Hope, Pain & Patience Hope, Pain & Patience The Lives of Women in South Sudan Published by Fanele – an imprint of Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd in 2011 10 Orange Street Sunnyside/Auckland Park 2092 South Africa +2711 628 3200 Edited by Friederike Bubenzer and Orly Stern www.jacana.co.za © 2011 The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation House Vincent, Wynberg Mews 10 Brodie Road Wynberg 7800 South Africa www.ijr.org.za All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-920196-36-3 Job No. 001540 Cover photograph © Jenn Warren Designed and produced by Jacana Media Set in Sabon 10.5/15pt Printed and bound See a complete list of Jacana titles at www.jacana.co.za Map of North and South Sudan Contents Foreword . vii Acknowledgements Francis M. Deng. x Introduction . xii Acronyms . xxviii South Sudan chronology 1820–2011 . xxx 1 ‘This is how marriage happens sometimes’: Women and marriage in South Sudan Orly Stern . 1 2 ‘We were all soldiers’: Female combatants in South Sudan’s civil war Lydia Stone . 25 3 ‘Sibu ana, sibu ana’ (‘leave me, leave me’): Survivors of sexual violence in South Sudan Anyieth M. D’Awol . 53 4 ‘If you can’t use your hands to make a living…’: Female sex workers in Juba, South Sudan Jolien Veldwijk and Cathy Groenendijk . 79 5 Women and HIV/AIDS in South Sudan Nada Mustafa Ali . 111 6 ‘I cannot give my children what they need’: The voices of mothers in South Sudan Jolien Veldwijk . 139 7 Taking on new challenges: South Sudanese women in service delivery Jane Namadi. 163 8 ‘In power without power’: Women in politics and leadership positions in South Sudan Asha Arabi . 193 9 ‘I was once lost’: South Sudanese women in the diaspora Orly Stern . 215 About the authors . 239 Index . 243 Hope, Pain and Patience Foreword Foreword Francis M. Deng his book is a timely study of an issue of vital importance to Southern TSudan at this critical juncture in the political, economic, social and cultural evolution of the country. It is my firm belief that every society is built on the foundations of a coherent system, whose logic is deeply rooted in its culture, and on the basis of which functional roles are defined and allocated to various categories of community members – men, women, children, elders and leaders. Culture, which provides the normative framework for the social order, is an embodiment of values that have evolved over a long period of time and enjoy wide acceptance and conformity among the members of a community. While cultures are dynamic and change with the imperatives of experience, they also provide predictable standards for prescriptive behaviour. The result is a normative system that is intrinsically conservative and reinforces conformity and continuity. Change then takes the form of discrete reforms, with occasional revolutionary reforms, prompted primarily by crises of grave magnitude. This is the challenge facing Southern Sudan today, having been devastated by half a century of intermittent wars. In traditional Southern Sudanese society, the overriding goal on which the social system was based was immortality through progeny and the continuation of the male line. The lineage and the clan are essentially male- oriented institutions. The value of women and children was seen largely vi vii Hope, Pain and Patience Foreword in terms of how they contributed to this overriding male-oriented goal. apart, and divorce (traditionally abhorred and exceedingly rare) became Immortality through procreation accounted for such institutions as the commonplace – often the result of desertion rather than legally and socially ‘ghost marriage’ by which a relative who dies before marrying has children established procedures. It is hard to put the puzzle of the traditional order begotten by a relative living with his ‘ghost wife’, and the ‘levirate,’ whereby back together. The search for a new logic to the social order has become a widow cohabits with a relative to bear children in the name of the dead imperative. husband. Indigenous Southern Sudanese societies, however, displayed an Hope, Pain and Patience documents a traumatic transition, a societal ambivalent attitude toward women. On the one hand, women are crucial breakdown, and its impact on women striving to make ends meet under to the overriding goal of procreation, carrying and nurturing babies in their devastating circumstances. In the process, and on the positive side, women womb, and nursing and protecting them at the most vulnerable phases of have explored and discovered new opportunities for self-advancement, infant and childhood life. This makes for a particularly emotional attachment especially in areas previously closed to them. The political leadership in the of sons to mothers and husbands to wives. South, during and particularly after the war, has also responded positively Perhaps because of their profound influence on men, sons and to women’s demand for equality by promoting women into important roles husbands, and considering the inequalities of the system against them, and ensuring