16 Days - Day 16: Solidarity
Posted by Ann Jones on 10 December, 2007
 Newfound solidarity inspired women to help other women. The Zokoguhe photo team decided to provide food to this young woman, abandoned by her husband and living in this open shed with three small children. Photo: Dogbo Virginie |
| The International Rescue Committee is working with writer, photographer and long-time women’s advocate Ann Jones to give women in war zones an opportunity to document their own lives with digital cameras and make their voices heard.
Ann is blogging from Cote d’Ivoire, posting new photos and stories each day from November 25 to December 10: the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.” You can catch her earlier posts here and sign up to get e-mail alerts about her next blog series — from Liberia — at theIRC.org/join16days. Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire One day Tanou told us of an old tradition among women in the region of Tabou. If a man beat his wife, the woman would walk through the village calling to other women. They would come running and walk with her out of town and down the road. They would walk to the next village where the women of that place would join them on their march. The men would send word after them to village chiefs in an effort to stop them. Eventually a chief down the road would intercept the women, welcome them to his village, and perform a ritual ceremony of forgiveness. The battering husband and the men of his village would have to appear at the ceremony to ask forgiveness of all the women. Only then would the women agree to return to their homes. Men stamped out that tradition. One woman asked, why are women’s traditions abolished and men’s traditions made into law? They saw that this was a tradition of solidarity, the same solidarity they are reviving in their groups.
The KoupelaTenkodoko photo group long ago decided to continue to meet together and intervene in families where women are abused. At first they asked Tanou, “What will we do if women don’t come to us with their problems?” Tanou asked, “Did the women you photographed come to you?” The answer was no. Given a camera and asked to photograph women’s problems, many women marched straightaway to the homes of battered women. These are small villages where everyone knows what goes on. The women knew. The Zatta women also decided early on to stick together. They wrote a theme song. Even the women from Zokoguhe, that fractured village, plan to continue to meet and try to be of help to other women. They began to collect food at our meetings, and they carried it to the abandoned woman and her children living in a shed at the edge of town.
Will it last? This spirit. This modest revolution. Who knows? This is a country in which village girls at the age of puberty massage their budding breasts with ointments made of fruit and herbs, in the hope that they may not, after all, become women. Yet even some IRC men to whom I spoke of the women’s courage cautioned me: “You mustn’t put ideas into their heads.” (As though ideas of fairness and justice and freedom from violence were utterly new, and not something the average persecuted housewife anywhere in the world hasn’t thought of for herself sometime between the contemplation of suicide and murder.) The ideas were theirs. The Global Crescendo project merely gave these women an excuse to take a little time off from hard labor, time that enabled them to talk with other women, to get to know them, to begin tentatively to share their problems and dreams, and to become friends as they had never been before. They did these things for themselves. They took the photos they wanted to take. They crafted the message they wanted to send. And they delivered it with courage.
In the process, some women, like Yougoubare Veronique, became public figures. Others like Samandougoulou Assetou became inspiring heroes. There were brave men too, like Veronique’s husband who spoke out against the enslavement of women, and the Chief of Zatta who took a stand against violence. And, yes, maybe even Assetou’s husband, who—so far—is a changed man. These things happened. That much is new. With the project ending, we couldn’t afford to give away the cameras; they must still be used for the Global Crescendo project in other countries. But we couldn’t bear to leave the women without a single magical appareil. In the end we gave one camera to each village photo group. They danced and sang and took our hands to show their gratitude and approval.
One woman told a story about how her husband had tried to discourage her from taking photos. He told her he’d seen this kind of thing before. He said that photographers had come to the village and taken pictures, and afterwards nothing in the village changed at all. “Yes,” she replied. “But those people were tourists. Now the camera is in my hands.” Tanou had told them weeks before that when it came to planning changes in their village, they didn’t really need the camera. “Your eyes are the lens,” she said. “The memory card is in you head. You can talk about the photos you see there.” Now they laughed at the thought of pretending to take photos with the broken appareil. “Yes,” said one. “It is a good plan.” VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT??? 1. Stay informed and spread the word. Follow Ann Jones and the Global Crescendo Project right here on this blog as Ann travels to work with women around the world. E-mail this postcard to 16 of your friends and encourage them to read Ann’s posts at theIRC.org/annjones. 3. Encourage your friends to take immediate action. Forward the letter you signed to 16 of your friends, asking them to join you in urging their senators to co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act. |
10 December, 2007 at 10:46 am
I think the work the IRC and And Jones did and are doing in the Global Crescendo project is great and is achieving real change in these villages in Africa.
I understood that the women initiated these actions and that the IRC or Ann Jones did not put these things into the women’s minds.
I am grateful that these women are seeking an end to the “tradition” of violence against them. And I am grateful that they have help in the IRC and any other organization like it.
