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INSIDE AFRICA

Women of Africa

Aired November 11, 2006 - 12:30:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FEMI OKE, ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Femi Oke. This is INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly look at life and news on the continent.
This week, we look at how the continent's women are forging their way past ancient traditions or beliefs and tremendous violence. A recent United Nations report emphasizes that violence against women, in the home or elsewhere, is a violation of their human rights. The report says that, "violence against women stops them from fulfilling their potential, restricts economic growth and undermines development."

Jeff Koinange reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They sing to comfort each other and to find strength. These mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters have all been raped again and again by men in uniform.

The crimes are not isolated incidents. 21-year old Thinci (ph) was attacked by 15 men wearing uniforms of the Congolese army. She says they raped her for eights days and eights nights. She was brought here on a stretcher. Now she needs a cane to walk.

"They can take away my womanhood," she says," but they will never be able to break my spirit."

The stories get even worse. 28-year old Henriette Nota (ph) says three years ago she was gang-raped while her husband and four children were forced to watch. The soldiers then disemboweled her husband and continued raping her and her two oldest daughters, ages 8 and 10. This went on for three days, she says.

"I wish they could have killed me right there along with my husband," she says. "What use am I now? Why did those animals leave me to suffer like this?"

Officials here say this past year, there were more than 4,000 reported rape cases in this one province of the eastern Congo alone. An average of 12 women arrive here at the rehab center for treatment every single day.

As part of the peace deal that ended the civil war here more than two years ago, the country's various militias were integrated into the army. The men in uniform now rape at will.

Dr. Dennis Muquege Mukengere (ph) is the lone physician at this hospital that specializes in victims of sexual violence. In his 23 years practicing in this region, he admits he's never seen such brutality.

"When we hear stories of how some of them have knives thrust into them after being raped," he says, "and how some suffered gunshot wounds after a pistol has been fired between their legs, it's the cruelest and most barbaric thing I have ever seen."

Here, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it's easy to find the victims of rape, but Amnesty International and private donors say there seems to be no effort to find the rapists.

And so, the women of this country must try to heal without justice. It makes the words of their song all the more powerful: "We will never be broken," they sing, "we will never be broken."

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Mukubu, in eastern Congo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: Violence against women is not limited to times of civil unrest or war. Daily crime and domestic abuse is also taking its toll, but some women are taking their safety into their own hands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKE (voice-over): Singing for Umoja, an all-female sanctuary set up for Samburu women running from sexual abuse in their household.

Run by Rebecca Lalasole (ph) in northern Kenya, she hopes to provide a safe haven for both old and young women from domestic rape, abuse that stems from arranged marriages and payments of dowries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are the property of the husband, and they always say the wife is just like this, and they (inaudible) they can't replace it.

OKE: Another sanctuary for abused women, Nairobi Women's Hospital, deals with up to 15 rape cases a day. Whether domestic or not, police say rape is Kenya's second highest crime.

One 22-year old victim woke up one night to find her attackers in her living room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was trying to resist, but (inaudible) they will kill us. So, for me, I removed my clothes and my sister - all of us removed our clothes and were naked. These guys -- these three men, and they raped us.

OKE: 45 percent of victims treated here are under 16 years old. Some are victims to the belief that sex with a young virgin is a cure for AIDS.

SAM THENYA, NAIROBI WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: But we've seen increasingly higher numbers of very young - young as12 months being sexually abused. So that is one of the biggest problems.

And the other one that we've seen is the one associated with insecurity, where virtually almost every robbery or any carjacking is associated with rape.

OKE: A new sexual offences bill pushed through parliament this year by Njoki Ndung'u, one of Kenya's 18 female MPs, offers another refuge for abused women, but Njoki sees the need for further change.

NJOKI NDUNG'U, PARLIAMENTARY MEMBER: I just think that women still in this country are second-class citizens, and that is because of formal and informal discrimination. Even at (inaudible) institution, women are second-class citizens. For example, women cannot transfer their (inaudible) to their children, but men can. Also, parts of our constitution do allow customary law, or cultural practices to supercede human rights law.

