Standing up for self
13-year-old Fiyha, Saleema club President says no to marriage, intensifies drives against harmful practices
13-year-old Fiyha Al Tayeb Nasser is a child rights activist. Prior to the ongoing conflict in Sudan that led to the closure of schools across the country, Fiyha was the president of the girls' or Saleema club at Hamira Primary School, located in the remote locality of Al- Gabaleen, White Nile State.
She is smart, bold, and clearly articulates child rights issues. No wonder she has championed the great cause of advocating for child rights in her school and community, for years now.
At her home, located a few kilometres from the main town, she sits under the makeshift shelter stitching clothes for her younger siblings - turning old fabric into neatly hand sewn little dresses, with pleats. Occasionally she also knits little bags to match the ‘new’ outfits.
When she is not in the community reminding everyone about the rights of children, she takes time to play with her siblings, skipping the rope in her home area located below the beautiful mountains of Aljabalin. She is just a child.
For many years, as a saleema girls club leader Fiyha together with her peers have advocated against violence including child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). The girls’ club is part of many other forums established by UNICEF and the wider network of the Al- Gabaleen Locality Club Formation and Girls' Training and Empowerment Programme under the Sudan Free of FGM programme funded by the UK and Canada Governments.
Through community outreaches, songs, drama, and door to door sensitizations, Fiyha and her peers deliver awareness sessions that have impacted the community and saved girls from harmful traditional practices including FGM. They stress the impact of the vices on children and the need for parents to abandon them so children can survive in safe environments.
“Girls need protection from child marriage because they cannot bear such a heavy responsibility at an early age. This can be difficult for their physical and mental health,” Fiyha stresses.
UNICEF Child Protection Officer Hagir Osman confirms that through the clubs, girls like Fiyha are empowered to stand up against any form of violence against children in schools and communities including the two harmful practices that remain prevalent in White Nile State.
Hagir confirms that even during the conflict, the programme interventions continue.
“We have been able, through the clubs, to integrate the programme activities into our current emergency response to build on the gains registered before the war,” she asserts.
Fiyha the advocate turns victim
Seven months ago, the world turned dark for Fiyha. That was the day her relatives secretly planned to marry her off together with her elder sister. At only 13 years.
“It was a dark day for me,” she recalls.
At no point in her life did she think that what she advocated against would come to haunt her.
At only 13, Fiyha was everything – a young leader, advocate, designer, daughter, sibling and much more but not a bride.
But society had deemed it necessary for her to get married and had overpowered her father who had seen her advocating for the rights of girls and the dangers of marrying them off young.
“Here, as soon as a girl reaches puberty, she becomes vulnerable to early marriage,” she says.
Fiyha stands up for self
Backed by her mother -Zahra, her strongest cheer leader, Fiyha stood up for herself. Zahra married young and had vowed never to see this happen to her children. She is a mother of five girls.
Cognizant about the reporting pathways, Fiyha reached out to Salwa, the girls club locality supervisor for support and the marriage preparations were cancelled.
“If I wasn’t empowered by the club, I would be married today. My education would have been interrupted, and I would be in a world different from the one I am in now,” Fiyha shares.
While the incident crushed her at the time, today she believes it made her even stronger.
While schools remain closed during the war, Fiyha believes that children are at risk of violence. Boys and girls are displaced and schools that were safe spaces are closed. They are vulnerable and Fiyha believes she must reach them.
Re-Doubling efforts to reach every child
During crises and displacements, violence against children heightens. As such, UNICEF is realigning interventions under the SFFGM joint programme with its emergency response. Through this approach, advocates like Fiyha and many others earlier trained on identifying, reporting, and addressing gender-based violence including FGM and child marriage are taking lead.
Today, Fiyha has taken her role a notch higher. Working closely with the girls’ club locality supervisor, Fiyha organizes and delivers sensitization sessions with parents, caregivers, children, and young people at her home and in the community.
They also make hospital visits. At Aljabalin hospital she conducts a session with mothers that have just delivered encouraging them to keep their babies saleema. “This is the best gift you will ever give your daughter’” she says before reminding them not to marry them off before they are old enough.
She is trailblazing and unstoppable. As she waits for schools to reopen, Fiyha has worked out a schedule with the locality supervisor that keeps her busy with her advocate role.
“Many people believe that since schools are closed, we should get married because there is no education,” Fiyha said. But we say – “Whether there is a school or not, we shall continue with the awareness drives in hospitals, neighborhoods, social gatherings and everywhere.”
According to Hagir Osman, UNICEF has also established clubs within the internally displaced people’s shelter camps and integrating them with the existing clubs. The programme interventions continue to make a significant impact and its influence is still very clear.
Fiyha dreams of becoming a lawyer so she can participate in enacting laws that protect children from violence, early marriage and FGM. “I am determined to rid society of harmful traditions like female genital mutilation and child marriage. As a future lawyer I will be able to defend every girl who is threatened by these vices.”
