“The empowerment of women in Nyiragongo; a struggle with many names”
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Many times, our staff spends most of their time in the field, alongside the communities. These moments are rich in experiences and observations, and they allow us to continually question the necessity, the scope and the impact of our actions with vulnerable communities. These staffs often go there with an observer's eye and an open mind to experience the realities of the populations. Some of them already tell us about what they encounter and what they experience. From now on, we will present you this "Testimonies" section, in which our staffs tell, with an obvious relevance, what they meet on their way. We begin this section with our Senior Officer Monitoring. She had the opportunity to meet young girls who are beneficiaries of our 'Twa weza Shinda' project and who are learning cutting and sewing, and aesthetics. She tells us about it in this post.
They are all between 13 and 25 years old and do not have a high level of education. Most of them have attended school but have not had the chance to go far due to the economic precariousness of their families, the lack of ambition or cultural constraints such as early marriage.
They live in the peri-urban area located in the territory of Nyiragongo and the city of Goma. An area decimated by the last lava of the Nyiragongo volcano. But before, Buhene, because it is the zone that we are talking about, is a red zone from the security point of view and from the point of view of cohabitation between communities. But even there, these young girls see no limits. They want to be autonomous. Deeply autonomous.
After dropping out of school at an early age, they had to find a way to organize themselves, especially financially. They had two choices: either to get married to depend on their husbands or to learn a trade so as not to be dependent on their parents.
"Growing up means knowing how to take care of yourself," says Chanceline, one of the students in Esthetics. "I stopped my studies in Secondary 4 because my parents could not find the school fees and now I have to find money so that I am not dependent on my mother anymore. I would like to be able to afford my lotion, my slippers and clothes.
At first sight, trade seems to be the first alternative, since rural work is no longer accessible to everyone. Thus, they devote themselves to the sale of units, sugar cane, and also try the profession of the girls of the households but do not support the treatments which are often dehumanizing. But in experimenting with trade, they tell us they realize that the profit seems insignificant given the time and energy devoted to it, coupled with the many normalized hassles unfortunately. They are therefore turning more and more to innovative trades.
Most of them want to learn less financially demanding jobs to start with but still productive, hence the choice of hairdressing, while others, more ambitious, choose sewing because they are fascinated by fashion at their young age.
Alice reveals: "My parents are farmers and I help them in the field, we grow the potatoes we eat and we also sell them to get money. Personally, I like all manual labor, but when I think about how long it will take me to get a field to cultivate and earn my own money to meet my needs, I become discouraged. For the moment it is not obvious but I find it good that I know how to weave so that whenever I have the money I will meet my needs and when I am married I will not become a burden to my husband."
Well, this is indeed the question of marriage, omnipresent and inescapable in the exchanges with these girls. It also raises cultural concerns. With a population that is essentially Kumu and Nande, families are more or less conservative in their customs and not very flexible to mixing.
Kumu men are mostly polygamous, and solidarity between wives in marriage is a daily task. They add: "Among the Kumu, it is preferable for a girl to live in concubinage or to be the nth wife of a man than to be a mother-daughter because it is a shame and a burden for the family and it reduces her chance of finding a husband and if by chance she does find one, he will have less regard for her person. But for the Nande girls, the custom is tolerant towards the daughter-mothers, they can live in the family and find a husband. This is often the subject of their talks. What is impressive is that the group is composed of young girls from both communities, the conclusions of these talks often lead them to the need for real empowerment for the girls that they are.
During the practice they take time to advise each other.
Towards the end of the session, as we were leaving, Charline, also a victim of the recent Nyiragongo eruption, and one of the few brides in the group, motivated her fellow learners. She says it in the local language, but one of them helps us translate: "I am learning this trade as a married woman to help my husband improve the household economy. We lost our homes and I lost my business. Now we have to start all over again. If I stay without doing anything, as I didn't study much, I don't feel proud of myself. Now, since I started the training, I sometimes get customers who give me 10,000 CFA francs and this helps me to contribute to the ration of my home. Do you see my friends? As my little sisters, I must tell you never to neglect your work, but rather to value it and take advantage of it.
Training in cutting and sewing requires time for a good command of measurements for cutting and flexibility for sewing but also imagination or accuracy for the production of clothing models. The loincloth is the most sewn fabric because it symbolizes for the African woman. This influences its marketing.
Léa, 21 years old, dropped out of school in the 5th grade of humanities (math-physics) due to lack of funds, although she dreamed of becoming a doctor. During the personal interviews, she confided in me: "Instead of staying at home doing nothing, I prefer to learn a trade as life has not allowed me to realize my dream. When I can sew very well, my customers will pay me and I will have money to meet my own needs and help my family. For a long time I wanted to learn cutting and sewing but I couldn't because my parents are not able to pay the fees for the training but now that I have found one again for free, I must take advantage of it and finish with a minimum of knowledge."
The ambitions of all these beneficiaries are great. They transcend cultural differences and frequent obstacles. I testify to their courage and their desire to succeed. In order to make this a reality, AGIR-RDC allows for training in entrepreneurship and financial management in parallel to the training in the trade, which allows these young girls to have a solid foundation so that their momentum is for good. They will succeed and change the course of history in their community. I know this for a fact because I have been there, I know this for a fact because I have shared their hearts with them, I know this for a fact because I have witnessed their determination and their certainty that they will never go backwards again. I am sure of it for having been there to meet these young girls of hope.