OKE: Umoja has built a fence to keep both the animals and cultural law out, helped by international charities and tourism to sustain their independence.

Despite setting up a neighboring village to keep watch over their women, the men have failed to take their women back. Tired of being bought and sold like livestock, the women of Umoja have escaped and managed to close the door behind them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: And that report was produced by Christian Purefoy. To find out more about the Umoja village, visit the Web site for the U.S. charity that supports the women. That's at www.madre.org, that's www.madre.org.

Stay with us, because later in the program, we'll take you back to Kenya to find out how one woman is literally shining light on crime.

Also coming up, they follow one of Egypt traditional matchmakers into the slums of Cairo to look for teenage brides. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OKE: Good to see you again. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.

The ancient and controversial custom of child marriage is still practiced around the world. Despite international agreement and national laws, the United Nations says tens of millions of girls under 18 are given away in arranged marriages each year. And as Shahira Amin reports, the union often comes at the cost of an education.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHAHIRA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Omma Mohammed (ph) lives in Cairo's slum district of (inaudible). She's visited practically every home in this neighborhood, and is on first-name basis with the residents. She is a midwife and traditional matchmaker, what is known here as a hatbah (ph)

"There will always be couples wanting to tie the not," she jokingly tells us. "In the rural communities girls marry very early, at 13 or 14. Girls who reach the age of 16 and are still unmarried worry that they may end up being spinsters," she says.

Today, Omma Mohammed (ph) is visiting the mother of a 13-year old girl, and is showing her photographs of a prospective groom for her daughter. He is a wealthy trader at the Rodel Farag (ph) market, and he is willing to pay a handsome bride prize, she coaxes. He is more than twice the girl's age, and already married with six children.

IMAN BAYBARS, ASSOC. FOR DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN: There are no specific national studies about the prevalence. However, the trend is that it is much more focused in upper Egypt, in the rural areas, and mainly also in the urban areas in squatter areas, which are very poor.

AMIN: ADEW, the organization Baybars runs, is one of several NGOs working to empower women and girls.

BAYBARS: We work with the girls to provide them with basic skills, literacy, functional literacy, and also technical skills, so that they can start a business or take a credit, and thus become more powerful in the family.

AMIN: Lack of awareness, illiteracy and preserving family honor are some of the reasons behind early marriages. But the overriding reason is economic strife. For low-income families, marrying off a daughter simply means one less mouth to feed.

Moushira Khattab is secretary-general of the state-owned National Council for Children and Mothers, the NCCM. She believes education is key to tacking the problem.

MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, NATL. COUNCIL OF MOTHERS: If we can ensure that every girl goes to school and is attracted to the school and remains in school and that her family sees a value in sending her to school, this is very effective in stopping early marriages.

AMIN: It is exactly for this reason NCCM has set up water cold girl- friendly schools in remote areas of the country. The schools, like this one, just outside Cairo, offer girls age 6 to 14 who have dropped out of school a second chance at learning, and perhaps even a new lease on life.

14-year old Islass (ph) is a student at the Ritter (ph) school, but she may have to quit soon, as she's now engaged to be married.

"I don't want to get married now, I'm too young," she tells us. "I want to stay on at school instead and later become a teacher."

But old habits are hard to break, which keeps women like Omma Mohammed (ph) and other hatbahs in the business of matchmaking.

For INSIDE AFRICA, Shahira Amin, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: What some consider an initiation ritual others consider an act of violence. The practice of female circumcision remains one of the oldest and most controversial rituals in the world. Nari Alansi (ph) has a look at the history and development of the practice.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): It's a right of passage, symbolizing the moment when a girl becomes a woman and begins the journey towards marriage and childbirth.

The United Nations says millions of girls in Africa and around the world undergo some form of circumcision every year.

