Source: The Independent
The fresh wave of violence in South Sudan is expected to put more than 3.7 million people at risk of severe food insecurity. The UN had predicted last year that 4.1 million would be food insecure in 2013. Last month, that figure rose to 7 million, with 3.7 of them in a crisis stage of food insecurity. A lack of food, outbreaks of disease, and continued

violence are all threatening these people's lives. As always, women and children suffer the most. This Saturday, March 8th, is International Women's Day. Davy Adams from the aid agency, GOAL visited South Sudan recently. He writes about what life is like for some of the women who have been caught up in the violence.

"The soldiers came to our house, and started shooting at me and my children. They told us to leave, so we started running," explains Nyaluak. Until a few weeks ago, Nyaluak and her three children had a comfortable home. She earned enough money to feed and clothe the family by selling vegetables in the marketplace of their local town. Now they are penniless, and living under an assortment of bed-sheets and rugs strung between wooden poles. It's their only shelter against daily temperatures of between 40C and 45C.

Nyaluak's little tent-like structure is one of thousands crammed together at Twic in South Sudan, in an ad hoc camp of around 20,000 internally displaced people. All have been driven from their homes by the tribal violence that erupted in South Sudan last December.

From living relatively contented and ordered lives, Nyaluak and her new neighbours were suddenly thrust into their current situation. The people have little money or food, and the women must queue for hours to collect a jerry can of water. The rainy season will begin in a few weeks, and the camp will become a quagmire, with serious outbreaks of disease inevitable.

Nyaluak was more fortunate than most. Women and children are the major victims of the current violence in South Sudan. From every conflict area around the country, reports of women and girls being raped or gang-raped prior to being killed are commonplace. In a particularly horrifying instance, when Malakal town in Upper Nile State changed hands between opposing forces a fortnight ago, dozens of female patients were raped in the wards of the local hospital before being summarily executed.

Even in the most peaceful of times, women do not enjoy much status in South Sudan. Despite accounting for 60 per cent of the population, 86 per cent of South Sudanese women are illiterate, denied even a basic education. This is something that Nyaluak inadvertently alludes to while struggling to understand what has become of her country. "Because I am a woman, I am uneducated," she says, matter-of-factly.

Maternal mortality in South Sudan is currently the highest in the world, with 2,054 deaths for every 100,000 births. This is partly due to the devastating impact of more than two decades of civil war (before South Sudan gained independence in 2011) on the country's healthcare infrastructure. But other significant contributing factors are a lack of female education, and the fact that more than 50 per cent of girls are married before they are 18 years-old. It is telling that a woman is more likely to die during childbirth in South Sudan than to have received secondary schooling. Gender based violence is the norm for many women, and abortion is illegal even for the victims of rape.

Not all South Sudanese women are uneducated. Pamela Jendai is a health supervisor with GOAL. She enjoyed a third-level education, and left university with a diploma in clinical medicine and community health. But Pamela did not receive her schooling in her home country. When she was only eight-years-old, her family fled a then-unified Sudan to escape the civil war. They became refugees in Uganda, and that is where she was educated.

Like many others, Pamela returned to South Sudan after a peace agreement was reached in 2005, to use her education and training to help rebuild her country.

Pamela says, "What the community in South Sudan needs is advocacy by the international community. To help the innocent civilians who are being hurt. Community members need that help, someone just to stand up and echo our voice."

Nyaluak expressed similar sentiments to those of Pamela: "I wonder every day why the rest of the world is not doing anything to stop this [the violence in South Sudan]. I hope that someday they will ask the armed groups why they are killing the women and children."

Why indeed? The answer lies in a view (and matching treatment) of women as less than equal to men. If women are considered as inferior in times of peace, it is hardly surprising that they are treated even more abominably than usual during times of war. Only with equality can come justice; no matter the circumstances.

 

Displaced woman in Twic County of South Sudan

Pic:Mark Condren

 

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