(to see the story with pictures click on this link to the Royal Roads University website)
Bruce Passmore is completing his Masters in Human Security and Peacebuilding (HSPB) at RRU and spent seven months in northern Uganda working with a development organization helping women and youth rebuild their communities after 22 years of conflict.
Passmore's participation was supported by the Canadian International Development Agency and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
by Bruce Passmore
I was invited to attend the Pader Peace Forum in Pader District, northern Uganda, May 2009, as part of my internship with Peace For All INTERNATIONAL.
The purpose of the forum, which brought together many participants from all over Uganda, was to celebrate peace in this formerly war-torn region and to highlight the district’s successes in making people feel more secure.
Pader District was the site of some of Uganda's most severe violence during the 22-year conflict between government forces and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Unfortunately, even after the fighting stopped in 2007, the suffering continued.
Speaking with local villagers - particularly women and youth - I heard that for many, peace is still a distant dream. Marginalized women - including widows and women with disabilities along with others who had been abducted and forced to become child soldiers or soldiers’ brides - still fear the night and the sounds of gunshots and screaming still ring in their ears. They continue to face domestic violence, discrimination, poverty and ongoing trauma. Until the structural and psycho-social needs of their communities are met, they say that they won’t feel secure and there won’t be peace.
At the Pader Peace Forum, there were many speeches. Politicians and officials congratulated themselves and emphasized how wonderful things are now that the fighting has stopped.
Peace groups spoke about what was working and what the people of Pader should focus on in the future.
Women were denied a voice
I soon noticed, to my consternation, that all the speakers, guests of honour, MCs, and even the English-Luo translator, were men. Women were only included in the entertainment portion - to sing and dance for the audience. Despite suffering the brunt of the conflict’s effects, women had been denied a voice at the peace forum.
One group of women, though - the Grassroots Women’s Coalition - was not content to let this be. Denied a voice, they planned to use their musical performance to make a statement everyone at the forum would hear.
As they danced and sang, the women carried signs which read Men! Make a commitment to never be violent on women or Change your attitudes towards us, we are all equal or Equal sharing of responsibilities is what we need.
After their performance they took over the microphone and gave a compelling speech in Luo, the local language, about how women bear the largest burden in post-conflict Pader and yet they are excluded from most government programs, support networks and decision-making opportunities.
__________
With the help of these mentors, I have come to understand that peace and human security are inextricably linked and that peace does not exist simply because the emergency phase is over.
__________
When they were done, the MC took back the microphone and thanked them for the speech, saying it was too bad the speech couldn’t be translated for all the non-Luo speakers in the crowd because the translator had ‘stepped out’.
The women took back the microphone and said, “Don’t worry, we brought our own translator,” and repeated the entire speech in English for the officials from outside the district.
Their power and conviction were infectious and inspiring.
These are the women of Pader, whose resilience and strength helped them survive the conflict and now fuel their commitment to rebuild their communities. These are the women I began working with during my internship with Peace For All INTERNATIONAL, the women who became my teachers, my mentors.
Peace does not exist simply because emergency is over
Together we created the Women’s Governance and Peacebuilding Project and the Youth Empowerment Project. The goals of these projects are to support and facilitate the women and youth of the district of Pader so that they can:
- gain governance authority and economic stability;
- take part in development and peacebuilding processes; and
- reduce the propensity of people to engage in violent or risky behaviours (e.g., drugs, alcohol, crime, etc.) as a response to trauma and stress
If you would like to assist the efforts of the incredible women of the Grassroots Women’s Coalition and the work of Peace For All INTERNATIONAL, please visit www.peaceforallinternational.org and make a donation to the Pader Projects.
In short, these programs address the structural and psychosocial issues within society that prevent real peace, including inequality, lack of respect for human rights, poverty, post-traumatic stress and the inability to access education.
With the help of these mentors, I have come to understand that peace and human security are inextricably linked and that peace does not exist simply because the emergency phase is over.
This experience has solidified my commitment to working in post-conflict: the long, slow phase where lasting peace is built. Next year I plan to return to Uganda to support the implementation of these projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment