It was in the airport that I was told, ‘you see that man? That’s your husband
AYEN ACHOL DENG
Reporting for these series is funded by the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPAID) through the Female Journalists Network (FJN) as part of a project to bring women’s voices to the fore. Badru Mulumba edits the series
Atong Majok Kur nearly never made it in life. Long before the president appointed her South Sudan Media Authority Board Chairperson, Atong was pulled out of class, her family giving her up for marriage to a man whom she didn’t know. Atong began her marriage at 17, in Libya- a country she had never visited, exiting Sudan’s al-gezira Rufaa Al Jabar Commercial School never to return. “It was in the airport that I was told, ‘you see that man? That’s your husband’,” Atong says years later. Those days, culture treasured marrying off girls over educating them. “I discourage such marriages. Although it may work for some, it may not work for all. It’s good for a young girl to finish her education. You may not know what may happen. A mother should be educated to read labels on medicine bottles and take care of her children.”
It’s good for a young girl to finish her education. You may not know what may happen. A mother should be educated to read labels on medicine bottles and take care of her children
Yet, Atong never gave up, helped along by humility, determination, and vision. Born in 1985 as the middle child in a family of seven siblings, 4 girls and 3 brothers, Atong lived from place to place because of a businessman father and the onset of the 21-year Sudan civil war. In fact, she was named for the war. The girl’s name Atong is named to girls born during strife. By teenage, she had already spent life between Reung, Malakal and Khartoum. But that movement prepared her for life later – ability to adapt. When the north-south peace agreement was inked in 2005, she did just that.
I catch up with Atong as she retires among friends within the law fraternity at South Sudan Park. She has just come out of an interview with the public broadcaster, SSBC. The sun is setting. Sitting crossed-legged under a tree and professionally dressed in a monochrome navy blue suit, Atong beckons me to join her under the tree shade.
A cleaner and a cook
A dream to return to school forced her to leave Libya in 2006, after five years of marriage. She couldn’t continue with education in Libya because she lacked support with raising children that an extended family offers. Back home, she picked up odd jobs to pay through school. “When I was going for my high school, my father was well off because he was a businessman and he was doing good. I did not want to put all the responsibility on him. So I had to work as a cleaner for some time.”
That time, South Sudanese culture generally looked down on doing odd jobs for others and discouraged females from working – girls were not expected to go out of school. not her father. “My dad was ok with that because he thought I had to stand on my own,” Atong remembers. A second opportunity arose inside UN agency WFP campsite in a rural South Sudanese town, Bor. “I had to work as a cook in 2006. I got paid 300$; so that was my second job. Of course, I didn’t know the meaning of money, but it meant a lot to me that I was receiving a salary and that I was the one doing the work. Being that humble helped me a lot and I am someone who is so determined. I will never forget my first job as a cleaner.”
Recovering from underage marriage, returning to class, and doing odd jobs looked down on by her community speaks to Atong’s humility. “I am not only a very good cook, I’m determined. I have a vision and this is what has helped me become who I am,” Atong says.
“My achievements are so many, but the first one is coming out of a forced marriage and at the same time finishing my education when my classmates or my peers were already in different places. But I came back to be in school with people who are four times younger than me.”
In pursuing education to become a journalist and then an advocate, her Master of Laws degree nearly completed, Atong found inspiration in two people. An uncle, Justice Abel Alier Kwai, was 1st Vice President of the Sudan, 1972- 1982, and President of the High Executive Council of Southern Sudan semi-autonomous region, 1972-1978. The other, US ex Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, a single mother who rose high in public life. “I feel like she is a very strong character and personality who succeeded in so many fields that she was given a chance to serve in. And she is someone you can really respect.
And the fact that Condoleeza was able to do what she has done and she was single and not married, you will not say a woman without a man cannot do anything, because she is there, doing very well and very good.”
Yet, driving her passion for advocacy for women and children comes from her experiences. During one conference, a contributor questioned why the same women’s faces were recycled in top public leadership positions. Atong drew thunderous applause when she retorted: Why would the plenary complain about seeing the same female faces while the same male faces also circulate within the political arena? “I like being a lawyer,” says Atong, a practicing advocate. “You are not an ordinary citizen; you know your law – what is wrong and right. I am not a mere citizen who doesn’t know the laws of the country. I like the fact that I can go to court and defend people.”
Some of those whom she defends have been subjected to abuse. “(We tell people that) if anyone or their daughter is raped, they should retain the evidence, make sure there is form 8 and that proper procedures are done.”
South Sudan’s Dynamic Young Women
Atong is among a new crop of dynamic and rising young women within the leadership arena. In addition to Board Chair, Media Authority Board, Atong sits on the Board of the South Sudan National Advocates Alliance, and is member of Women Advocates South Sudan. In her various capacities, she is involved in constitutional review, activities that pertain to the implementation of the A-CRSS, the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, and women’s rights. This new crop of young leaders also includes Mary Ajith, the director of the Catholic Radio Network – a network of nearly a dozen radio stations – recently appointed by the president as Board Chair, South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, a public parastatal. “Clearly Atong is doing something right, if she has been brought back,” says Irene Ayaa, chair of the Female Journalists Network, a presidential appointee to serve a second 5-year termon the board, Media Authority, alongside Atong.
But challenges – most of them cultural – remain for women. “In our culture we always think women are not as good as men. We, as women, need to prove that we are able.I always try to prove that women are the same as men, if they are given the opportunity. Another challenge is that our people do not know their rights, we try to help but they don’t know how to be helped,” says Atong.
A mother of four – 18-, 16-, 7- , and 2-year olds – Atong balances work and family by compartmentalizing, being totally focused on family during family time and focused on work during work. “I just balance my work and my family. When it is time for family it is purely family. And when it is time for work it is purely work so that I don’t lose it.”
Her last word
Any last words to women? “Be very humble,” Atong says.
“For any young girl, every young woman, who is trying to become a leader, be close to the people who are in positions of power, regardless of who they are – he might be your father or your mother. If you see your mother is a leader, because the leadership starts with our mothers and fathers at home – they lead the family – so be close to them and be close to those who are lower than you because they will push you up.
Enlighten yourself. Always learn new things.
Always be ambitious and visionary. Put certain things you want to achieve in life and start working towards these things because, today, if I were to move from here — and I do not know where I am going, I will just get tired in the middle. But if I know that I am going to Gudele Block 6, to the house of so and so, I will definitely move to that house, regardless of what I am going to look for there. Thus, it’s very good to set targets and visions and work towards achieving them.
“Empower yourself. You need to empower yourself so that when the time comes, whoever will be there will see you as an empowered person who can do something
“The final word that I want to leave is, let’s have a network as women of South Sudan,or as people of South Sudan . Let us not work towards bringing ourselves down. It is good to see Ayen doing well in that field. If I feel like I want to join Ayen, it is not necessary for me to remove Ayen from [her position]. I can join Ayen. So let us not pull ourselves down. Women say there is something called PHD – Pull her Down. So we have to say that we are now changing this PHD to mean push her up. Let this person go to where they can deliver or do something.
“Another word is , let’s give time to our young women that are coming up. Let us mentor them because they may learn from my story, they may be going through the same thing I am going through and they think it is over. But when I come and talk to them about how I came up, they will get inspired by it and try to come up and be like Atong or even better than Atong.
So it’s good to hear, because you might hear something that will allow you to help someone. It is good to be close to yourself and to have that feeling, because nobody is a failure. Nobody is there for nothing. Everybody is there for something. So, try to realize what that person can do and try to help them in that place so that they can come up.”
