Girls in the world's newest nation answer your questions

The world welcomed a new nation on July 9, 2011 when South Sudan seceded from Sudan after a long and brutal civil war.  The International Rescue Committee has been providing humanitarian assistance in the region for more than 20 years, with a special emphasis on working to protect and empower women and girls.

 

Despite the optimism that blossomed with independence, South Sudan remains one of the world’s toughest places to be a woman. As IRC country director Susan Purdin explains, it’s a country that has “some of the world's highest maternal and child mortality rates, lowest rates of literacy and where women and girls suffer alarming levels of violence, abuse and oppression.”

So what’s it like to be a girl growing up in South Sudan today?  Recently we asked IRC supporters what they would like to ask South Sudanese girls about their daily lives, their hopes and dreams, and the challenges they face. We then shared the questions they posted on Facebook and Twitter with groups of adolescent girls we work with in Juba, South Sudan’s bustling capital city; Malualkon, a rural town in Northern Bahr el Ghazal province near the Sudanese border; and Rumbek, the capital of rural Lakes State in central South Sudan. [map]

What did the girls want to talk about most of all? School. Some of them are older than their classmates because they had to start their education later: The civil war kept many children out of the classroom – and after the conflict ended their parents found they couldn’t afford school fees, or that they needed their daughters to help around the house or to tend to the family's livestock in cattle camps out on the plains.

 

Some of the girls said they also worry that they will have to leave school early to get married. Forced marriages are common in South Sudan and are often arranged in exchange for a dowry of cattle – an important currency in a country with few banks. 

 

Here are the girls' own answers to some of the many great questions you asked: 

 

 

I wake up early in the morning and clean the compound, sweep and wash the utensils. Then I go to school.
 

 

When I wake up in the morning, I cook tea for the family and sweep the house and compound. After that I go to the market to buy food for the family and then I come back to cook. After I finish cooking, I wash clothes for the family. And then in the evening I cook dinner and I go to bed. 
 

 

Q: What are your favorite foods?  Asked by Bill Bullock

 

I like eating groundnuts, rice, and milk

- Helen Sora Majok,14, Rumbek

 

Rice, beans, pizza and hot dogs

- Nancy Belly,11, Juba

 

Beans, bananas, oranges and mangoes

- Gloria Diaingwo,14, Juba 
 

 

Q: What makes you feel happy? What brings you the deepest joy in your life? Asked by Emily George

 

I feel happy because I am in school and my parents are helping me.

- Susan Aker, 17, Rumbek 

 

What makes me feel happy is that I wake up healthy in the morning and go to school without any problem. I am happy with the time I share with my brother and sister at home.

 

 

When I read storybooks, watch cartoons and listen to music

- Clara Poni,14, Juba 

 

When my father encourages me to study hard.

- Grace Isaiah,16, Juba 

 

When I pass exams.
 

 

 

Q: What games do you like to play with your friends?  Asked by Ali Corbacio

 

I like playing volleyball and joking with friends.

- Susan Aker, 17, Rumbek 

 

I like to play clapping games with my friends.  We go and make the younger girls laugh and also teach them how to play.
 

 

 

Q: What in your life is most precious (or important) to you? Asked by Bonnie Moseley

 

That my parents love me and support my education.

- Sarah Banasuo,16, Juba

There’s nothing more important to me than education. My parents encourage me to finish my education and become someone important.

- Monica Anoc, 14 , Malualkon 

 

Q: What is the biggest health problem or need where you live?  Asked by Susan Pfretzschner

 

The biggest health problem here is malaria which has been breaking out since the rainy season. Also there are complications in pregnancy, and diseases like HIV/AIDS.
 

 

We have a lot of people suffering from malaria, cough and TB, and a lot of diarrhea cases sometimes.
 

 

Q: Do you speak freely, without any fear, to your parents, brothers, sisters, and relatives at home? 

I speak freely with my mum about boys who are bothering me.

- Vivian, 17, Juba 

Yes, I speak to my mum about education and what I want to become in future.

- Hellen Emmanuella, 13, Juba 

 

 

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up? Asked by Abebe Kebede and Alex Christensen
 

 

I personally want to be a doctor. I would like women to be involved in politics as well.
 

 

Sometimes there are no jobs, so when you finish school you help the parents at home. I want to be a minister for finance.
 

 

When I finish my school I will become either a pilot or a doctor.
 

 

Q: What are your greatest challenges to achieving your dreams? Asked by Dave Huish and Kristin Ruether

 

I would want my parents to continue paying my school fees and allow me to complete my education, rather than giving me to men for cows.
 

 

 

Q: Do you notice many differences between life in South Sudan and Sudan, or are the borders the only thing that has changed?  Asked by Kjersten Kruzemissile

 

Yes, there is a difference because now girls have been enrolled in schools, which did not happen before.

- Susan Aker, 17, Rumbek
 

 

Q: What are your hopes for your country in the next 5-10 years? Asked by Traci Schwartz

 

I would like South Sudan to have some chance as a new nation -- no more conflict like in the past that kills a lot of people. I want education and good living conditions for everyone.

- Monica Anoc, 14,  Malualkon 

I would like South Sudan to be a good nation that gives every girl like me access to education and health services, and a peaceful living environment in good living conditions.

- Regina Anger, 11,  Mulualkon 

I want our country to be developed like Uganda. We can make it if men and women cooperate.

- Mary Ciguen, 16, Rumbek

 

Q: How can you participate in that change?

 

When I have a better education then my voice will be heard.

- Asunta Nyimeda, 14,  Malualkon
 

 

 

 

I would want the government of South Sudan to involve women in jobs – and to help them in developing the nation to be like other developed countries, like Uganda and Kenya.

- Helen Sora Majok, 14, Rumbek
 

 

 

There is respect among South Sudanese women.
 

 

The IRC is working with communities in South Sudan to raise awareness of women’s rights and to end practices like forced marriage and early pregnancy that are harmful to women and girls.  Through girls’ clubs the IRC is helping teens build confidence, leadership skills and financial savvy, and learn about ways to keep themselves safe. We also provide counseling, medical care and legal support for women and girls who have experienced sexual violence, and encourage conversations between men and women about ways to prevent violence at home. Learn more about our work in South Sudan.>>