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My Sister’s Keeper: Aiming to Catalyze Women across the Globe

By Kathryn Martorana

July 20, 2007

My Sister’s Keeper (MSK) is a faith-based and multi-racial organization that strives to assist, protect and advocate for Southern Sudanese women who live in Gogrial County.

In the summer of 2001, four women – African Methodist Episcopal minister and pediatrician Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, WBZ-TV news anchor Liz Walker, President of One Vision and the Harvard Divinity School seminarian Cynthia Bell, and Senior Advisor on Strategy to The Barr Foundation Patricia Brandes – traveled to Sudan with European-based Christian Solidarity International in order to gather information on slave redemption. Later that year, these women founded MSK with the intention to give a voice to the women of Sudan; to hear their testimonies, listen to their needs, and support their aspirations for economic, educational, and physical vitality [1]. The programs and activities sponsored by the organization include supporting an all-girls school in the Sudanese village of Akon, providing grinding mills and implementing youth and adult literacy programs for both females as well as males.

The United Nations Gender Development Index (GDI), which is a component of the United Nations Human Development 2006 Report, ranks Sudan 129th out of 136 countries with respect to gender inequality [2]. MSK works to better women’s life by addressing problems locally. In 2005, MSK collaborated with an all-girls school to provide training for teachers, feeding programs, school supplies, and a new school building [3]. Before the MSK initial implementation, students had been taught outdoors without a formal educational setting. A majority of the girls had arrived to school undernourished making it difficult for them to retain the material that they were learning.

MSK, along with the community advisory council, was also able to conduct a community assessment. The assessment brought to light various obstacles barring a quality educational atmosphere for young girls. Following the results, the organization worked with parents, children, and community leaders to create a comprehensive strategy to most effectively combat the scourge of illiteracy that they saw as a major disadvantage to the empowerment of women. Some 90% of the Akon women are illiterate and only 20% of female children receive an education. According to Amie Cressman, an MSK volunteer, “the girls’ school encourages education so marriage may be delayed”. Therefore, the young girls become more aware of the world and their own rights [4].

In response to a request by women in the villages of Paliet and Akon, MSK agreed to provide grinding mills to the community. For the women, access to these grinding mills will substantially decrease the amount of time spent preparing food. Consequently, access to the mills allows them to pursue other business or educational endeavors such as participating in the Women’s Peace School.

The Women’s Peace School (WPS) was established in order to combat the crisis of adult illiteracy. The WPS implementation strategy has a two pronged approach to ensure project sustainability and community ownership. The first component is to build human capacity through training teachers in educational and managerial skills. The second part is to cooperate with local leaders and students to determine the curriculum, schedule, personnel, and school name. Thus, all aspects of this learning program were orchestrated by the Sudanese people to guarantee maximum community ownership.

The subjects, determined by the participants, cover English literacy, local language (mother tongue) literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Life Skills. Additionally, the broader community has been a significant component in supporting the work of the school by contributing supplies, preparing food, and choosing the teachers. According to Proliteracy Worldwide, an organization which recently awarded MSK a $2000 grant, women account for two out of three illiterate adults in the world. In 2000, there were 236 million more illiterate women than men worldwide [5].

The IIJD strongly supports the programs and activities of My Sister’s Keeper. By working at the grass-roots level and in close connection with the community, MSK is best able to gauge the needs and concerns of the region afflicted poverty that is largely caused by poor governance in Sudan. We believe that MSK exemplifies the participatory approach to development, which is vital to any kind of sustainability. While the MSK programs empower women, solutions to community problems are being implemented. The vision of MSK coincides with the IIJD mission of empowering African communities to become productive members of society. We encourage their continued efforts to create and sustain vibrant and joyous communities in the Sudan [6].