Global Sisterhood Paves the Road to Peace

by Melinda Weekes

Sistergirlfriendhood is powerful.

This re-worked phrase from the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s sums up the ethos of a diverse global network of women working together to realize a peace-filled and just Sudan. Despite the genocide, war, political trickery, and all kinds of rape that characterize Sudan’s present reality, a long-simmering feminine fire has ignited throughout the Sudanese diaspora.

It has sparked a movement of women breaking divisions of religion, race, culture, and geography to insert themselves into the narrative of how Sudan becomes a peaceful country. This network, Sisterhood for Peace, is a project of the faith-inspired action group, My Sister’s Keeper (MSK). Co-sponsoring humanitarian projects, political advocacy, grassroots mobilization, and prayer are the building blocks of MSK’s methodology. Sudan has been its focus since 2001.

Using the work of MSK as a lens, three strategic approaches emerge as essential for our global peace movement:

Collaborative humility

It didn’t matter that our loose band of Boston-based women rallying on behalf of Sudanese women were 9,000 miles away, and even further culturally and socio-economically. We were careful to focus on relationship-building. We engaged the Sudanese as sisters, not subjects, and we listened before acting. We lived in tents in the Sudanese desert; took cues from our hosts regarding workable strategies, and sought out the most influential women in the village as allies.

A collaborative humility — knowing that you don’t know it all, and a willingness to follow the wisdom of indigenous leadership — is what our movement craves. Progressive people of faith and people of faith of color are particularly equipped to draw upon our spirituality, the justice traditions of our faiths, and our historical experiences to redeem the culturally arrogant, colonial approaches of the past.

Women as peace-builders

In early 2010, Sisterhood for Peace galvanized 150 women to sign An Urgent Call for Peace in Darfur, addressed to Djibril Bassolé, the United Nations African Union Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur. They requested a formal invitation to present the letter at the Darfur peace consultations in Doha, Qatar, that summer. The request was denied.

Yet, believing that “well-behaved women seldom make history” (from the title of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s popular 2008 book), eight of the women showed up at the Doha talks — uninvited and undeterred. They met with a surprised Mr. Bassolé, representatives from the several armed movements, the Sudan government, and other stakeholders. Before long, they were asked to extend their trip, proving themselves of considerable value to the negotiation process.

The learning here is simple but requires a radical shift from the status quo: those who bear the brunt of man-made wars — women and children — must be front and center in paving the road to peace. Their perspectives, resources, networks, passion, and skills are powerful and effective.

Girls’ education

Even before the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals were announced in 2000, Sudanese women had asked MSK to help build a girls’ school. This project was later affirmed by the MDGs, whose second goal is “achieve universal primary education” and third is “promote gender equality and empower women.” According to the U.N., getting girls into school and ensuring that they stay and learn has a “multiplier effect.” Educated girls are likely to marry later and have fewer children, who in turn will be better nourished and more able to participate in social, economic, and political decision-making.

So, after years of prayer, legal hurdles, fundraising, rabble rousing, impassable roads, and rainy seasons, the doors of the Kunyuk School for Girls opened in 2008. It is only by faith that women build schools during wartime. It is people of faith who take bold strides towards a peaceful future before it manifests. Girls’ education is a key priority we should integrate into our peace-building strategies across the globe.

Melinda Weekes is a senior associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change, an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and a member of My Sister’s Keeper’s Partnership Council (www.mskeeper.org).