If the men in Africa understood how severe is the harm done to their women and children and even to themselves, what would they do?
If they understood that they are hurting the hearts and souls of their women and children as well as their own hearts and souls, what would they do?
Can the forgiveness tradition be revived? Should it be revived; do the women want it to be revived?
How much backlash will there be? Can teaching the men to have compassion and see how much harm they are doing prevent or lessen any backlash?
I wish the cameras did not have to be taken away. Three, one for each village, may not be enough. And if it breaks and cannot be fixed and the women fake it, the men will eventually realize no pictures are coming out of them !!!
I cannot afford to buy cameras. But I hope there will be someone who can !!
10 December, 2007 at 12:11 pm
What a powerful affirmation~ the women’s walk. Their silent strenth expressed in every stride.
The humility REQUIRED for the batterer to show up, confront his guilt, face the woman he harmed… the one he claims to love, and ask for her forgiveness.
How would the world change if this were permitted to grow?
There is a twisted illusion of power that is threatened by honesty, humility, and peace. May we continue unafraid.
In Solidarity,
Julie Willis
10 December, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Wonderful work - and this project seems to have been done very respectfully, working within the culture to strengthen women’s position and appealing to their own values and traditions.
I’m sure a camera manufacturer or Circuit City, Best Buy, etc would donate cameras for the project, or at least let customers purchase and designate cameras for IRC. Also people could donate older models they aren’t using anymore and have them shipped over. Also I have many friends who are writers and graphic artists and we’d be happy to contribute art to an auction to raise money via Paypal for the project - just someone let me know! I’m Cristina Deptula at [e-mail address deleted by blog editor] - and have successfully managed a corporate donation program for printer cartridges for the Chabot Space and Science Museum so have experiences contacting people.
10 December, 2007 at 12:49 pm
“The camera is now in my hands” - the authority and voice you have inspired in these women is inspiring me. Thank you.
10 December, 2007 at 1:31 pm
IF the forgiveness ritual were permitted to grow, eventually the violence would stop. Illusions cannot last forever and the power one feels from abusing someone, making someone feel inferior, making someone submit is indeed an illusion.
And it cannot last forever in the face of humility, love,honesty, peace, perseverence, freedom…
10 December, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Again, I am impressed with the solidarity these women have shown in their support of each other and this project. I’m sure not all of these women are experiencing the same situation, yet they choose to stand together, even though it may be easier for some women to side with their male family members so as to not “rock the boat”. And I’m also impressed at how these women have made this project their own, and are turning it into something that meets their needs. There is a danger of Westerners going into non-Western societies and trying to dictate what needs to be done based on their Western experiences that are not appropriate for that society’s structure. But many people are more than capable of coming up with their own appropriate, innovative solutions given the chance.
As for “putting ideas in [their] heads” - we certainly have to be cognizant of pushing our own values on others, but I think most people can agree that it is a human right not to expect to be beat up by family members ever, particularly not on a regular basis. Human rights are human rights, and many movements that so many of us have benefited from (women’s rights, civil rights, etc.) came about because people were willing to stand up against the norm and say this is not acceptable. I hope this is the beginning of a movement for these women.
10 December, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Thanks again, everyone, for following along and for all of your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments.
Thanks also to Cristina Deptula and others who have expressed interest in camera donations. I’ve shared your suggestion with the team working with Ann on the the project. Becasue of logistical reasons, individual used camera donations aren’t a feasible option –but if there’s a practical way for readers to get involved on the camera front we’ll post something here.
Kate
http://www.theIRC.org
10 December, 2007 at 5:06 pm
These amazing women have made such a bold shift in a very short amount of time. Imagine where they might be a year from now with their newfound solidarity. I want to believe that with their spirit and “anouanze”, they will be living much improved lives. I hope that you can visit them again and see how they are doing. Thank you Ann and Tanou for all you have done, and power to the women of Cote d’Ivoire, and women everywhere!
11 December, 2007 at 8:22 am
Thanks to all you loyal readers for your interest and your great support for the women of Cote d’Ivoire. Rest assured that IRC GBV field agents continue to work in Zatta and Koupela Tenkodoko and Zokoguhe and many more villages every day. I’ll be back here with updates from time to time. In the new year I’ll be reporting on the Global Crescendo project in Liberia. But don’t worry, GBV will still keep an eye on Assetou’s husband.
12 December, 2007 at 4:08 pm
There are men in Africa who are understanding the great damage to women, children and men as a result of men’s violence. As I’m sure we will hear in Ann’s blog from Liberia, the IRC has pioneered a male involvement project that is demonstrating the great potential of engaging men as allies with women in ending violence and creating healthy families. More information is available at: http://www.mensresourcesinternational.org/