as it rebuilds from a long civil war. With our
, women in communities like Bambala — a village near the border with Sierra Leone — are learning to read, write and play a more prominent role in civic life. In January 2010, we spoke with Marietta M. Williams, executive director of the
(UMWAEO), which coordinates these literacy courses in partnership with local imams.
Life for women during the civil war very miserable, because these women were vulnerable. Their husbands were on the battlefield, and they were at home finding food for their children and for their husbands. And at the same time the fighters were all over the country, preventing these women to go around to look for food for their children. Schools were closed. There were no hospitals. Women died in childbirth and so many things women underwent.
Now the war is over. Some of those problems have gone away, but you still have other problems. What are those?
The problem that we actually have is illiteracy. The illiteracy among our rural women is about 95 percent, which if organizations like TrustAfrica could tackle will be for the betterment of this country. Illiteracy, again, the women need skills training, because if you are educated at least you will be able to do something for your livelihood. So these are the problems that are faced by the women here.
If women’s rights are denied, what will happen to Liberia?
If women’s rights are denied, we will come to square A again. There will be more problems, because women actually are supporting hands to men. So women have to be able to have these rights for them to be able to know what is good for them, for them to engage into development, and for them to do something for themselves and for their homes.
Sometimes men are resistant to women organizing and going to school and getting literacy and fighting for women’s rights like this. But here I see many men and boys who seem to be supportive of it.
The men are here today because of our presence in this community. For the past six months, since TrustAfrica told us to come here to sensitize this community, we have been sensitizing both men and women. Even though the project was for women, we felt that men had to be part of it because the women have been marginalized by these men.
Have you seen things improve besides literacy since this program began?
Yes, things have improved. Women are now talking for themselves. They have known about their rights and responsibilities. They have known now they have the rights to own property. They have the rights to go to school, and they have the rights to engage in businesses. They even have the rights to meet as a group to discuss issues affecting them in the communities.
