and
- A conference on ending Child Marriage in South Sudan
In August the campaign focused on the overview and drivers of Child marriage in South Sudan. From the Radio talk-shows and engagement on social media pages; The mostly repeated and stressed out drivers include but not limited to South Sudan’s weak legal framework, rampant early unwanted teenage pregnancy, social-cultural norms and poverty. The campaign will break down the effects of Child Marriage into three (3) categories. The effects of child marriage on Education, the Health Consequences of early childbearing and the Legal Aspect for the five months of the campaign. Follow and be part of the Campaign on social media by using the hashtag #TooYoungToBeMarried and also tune into 87.9 Radio One-South Sudan every Wednesday from 5:00-6:00pm.
As South Sudanese we have a national commitment to end Child Marriage in South Sudan by 2030. The question we’ll be asking throughout the campaign is; What are you doing to contribute to a South Sudan where girls fully enjoy their childhood free from risks of Child Marriage and Early Child Bearing by 2030?
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HEALING MY SISTER
“You never know what someone is going through especially a girl until they speak up and that’s when you realize the problems they held inside their hearts are bigger than their age and body, we cried and laughed together” says Nyaboth Paska, one of our girls’ mentors after her two-day session with her group of girls.
Trauma has affected every individual differently in South Sudan and it is attributed to the protracted civil war. Traumatic experiences and recurrent conflict has had negative impact on young people especially girls. Lack of protection of children and young people creates fear and makes individuals vulnerable with fundamental alterations to the way they view the world. Such trauma tends to be interpersonal as its attributed to domestic violence, sexual abuse, neglect and/or exploitation, discrimination and financial challenges at family level, watching brothers being abducted and forced into militia among several issues these young girls mentioned. Due to the damage done to their core identity, young traumatized girls often experience low self-esteem, lack of self-compassion, guilt, and remorse. They struggle with a dysfunctional worldview that depicts the environment as unsafe and therefore it is dangerous to trust others or themselves.
These young girls experience overwhelming, unpredictable, and intense emotional reactions such as anger, anxiety, shame, frustration, and depression which all affect their performance in school and some eventually drop out of school.
Crown the woman acknowledges the above negative impact of trauma in girls and its effect on their performance in school and therefore, designed an intervention to support secondary school going girls to adopt positive coping mechanisms and heal the trauma. The intervention focuses on working with ten (10) trained mentors to support the physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual well-being of the girls.
The mentors conducted a two-day workshop at Women’s Union for 242 secondary school girls from three schools namely: Don Bosco, Promise Land and Juba Day secondary school. Conducting the sessions out of school, in smaller groups with the trainers further encouraging those who don’t feel ready and comfortable enough to share their issues before the group to write on paper and had private one-on-one sessions with each of them over tea and lunch breaks gave the girls the confidence to participate and speak up. The mentors were able to help the girls understand Trauma and Trauma overview, Symptoms and triggers of trauma, wounded-ness and psychosocial well-being, Mindfulness and the phases of healing, how to respond to trauma with self and among youth and children, Emotional regulation, Mentoring and support system, Safety and relationships, IASC guidelines on mental health and Communication and Self-care.
The objectives of the workshop were to:
- To increase opportunities for young girls to build their social assets and protect themselves through learning and peer interaction in safe spaces that facilitate a healing process.
- To create and build sisterhood across different age groups that uplift one another.
- To strengthen the resilience of conflict affected women and girls to trauma to enable them become each other’s’ support system.
“You never know what someone is going through especially a girl until they speak up and that’s when you realize the problems they held inside their heart are bigger are bigger than their age and body, we cried and laughed together” says Nyaboth Paska one of our girls’ mentors after her two-day session with her group of girls.
Some of these girls are fighting unimaginable battles and have no one to talk to. Speaking up is the first phase of the healing process and having someone to confide in is simply all these girls need sometimes. It was two emotional days filled with tears and laughter, a weekend truly well spent indeed.
- Published in Events
HEALED TO HEAL OTHERS
In many circumstances, people struggling with trauma do not have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to manage their emotional reactions, establish and achieve personal goals, or increase relational skills. Many survivors are unable to access the supports necessary to develop important coping skills and build relational abilities. Moreover, they do not have essential information on trauma that would promote the normalization of their experiences. They interpret their behaviors as weird or strange rather than normal reactions to abnormal events. Other people may not feel comfortable participating in traditional counselling environments or one-on-one therapy sessions. In South Sudan there is limited infrastructure and qualified personnel to deal with issues of mental health. The few NGOs focusing on mental health prioritize psychosocial support services because of the lack of infrastructure in South Sudan and the capacity to deal with mental health issues. The medication for psychiatric disorders is very expensive and usually is imported from outside the country. In the absence of these specialized services. It is important to deal with trauma focusing on healing and avoiding re-traumatization. The conflict in South Sudan has affected mostly women, young girls and children
CREW organized a Four-Day Training of Trainers (TOT) that provided our girls’ mentors who are female teachers and young women activists with an understanding of the concept of trauma healing and psychosocial support. The training was meant to provide mentors with knowledge and skills to enable them understand Trauma, its healing process and their roles in providing trauma healing services to the young girls CREW engages with. At the classroom and community level, teachers need to be trained in psychosocial support and how to identify symptoms of trauma in order to effectively address trauma common with students (girls).
Secondly, some of our mentors have also undergone traumatic events in their lives which affects their ability to effectively help the girls. Trauma causes powerlessness and fear, the training aimed at helping the mentors identify their own trauma and develop personal action plans to deal with it before going out to conduct trauma healing trainings with the girls. Change indeed begins with self.
The four (4) days training gave the mentors an understanding of Trauma and Trauma overview, Symptoms and triggers of trauma, wounded-ness and psychosocial well-being, Mindfulness and the phases of healing, how to respond to trauma with self and among youth and children, Emotional regulation, Mentoring and support system, Safety and relationships, IASC guidelines on mental health and Communication and Self-care.
For a case study, the mentors also watched a short video on trauma (sexual violence). This film was meant to highlight the most common form of GBV in South Sudan, Early/forced marriage of girls and to put the mentors in a practical situation of some of the challenges they might have to handle while dealing with the girls
The objectives of the training were to;
- To help the mentors share their experiences of traumatic events with one another and how to overcome the pain.
- To explore trauma manifestation and strategies of helping mentors and girls to heal.
- To equip the mentors with knowledge and skills on trauma healing processes.
The ten (10) trained mentors comprised of seven (7) young women activists from the media, law, entrepreneurship, fashion and design sectors and three (3) female teachers (girls’ metrons) from three secondary schools namely; Promise Land, Juba Day and Don Bosco Senior Secondary School.
- Published in Events