|  | | SWAN: Sudanese Women’s Association Network | | | | Training Workshop to develop Leadership skills and Capacity Building for Sudanese women refugees in Kenya (Project Completed in 2006) | | |
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|  | | Profile of one SWAN woman | | | Nafissa is from the Nuba Mountains. Nine years ago, when she was only 21, her young husband was tortured and killed in front of her as they fled from the war in Sudan to Nairobi. She was gang raped, and her pregnancy was brutally terminated.
After years of separation and silence, Nafissa has recently had contact from her only brother from Khartoum who is encouraging her to return to Sudan. She has learned that her mother is still alive in the Nuba Mountains and Nafissa is being invited to return to lead women in adult literacy, home-care, nutrition, first aid, and other training and support programmes there. | | |
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| | | | | | Background | | | The SWAN (Sudanese Women Association Network) grew out of the courage and determination of women like Nafissa whose lives have been ravaged by the debilitating, degrading, and dehumanizing effects of the long war in Sudan.
In Nairobi, these women found refuge in the seventeen or so slums, in a country that has no laws to protect refugees, and where a major concern was the safety of their children.
The SWAN women realized that their survival in these new and harsh living conditions called for them to learn a new language, to understand new cultures and ways of life, and to learn new life skills. Their search for peace and unity led to an increasing understanding of the different cultural groups and warring factions in Sudan.
SWAN became the forum where leaders began to emerge. Fear and suspicions instilled by years of war, abuse, and loss, slowly gave way to courage as the women began to work towards peace among themselves and with their new neighbours. Courage and peace led to a retrieval of their integrity and personal dignity and a growing commitment to reach out to support others
The work of SWAN includes programmes on Human Rights and Peace, Basic Rights and Social Services, Sudanese Women Empowerment, and Economic Empowerment and Poverty Reduction.
The overall objective of the Vita support to SWAN women in Nairobi is to enable women, who are refugees from Sudan, to develop their leadership skills and capacity to play an active role in peace, community, and nation building in their refugee communities and in their home country.
Vita support so far was for a series of seven or eight workshops, each for up to 20 women leaders in SWAN who work with about 400 Sudanese women refugees.
Participants in the workshops are a selected group of leaders and potential leaders chosen by the SWAN women in the units where they live. Their priorities for the workshops since the recent peace treaty are increasingly influenced by their plans to return to Sudan and the requests they receive from their compatriots at home.
The topics covered in the workshops include: communication skills (intercultural living and understanding one another), racism, ethnicity and prejudice, language training and public speaking, data collection and report writing, HIV/AIDS awareness education and home based care skills, nutrition and first aid , and responding to trauma.
| | | | Project Update: | | | | During 2005 and 2006 all eight workshops were completed as planned. The participants found the workshops very encouraging and useful in building their capacity to integrate back into Southern Sudanese life and take leadership roles in their communities. This project was implemented in partnership with the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary and the Sudanese Women’s Association ( SWAN), Vita and financial support from the Bank of Ireland Employees fund for Third World Aid. | | | | | |
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