In September I had the chance to visit our work in Kassala in the eastern part of Sudan. Travelling there took 9 hours. Although it was an exhausting journey, we enjoyed the beauty of the journey, the green spaces and towering mountains covered with trees, like a beautiful painting painted by a masterful artist. Pastoralists and farmers were grateful for the blessing of rain this year, despite the difficulty of storing water in those rural areas.
We visited Bagadir village, 30 Km from Kassala, which is inhabited by tribes called Bani Amer, who have migrated over the years from the Arabian Peninsula. Some also live in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Eritrea and different parts of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Women are not considered a good omen for this tribe and their role is limited. Moreover women are not allowed to leave the village for any reason and their fundamental role is parenting and serving men.
Food in times of scarity
Practical Action Sudan has introduced ‘Jubraka’, small farms for women, usually established near the house to provide food for farmers’ families during the critical time of food scarcity. In these farms women have been cultivating crops such as okra, watermelon, henna and bananas, using our new advanced drip irrigation technique. Our visit coincided with the period of fruiting and I’ll never forget the scene. I see the taste of success in women’s eyes, their efforts paid off.
My colleague Nahid Ali Awadelseed started to talk with the women, gathering in the corner where a thatched umbrella is erected. Usually, during irrigation and taking care of the farms women gather to do craft work or drink coffee. We start to chat with them and find out their opinions of Practical Action’s work in their community
One 16 year old girl, Afrah Karar, spoke on behalf of all the women. I admired her courage and her ability to express herself and asked if she had education or training. I knew Practical Action had offered her agricultural training in Kassala but unfortunately her father refused her permission to leave the village. We were able to send a trainer to her village to help pass on this knowledge to the rest of the women.
Then Siham Mohamed Osman, the leader of this programme of work for Practical Action, asked the women a question:
“Do you sell your farms’ production in the markets outside the village or do the men not allow it?”
I was impressed by the swift answer from one of the women telling us that the men had began to abandon their stupidity. I felt this was an amazing answer. Women’s work has started to change the customs and traditions of the tribe and then to change the status of women within their community.
Small works lead to small change and small change is the start of big success.
Much can be done to empower women. Practical Action is taking action by putting women’s empowerment at the center of development plans in our work. There can be no development, and no lasting peace on the planet, if women continue to be relegated to subservient and often dangerous and back-breaking roles in society.
December 5th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
(Small works lead to small change and small change is the start of big success.) I got the chance to read only the highlights…seem good ya Sara, go a head…all the best
December 6th, 2012 at 5:30 am
Thanks Sara for sharing this inspiring story. I was so glad to see more projects empowering and education women in our beloved country. Thanks to the efforts of Practical Action, lives of those people changed to the better. I hope similar efforts will continue and benefit more and more needy people.
December 6th, 2012 at 7:01 am
Dear Sara:
Thank you for sharing how you feel about the impact of the organization’s work on women.And I believe that women in rural states are the source of inspiration to me on a personal level and have high expertise and skills in thinking and adopt the changes on a practical level
well done Sara and Please, share with us your beautiful writing
December 6th, 2012 at 7:04 am
Dear Sara
Thank you for sharing how you feel about the impact of the organization’s work on women
And I believe that women in rural states are the source of inspiration to me on a personal level and have high expertise and skills in thinking and adopt the changes on Professional work level.
Well done Sara Please always, share with us your beautiful writing and words
December 6th, 2012 at 7:44 am
Thanks you so much indeed Sarra for raising this vital issue. I just wanted to say that, all the international human rights instruments and UN Security Council resolutions have urged the entire UN member states to empower women and improve their living conditions. Accordingly, I do appreciate your efforts for paying attention to this crucial issue. As far as you know, women in this community are living at the bottom of the society and do not have equal access to services compared with men. So I am appealing to all development actors and our government to exert a lot effort to assist this needy group through income generating activies and life saving initiatives so that they are able to become self reliant.
December 6th, 2012 at 7:52 am
Thanks you so much indeed Sarra for raising this vital issue. I just wanted to say that, all the international human rights instruments and UN Security Council resolutions have urged the entire UN member states to empower women and improve their living conditions. Accordingly, I do appreciate your efforts for paying attention to this crucial issue. As far as you know, women in this community are living at the bottom of the society and do not have equal access to services compared with men. So I am appealing to all development actors and our government to exert a lot effort to assist this needy group through income generating activities and life saving initiatives so that they are able to become self reliant.
December 6th, 2012 at 8:05 am
Impressive work ….
Change can be achieved if only we believe and stand firm for that belif, and in our women, i do believe. the strength they posses is beyond their own comprehention, it only takes a person of undertaking and intiative to awken the potentials that are hidden by our social and cultural walls, these unwritten traditions and ways of life that not humble, but ti a certain extent belittle our grandmothers, mothers, aunties and sisters round our vast and unfortuantely under-developed land. Yes, Work can change a woman’s life, it Empowers her, help her achieve, be productive, participative and above all, make her an Indepenant Woman…..
Sara, Practical Action, where there’s a will there’s a way ….. we are here to support you all the way….. and thank you for your admirable work.
If there’s any assistance we can render, please do let us participate, even if its a “small matter” …..