TANA BIEN-AIME, EQUALITY NOW: If you look at a map of Africa and you start from Egypt and you swoop to the Horn of Africa, with the swath across sub-Saharan Africa, there are 28 countries where FGM is practiced.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FGM - female genital mutilation, as circumcision is called by its critics, dates back thousands of years.

BIEN-AIME: Some people believe that it started in Egypt, that actually Cleopatra was infibulated. So it transcends religion. Again, people often assume that it is linked to Islam or other religions, but in fact it's not based in any religious text, including the Bible or the Koran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taina Bien-Aime of Equality Now says the practice is seen as an act of love, the kind of gift from a mother to her daughter.

In communities where virginity is prized, a mother also ensures her daughter will marry and not be cast out.

Female genital cutting, as it also called, takes on many different forms, from the removal of the clitoris to the removal of all the external genitalia. But this can lead to painful physical consequences, including chronic infections, pain, infertility, and even death.

In the past decade, the United Nations has openly condemned female genital mutilation as a harmful tradition that abuses the rights of girls and women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was doing it automatically, and when I learned about human rights and the problems I was causing, that's when I suddenly realized this is something we didn't have to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirteen African nations have passed laws against the practice, and many organizations are combating it on the grassroots level. But others say female genital cutting serves as an important initiation rite, and that any efforts to stop it have to take that into account.

Alternative rituals are being introduced in countries like Ghana and Kenya that do not include circumcision, but mark a girl's transition into womanhood with other rituals or celebrations.

In the end, individual communities and families will have to decide whether or not to leave this age-old tradition in the past.

Nari Alansi (ph) for INSIDE AFRICA.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: There is more to come on INSIDE AFRICA. Just ahead:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think profits drive me, results do. Positive results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKE: We'll have the details on this Kenyan entrepreneur's simple but brilliant idea, when we come back. See you in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKE (voice-over): Bucking a tradition, women are quietly and steadily assuming larger leadership roles across Africa. Liberia's boasts Africa's first elected woman president, Mozambique have a female prime minister. South Africa has a female vice president and a foreign minister. In Burundi, South Africa and Mozambique, women hold at least 30 percent of the legislative seats. And where Sweden and Norway once claimed the world's highest percentage of female lawmakers, that distinction now belongs to Rwanda, where women hold nearly 50 percent of the seats in parliament.

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OKE: Good to see you again, you're watching INSIDE AFRICA.

Now, while women are all making strides towards equality, in many areas of Africa there's still progress to be made. Earlier this week, I spoke with Colleen Lowe Morna, executive director of Gender Links in South Africa. We talked about women's rights and protections.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLEEN LOWE MORNA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GENDER LINKS SOUTH AFRICA: I think on paper, we've come a very long way. Constitutions in many countries in southern Africa, for instance, do give protection for women's rights, to promote gender equality. We've seen an awful lot of laws being passed, laws that deal specifically with domestic violence and sexual abuse. But I think the gap is between, you know, the rhetoric and the reality. If we look at southern Africa, we look at South Africa for example, we have this wonderful progressive country and constitution and laws, and yet each year we see an increase in the levels of gender violence, and so that's telling us we're still sitting with the serious problem.

OKE: So, how do we get better rights for women in Africa? If the laws are there in some cases, the representation is there, sometimes better than in the West, but nothing is really happening on the grassroots level.

MORNA: Yeah. I think - well, probably we need to go back and say, what is the root cause of gender violence? For me, you know, violence is an expression of the unequal relations, unequal power relations between women and men. And clearly, we're still sitting with the situation in which despite these levels of representation in parliament, you have huge gaps between women and men socially, economically, politically and in every other way.

There are no quick fixes, there are no short-term solutions to this. We have to work on empowering women. We have to work on empowering women economically. We know that in itself is not a panacea, but we also know that if women are empowered economically, then their chances of being able to deal with this, to be less abused, obviously are much higher.

