UN Practicum Blog - Catherine Odera

Encounter With Courage on the Road Less-Travelled
 
Before this UN Practicum in Advocacy began, I had no inkling of what my experience would be. Upon arrival to New York, it soon became apparent to me that I was surrounded by other dynamic women whose experiences spanned a wide range of areas including women’s rights, human rights, community organizing, public health access, training, among others. On the first day, as I walked from one session to another, I remember equating my experience to that of a child in a candy store because of all the opportunities available for me to learn about violence against women. Except…… there was nothing “sweet” or trivial about the topics that exposed the unimaginable violence that women face and the structures of violence and power that continue to perpetuate injustice and violence against women and girls everyday all around the world. This week has also been a rollercoaster of emotions for me as I attended some of the most intense sessions on violence against women. As I listened to each of the speakers, I found myself unable to breathe at certain points….feeling the pain in my chest as I attempted to breathe in unison with the women who shared their stories of pain….perhaps this was my attempt to empathize and stand in solidarity with them. From these women, I also learned to exhale when they triumphantly shared ways in which they and their communities refused to be known only as “victims” but also as women who dared to say “Not one more” would be violated!
 
The recurring message from the sessions I attended was the courage of women activists who braved the repercussions of taking the road less traveled in order to speak up against gender-based violence and injustice. Specifically, I was impacted by the stories of women who have experienced violence and who continue to fight back and ensure that not only will nobody ever violate their minds, bodies, and souls again but also that women and girls will be free from fear, violence, and injustice. It is from these women that I learned that courage involved: action against the very perpetrators that violated them; sharing their stories of personal encounters with violence so that the audience could understand the enormity of the problem; using legal channels to seek justice for communities ravage by war and violence; advocacy and activism even in areas where the structures of violence punish those who speak up; and the courage to create alliances with male activists who understand that women’s rights are also human rights.
 
I would like to highlight three instances of courage among the many I encountered this week where the women redefined their experiences with violence from one of victims to that of advocates and activists. My first encounter with courage was Istarlin Ismail, a Somali immigrant in the Netherlands, who exposed the reality of transnational violence against women in the form of female genital mutilation (FGM) amongst immigrant populations in Europe. She had undergone FGM when she was a pre-teenager in Somalia and stated that the need for social acceptance and the pressure to conform to a traditional practice had resulted in years of psychological and physical pain. Having moved to the Netherlands as a refugee, she encountered FGM in the refugee community and realized that it was a practice that was carried across borders into the new host country without the knowledge of the Dutch government. She started the East African Women African Sky organization that uses women’s personal stories to pressure the families and the Dutch government to eradicate the FGM practice on girls and women. She concluded her presentation by emphatically saying, “It is too late for me because I have already been mutilated. But it does not have to be too late for our girls who still need to be saved from the practice. And that is why I continue to fight!”
 
My second encounter with courage began with this quote, “Women's bodies have become the battlefield and all the women have become potential victims of violence.” This was a statement made by Julienne Lusenge, an activist in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She talked about the war that continues in the Eastern part of DRC between the government and rebel groups that has killed approximately 6 million people and displaced 800,000 people. Women in DRC continue to bear the brunt of the sexual violence and rape from the armed soldiers. DRC is also called “the rape capital of the world” because of the devastating numbers of women who have been raped during the conflict. Julienne stated that women, including her, woke up every day in DRC with the dark fear of insecurity and that they could be raped at any time. The courageous women in DRC, in partnership with some civil society organizations, have organized activist groups to call for the protection of women and girls and the prosecution of the perpetrators. “For without justice for the victims and survivors, there can be no peace,” Julienne stated. This activism has resulted in women going back into the hotspots of violence in order to provide health, psychosocial, and legal services to women and girls who are stuck in the cycle of violence. The unfortunate result in some instances is that these activists encounter physical and sexual violence again at the hands of different armed soldiers and rebels. Julienne challenged the members of the audience into action by stating, “When you use your cellphone today, pause for a moment and consider that the phone call you are making is made possible through the drops of blood and tears of women and girls who suffer sexual violence and rape during the conflict over the Coltan mineral that is used to manufacture your cellphones.” As I stare at my Sony Ericsson cellphone, I realize that I too am complicit in this conflict because I benefit from the use of Coltan in my phone and I therefore have been challenged to courageously speak up and act against the violence in the DRC before it’s a phone call too late.
 
My last encounter with courage was at the International Campaign against Rape and Sexual Violence presentation featuring a panel of women activists from Burma, Egypt, and DRC. The speaker from Egypt was Hania Moheeb, a prominent journalist in Egypt. She shared with the audience that she was sexually assaulted by a group of men at Tahrir Square during the height of the Arab Spring in Egypt. In a firm clear voice she stated that it was important that someone of her public stature honestly state that she had been a victim of an organized politically-backed gang that had raped numerous women during the revolution. She stated that she was not afraid to die but was afraid for the safety of her family…..and yet she continued to speak up against violence using the media as a channel to get word out both nationally and internationally. She stated that unlike other men in Egypt, her husband had stood by her publicly and declared that it was time to protect women against violence and to prosecute perpetrators. This act took courage because, according to Hania, most of the men in Egypt would have been too afraid and ashamed to associate with an “unclean” woman. The result of this activism was public outrage and the organization of activist groups of older women and young men who confronted men who tried to assault women at the Square. This story began with one brave woman who dared to share her story of sexual assault and ended with a triumphant mass movement to end the violence and protect women and girls from future injustice and violence.
 
Now that I am back in Georgia, the challenge has been placed before me to seek ways to be courageous enough to walk on the road less travelled through activism and advocacy. The toughest part will be for me to challenge myself and open my eyes wider so that I can see the explicit and implicit injustice around me, to stop and listen even in the silence for voices of victims and activists around me, and to open my heart and mind to understand what needs to be done to end violence against women and girls. As Hellen Keller once said, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”
 
By Catherine Odera
2013 UN Practicum Participant