Christian Aid Podcasts

A Growing Voice

If it's been a long and difficult road for Sierra Leone to emerge from the shadows of its decade-long civil war, it's been an even longer journey for Sierra Leonean women to make their voices heard. But now things are changing...

Download international_womans_day_sierra_leone.mp3

When communications officer Antoinette Powell visited some of the communities where they are working, she found that women are not simply speaking out but are beginning to take the lead in building a stronger future for their communities.

Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections were the first since UN troops withdrew after its civil war. For many women they were also the first in which they felt able to vote for a different candidate from their husbands or fathers.

Christian Aid partners - the Methodist Church of Sierra Leone and National Movement for Justice and Development - have been helping to bring about this change by addressing attitudes that see women as less valuable than men. Their work through Partners in Conflict Transformation or PICOT, addressing some of the causes of the country’s civil war, is helping groups like women who had no voice in decision-making to speak out and be heard.

Programme Links:

• National Movement for Justice and Development http://www.nmjd.org/
• The Sierra Leone Fifty-Fifty campaign for more women in politics and public life (http://www.fiftyfifty-sl.org/

To find out more visit the Christian Aid website at http://www.christianaid.org.uk/stoppoverty/conflict/stories/a_growing_voice.aspx

A Woman of Courage

It has been a long journey for Suraya Pakzan. Ten years ago she began secretly educating young girls from her own home in Taliban controlled Afghanistan. This month she is receives the 'Woman of Courage Award 2008' from the US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice. In this podcast Suraya speaks to Rachel Stevens about the remarkable lengths she went to, to protect the young girls she secretly educated.

Download woman_of_courage.mp3

Girls’ education was illegal under the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan.  In 1998, concerned at the prospect of a generation of women growing up without an education, Suraya formed the Voice of Women Organisation and began teaching girls to read and write in the secrecy of her home in Kabul. In the beginning she had just ten students.  Two years later, Suraya and her friends were educating more than 300 girls in small, secret groups in their houses – risking death for breaking the law if discovered.

In 2001, when the Taliban government was deposed, the ‘Voice of Women Organisation’ became the first woman-run non-governmental organisation to register under the new government. Today the organisation, which is now a Christian Aid partner, promotes women’s rights across Afghanistan through awareness raising programmes and continues to help poor women earn a living.

This month, Suraya is one of eight women from all over the world to receive the Woman of Courage Award in recognition of their bravery in speaking out against injustice in their countries. 

To read more about Suraya’s story visit the Christian Aid website www.christianaid.org.uk/stoppoverty/lifeonthemargins/stories/woman_courage.aspx