Weaving Solidarity with Sudanese Women
VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2, JUNE 2007
In March 2005, the World March of Women began a global journey which took them from Brazil to Burkina Faso and many countries in between to share the Women's Global Charter for Humanity. In each country, women illustrated their vision of an ideal world on a piece of cloth that was eventually sewn into a Global Solidarity Quilt. The quilt was displayed at the World Social Forum in Kenya in January 2007. Inter Pares' counterpart in Sudan, the Gender Centre for Research and Training, participated in making the Sudanese component of the quilt. During a recent visit to Sudan, staff member Caroline Boudreau talked to Sudanese women about their participation in the quilt-making, and their wider struggle to build relationships of mutual support and solidarity. Below, we share an excerpt from Caroline's travel journal.
"I was so touched when I saw the photograph of our Sudanese fabric as part of the World March of Women's quilt at the World Social Forum in Nairobi. Even though I could not see it in person, I felt that we were also there," said Omaima El-Mardi, founding member of the Gender Centre for Research and Training. She was elated to see that after months of effort, a little piece of cloth - the dmouria made of traditional Sudanese cotton produced by women in poor areas - had finally been sewn together with other patches from all around the world into a global quilt.
My Sudanese colleagues had very much wanted to join me at the World Social Forum meeting in Nairobi, but with the continuing challenges of life in Sudan, including the difficulty in obtaining travel visas, it was not possible. Though a photograph was as close as they came to the quilt, in many ways it was enough. Their contribution, this one small piece of fabric, revealed so many stories of Sudanese women's resistance and courage.
During my last evening in Khartoum, Omaima told me the story of how the patch was created. Thirty Sudanese women from different organizations, regions, ethnicities, languages, and religions came together to discuss what would be represented on their dmouria, and to weave it together. In an ongoing situation of political repression, these women worked to overcome their differences and celebrate their diversity, rebuilding bridges and relationships that had been torn apart by years of war, mistrust, marginalization, and oppression.
Together we are weaving a shared commitment to women's active citizenship and full participation... for a peaceful and democratic Sudan.
Working together on the quilt is deeply symbolic of Sudanese women's tenacity. Ten years ago, during one of the most repressive periods for women in Sudan, Omaima and five other Sudanese women activists created the Gender Centre. Each woman brought her fears and her hopes, her past and her future, and together they forged bonds of profound solidarity, working to create something new - a Centre to promote and protect women's rights in Sudan. Inter Pares has had the privilege of joining the growing number of individuals and organizations who work with the Gender Centre, and together we are weaving a shared commitment to women's active citizenship and full participation in social, cultural, economic, and political life in a peaceful and democratic Sudan.
Through a piece of Sudanese dmouria, women from Darfur, from Khartoum, from the Nuba mountains, from southern Sudan and from eastern Sudan, became linked to one another, and to a global movement for women's rights. In this Bulletin, we share with you the inspiration and the determination of our friends from the Gender Centre, who in the face of adversity are struggling to unite and create a better future for all.
Please click here to view the interview with Omaima El-Mardi from the Gender Centre for Research and Training, who talks about her involvement with the World March of Women and the importance of international solidarity for Sudanese women.
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| Reviewed June 11, 2007 |  |
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