Sudanese Women Promote Rights

Four Sudanese women—all activists of peace and community development in their country—gathered at the Malkin Penthouse of the Kennedy School of Government yesterday to describe the conditions, particularly of education, for women and children in their country.

The women, without the aid of an interpreter, spoke about their backgrounds and their roles in promoting women’s rights, with heavy moderation from Swanee Hunt, who runs the Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program.

The speakers—Veronica Louis Renzi Tambura, Kamilia Ibrahim Kuku Kura, Buthiana Abbas Kambal Hassan, and Safaa Elagib Adam—came from different regions, including Darfur, Khartoum, and southern Sudan.

Tambura, the first and most fluent of the speakers, spoke of how women obtained a 25-percent quota in Sudan’s government by “threatening to remove politicians from office” with the country’s “majority of women voters.”

The other speakers shared their efforts in various regions of Sudan, particularly Khartoum, to provide education to women through a literacy program and a number of grassroots organizations and campaigns to unite women from different tribes.

Literacy education classes serve the dual function of “building awareness of community problems” and educating women “so they can vote and pick leaders well,” Hassan said.

Sally Dale, who attended the event, said she was particularly struck by the women’s stories of tremendous adversity and inequality.

“It was an incredibly inspiring presentation,” Dale said. “We think driving through Boston traffic takes courage. These women have real courage and such incredible resolve to organize and continue with their efforts.”

Omer Ismail, a research fellow at the Kennedy School and Sudanese native, said he was particularly touched by the women’s descriptions of rampant abuse, such as domestic violence.

“The men in these [northwest displacement] camps are basically warehoused, causing them to take out their frustrations on the women,” who are often victims of kidnapping or rape due to trivial feuds, Ismail said.