their adequate representation at all levels of decision-making. especially the institution of polygyny, which provides a breeding ground for This is a vital part of the new logic, necessitated by social upheaval and competitiveness and jealousy, women are feared as intrinsically divisive and devastation, and of the demand for the reconstruction of society based on subversive to the male-oriented values of the lineage and the clan. Husbands new values, that should ensure equitable allocation of power and resources and sons are therefore conditioned to guard against the awesome influence without gender-based discrimination. and divisiveness of their wives and mothers, which threaten the unity and This book is a major contribution, and should be viewed as a piece in solidarity of the lineage and the clan. a puzzle that still needs further documentation towards a comprehensive While the inequities of the system provided grounds for tension and appreciation of what the people of Southern Sudan have gone through, and conflict, these societal values were sacrosanct, and were reinforced by the challenges facing them in building the future. It should be widely read emphasis on communal unity and solidarity, with a strong sense of personal and reflected upon deeply. and collective dignity and pride in the culture and its social order. Since no alternatives were open to the disadvantaged members of the community, Francis M. Deng specifically women and children, conformity was the norm. UN Under-Secretary-General, and Special Adviser to the Secretary- If, as I have argued, radical changes come as a result of dramatic events General on the Prevention of Genocide that challenge the old order and dictate the search for a new logic to justify reform, then the wars that have raged in the South since independence in the 1950s must be a powerful justification for re-thinking the social order and the distribution of roles. These wars have shattered Southern societies, affected women, and transformed their place in society. In many instances, men, especially those who were uprooted as internally displaced persons or forced across international borders as refugees, lost their centre of gravity and fell by the wayside. Women, especially mothers, stepped in and assumed the role of the breadwinners and heads of households. With the breakdown of the old order and its stratifying logic, families began to fall viii ix Hope, Pain and Patience Acknowledgements extend warm thanks to Melissa Riggs for assisting in the editorial process and to Ferdinand von Habsburg and Lona Lowilla who offered useful feedback during the review stages. Special thanks also to Rob Johnson, Karak Mayik Deng, Storm Walsh, Acknowledgements Mai Shuta, Julia Kramer, Richard Rands, Adam Childs, Sharon Hutchinson, Lt Col Zakaria Marol Bol, Siama Chol, Esther Wilson Siria, Kathrin Nutt, Lt Mary Nicholas, Col Agot, Captain Edwina, Mama Lucy Arkello, Regina Nyaguon, Simon Buom, Nyakoba Lam Puka, Nyaruach Nger, Ana Leao, Brigitte Mensah, James Lony, Peter Lam, Tesloach, Lam Kham, Lilian (Lula) Riziq, Florence Bayoa, Adelinde David, Dr Emmanuel Lino, Dr Lul Riek, Abuna Talib, Esther Waters, Dr Lara Tabac, Mama Mary Sakanya, Patrick Kandi Kereyo, Anna Michael and Zinabu Samaro. We are grateful to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Royal Dutch Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA) whose generous support to the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation has enabled us to maintain an ongoing working t is impossible to acknowledge all of the individuals who contributed to presence in the Great Horn of Africa. Ithe process of producing this publication. A number of organisations and Finally we are sincerely grateful to the many women of South Sudan who people generously assisted us in a range of ways in producing this book. shared with us their stories of hope, pain and patience. Colleagues, friends, family and kind strangers from across the world offered inspiration, motivation, challenging thoughts and new ideas. To them, we Friederike Bubenzer and Orly Stern offer our thanks. We wish to emphasise our appreciation for the rigorous and creative work produced by the contributing authors for this publication. Without their enthusiasm, passion and their firm belief in the possibility of a better life for South Sudanese women, this project would not have been possible. We are profoundly grateful for the valuable assistance we received from freelance copy editor Mary Ralphs, who went beyond the call of duty in the creation of this publication. Throughout the project, colleagues at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) provided feedback and support. Particular appreciation is due to IJR volunteer Thandeka Cochrane and project officer Allan Ngari who provided important research support. A special note of thanks also goes to contributing author Lydia Stone for providing outstanding intellectual and logistical assistance throughout the process, and for always being available to answer last-minute queries.