OKE: Just looking at the news stories that have come out just in this week: In Nairobi, a group stormed the constitutional review asking for one-third of female representations, and we have a domestic violence bill that was passed this week in Zimbabwe. In Nigeria, women's and civil rights groups were asking for the protocol on the rights of women to be enforced, and I'm getting a feeling that there is some kind of a movement going on. Could this be akin to what happened in the 1970s in the West?

MORNA: Well, I think you put your finger on it. To the extent that anyone is making a noise about women's rights and agitating and pushing and so forth, it is grassroots women's organizations, civil society groups that are working and banding together, and indeed the U.N. secretary-general's report acknowledges that if it hadn't been for civil society organizations, you know, governments would not acknowledge the fact that women's rights are still being so blatantly violated everywhere in the world.

Right now, groups across our region anywhere preparing for the 16 days of activism on gender violence. That starts on the 25th of November, International Day of No Violence Against Women, and runs until the 10th of December, Human Rights Day. And we see an incredible amount of activity at this time. We see people marching, we see debates, we see dialogues going on. We see accountability forums, bringing politicians to ask them, you know, what they have done.

This year, a particular theme that's running throughout the region is called "Taking Back the Night." It's (inaudible) international campaign, that again (inaudible), which is women in communities looking at streets and spaces which they feel that they have lost to crime and violence, and demanding those spaces back, and saying that women actually have a right to enjoy every space, everywhere during the day and during the night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: That was Colleen Lowe Morna, executive director of Gender Links in South Africa.

One woman in particular is working to give women back the streets from criminals. Christian Purefoy has her story from Kenya.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the heavy duty answer to lighting Kenya's slum, and one that is shedding light on a capital's rampant rapes and muggings. A survey says crime drops by nearly 10 percent, in some areas even more, when stable, permanent lighting is introduced to an area.

That's the reality that is prompting Kenyan Esther Passaris, owner of adopt-a-light business, to set them up for free.

ESTHER PASSARIS, ADOPT-A-LIGHT: My first encounter with a woman who was a victim in the slums was very, very painful, because she wasn't really angry she was raped. She was angry she didn't know her rapist. And she hasn't moved from that slum. Majority of people move from a slum. She stays in Muhuru (ph), in the hope that one day, she'll find out who raped her. Chances are she never will. But for me, her whole life has stopped there.

PUREFOY: Joyce, who has lived in the slums for five years, explains how she's often beaten in the dark hours of the morning on her way to work and is too scared to venture out at night.

Not afraid to get her feet dirty, Esther has succeeded where others inside and outside governments have failed.

Esther now maintains over 2,000 street lights. Each light costs $1,200 a piece, nearly $2.5 million worth. Each is paid for by the advertisements attached to them. Every light adopted by a business.

PASSARIS: As I said, I'm a social entrepreneur. I don't think profits drive me. Results do. Positive results. And I think in Africa, we have a big problem: Poverty and the social divide. If I can narrow that social divide, then I think my purpose in life will have been served.

PUREFOY: Not only has the business been successful in lighting Nairobi's roads, but also the daily lives of Kenyans themselves.

PASSARIS: You know, they dance for everybody, and they also dance for people that are not deserving. So I would like to believe that the dance they gave me was worth their while, because eventually, I will have lit up their lives.

PUREFOY: Christian Purefoy, CNN, Nairobi, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: You know what I love about Esther? It doesn't matter where she's going, how muddy and dirty it is, she always looks pristine and stylish.

Now, that's almost it for this week's show. The INSIDE AFRICA team would like to hear from you, though. So please, send us your pictures, videos or email and tell us about your Africa. Whether you've visited the continent recently or whether you call it your home, we want to share your impressions of Africa with the world.

You can send them to insideafrica@cnn.com. That's insideafrica@cnn.com.

That really is it for this week's program. Next week we'll be following Jeff Koinange as he heads back to the Democratic Republic of Congo, just ahead of the election results. So do join us for that.

Please let INSIDE AFRICA be your window to the continent. I'm Femi Oke. Until the next time, take care.

END

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