BY GAETANO PATRICK ANYODI
Inside a jail in South Sudan, Okunei James refuses to give up. Police arrested Okunei for secretly planning to hand his daughter, a minor, to a 45 year old man in exchange for riches.
The daughter is 16
He is an example of fathers trading off their girl children as they seek wealth.
“My daughter has repeated primary four class for three years,” Okunei says from jail. “She is wasting my money, yet I have other children to pay school fees for in school.”
Okunei is a resident of Anzora boma, Nimule, South Sudan.
Okunei is a resident of Anzora boma, Nimule, South Sudan.
What does the mother have to say?
“He should be kept in jail,” says the mother, names withheld. “I am scared of him.”
Clearly, the family is split. But the man who contributed to all this by scheming to take the daughter is on the run. “We’re looking everywhere for him,” the officer on duty tells me.
I reach out to the woman leader of the area, Grace Rebecca. This is what she says
“Marrying off the child is against the right to education,” says Rebecca. I will engage the relevant organizations to protect the rights of the girl in order to stop early marriage.”
As police investigates, Okunei will stay in jail
Editor’s note: The story, originally reported for radio this January, came out of a UNESCO-funded training project, through the Female Journalists Network, to support journalists in Jonglei, Lakes State, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Western Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, as they report on SGBV stories and regulators and lawmakers to take policy stands that improve the environment for the coverage of SGBV issues
A MONTH LATER
Story helps move the child marriage case to court
A father is arrested for trying to marry off a minor. He still insists that he will marry off the minor. The mother and the daughter are scared. They want him kept in jail. Gaetano Patrick Anyodi works with Radio Nehemiah in South Sudan. This story, dome as part of an in-house skills training on reporting on Sexual and Gender Based Violence has helped move the case forward.
Badru Mulumba: It’s a month since we worked that story. How has that debacle ended?
ANYODI GAETANO: The father is still in the prison.
Time: How did you feel when you were reporting this story?
GAETANO: I really felt so sorry for the decision because this decision, according to the father, is still final. He said he is not ready to pay the school and the daughter must get married. Because of that, I felt so sorry because of the future of that young girl. The mother can’t support her. The family is a bit weak. They are all vulnerable. It is a struggle to pay the school fees.
GAETANO: When I returned to prison to ask them that followup question:what would happen, if the father continues to be a threat to the family, yet the law limits detention time and you don’t uphold the law by breaking the law, the father wasn’t happy with me. He was not happy with the prison wardens since he has made up his mind. I have been told that the case is now going to court after our story was broadcast and because the daughter is underage.
Time: What skills did you require for this story?
GAETANO: To be frank, the training helped me so much. When I was still living in Uganda, I was doing news in local languages and in English. When I came back to South Sudan, here in Nimule, radio didn’t broadcast live local news because there’s no money to do news. For the first eight months, I was not practicing in the news department, but was mostly in other programs. I started forgetting some of the ethics. When the training came, I was able to remember some of the ethics, skills, and some of the processes and principles that I am supposed to follow when I am going to the field. In Uganda I was with radio Amani, a radio station in Adjumani. I don’t’ know how I can thank you people, but I pray that God blesses you.
Gaetano (Bottom Right)
Time: What challenges have you faced when following up on this story, especially about the legal conflict between indefinite detention and the need to protect the child?
Nehemiah Community Radio home, Rock Gordon, Nimule
