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A PLACE TO TALK:
A RESPONSE TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN SOUTH DARFUR
In the past two years, the town of Kass in South Darfur has
changed dramatically. From a small town of 35,000, the population
has nearly tripled as an additional 55,000 internally displaced
people (IDPs) have poured into Kass, fleeing their villages
to escape violence and the fear of future conflict. These
new arrivals have constructed makeshift huts throughout Kass:
next to the homes of permanent residents, in empty buildings,
or in empty lots surrounding the town’s public buildings.
Women and children comprise the largest portion of the displaced
in Kass, and following the deaths or disappearances of close
male relatives, many of these women are coping for the first
time as heads of household. There is an urgent need for income-generating
opportunities for these women so that they can support themselves
and their families. At the same time, however, many women
have been direct victims of the conflict through sexual assault
and trauma. Promoting women’s personal and economic recovery
and their continuing health are the twin aims of the IRC’s
Women’s Center in Kass. |
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Operated by the IRC with the aid of
the Robert P. Del Conte Memorial Fund, the center
is a venue where women can meet other women and benefit
from formal and informal interactions. For four full
days each week, with limited activities on market
days, the center provides classes in literacy, nutrition,
math, income generation, and health and hygiene, in
addition to providing a welcoming environment in the
middle of Kass town in a location that is easily accessible
and walled to ensure women’s privacy. |
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The Women’s Center opened its doors in November 2004
as the security situation on the Nyala-Kass road severely
worsened. During the first month-long session, all of the
center’s students were from the 14 IDP camps in Kass
town. At present, however, enrollment in all classes is
open to students from both the IDP and host communities.
In addition to expanding the limited services for the women
of Kass town, this inclusion is part of a broader effort
to avoid creating tension and, more positively, improve
the relationship between the two groups.
The IRC’s new Women’s Health Manager for South
Darfur arrived in Sudan in late April and will work in Kass
evaluating and supporting the innovation of new activities.
In addition to consolidating the classes at the center,
endeavoring to make them and the center’s daily operations
more efficient, the manager will also begin to work more
directly on providing initial services, outreach, and follow-up
for survivors of sexual violence, including emotional support,
case management, and referral to medical and other services.
In this, the IRC will seek to mirror the evolving services
the IRC offers from its women’s center in Kalma Camp
outside Nyala.
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Initially, the center offered one general
education class that concentrated on literacy, but math
and nutrition were also incorporated into the daily
sessions. It soon became clear that additional literacy
classes were required to incorporate new students. By
early March, the center had added a third literacy class
at the introductory level to respond to the needs of
the women of Kass. |
While the original plan had been to provide a four-month
cycle of classes at advancing levels, it became clear that
there was both a continuing demand and need for basic classes
even by those women who had already started to learn but
who would profit by solidifying their knowledge.
Each class of 25 meets five days per week for one month
in two-hour rotations. As with all classes at the Women’s
Center, teachers come both from Kass town and from the displaced
population. All women enrolled at the center receive health,
sanitation, and women’s hygiene education during breaks
from the direct instruction in the other classes. As of
March 2005, over 200 women have been involved in the center’s
formal activities.
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In the center’s income generation
classes, women learn the skills to produce items for
sale in the local market, augmenting their incomes
and improving their self-reliance in what, for many,
may be a very foreign environment. The participants
help determine what income generation skills they
will learn; thus far, there have been classes in weaving
grass mats, pot covers, and wall decorations; embroidery
of tablecloths; crocheting; and knitting.
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Starting in February 2005, a class
began in sewing children’s clothes by machine,
as the planned activity of raising poultry was determined
to be too complicated to implement at the time. Each
course lasts one month; some of the current teachers
are IDP women who first began as students at the center.
When the women finish their course, they can take
home the items they have made. The IRC also furnishes
them with a package of start-up materials to give
them a foothold as they continue to produce items
for sale.
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The Kass Women’s Center has been collaborating closely
with local women’s committees to ensure that initial
training and skills-building activities are adequately supported.
Two women who began work with the IRC through its water
and sanitation interventions in Kass have since also taken
on supervisory roles at the Women’s Center; the center
is now almost entirely operated by the IDPs and host community.
In Kass, the Women’s Center has been a highly effective,
non-threatening, and culturally appropriate way of establishing
trust in the community. As a women’s center, and not
a survivors’ center, it is consequently better placed
to serve those women who are survivors by allowing them
to avoid the stigma that might result if the center were
known to focus entirely on victimized women.
The Kass Women’ Center is a place that welcomes all
women, providing a normalizing environment in which women
are able to obtain support and confidential care in cases
of sexual violence and other women’s health issues,
while also offering a non-stigmatizing environment where
women and girls can build their confidence, improve their
income generating skills, and easily find a social support
network. The Kass center has been accepted by the entire
community, including sheikhs and other community leaders,
as a place that will continue to offer much needed services
that promote the health, development, and psychosocial wellbeing
of the women who have come to call Kass home.
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