[media-credit name=’NATALIE WEINBERGER / Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, director of Isis-Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), spoke at The Pyle Center Thursday about the civil conflict in Uganda, Africa and the role women play in peace initiatives.
Ochieng covered issues leading up to the war and the segregation in Uganda, including slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism and the newest emerging topics of globalization and liberalization. She emphasized the unique peacemaking ability women take versus the men who are currently in charge in Uganda.
"For women, peacemaking is about 'we,' not themselves," Ochieng said. "Women are empathetic, care-giving, nurturing and compassionate, and they realize how to respond to peace-building."
Ochieng spoke of the painful experiences women of Uganda have encountered due to the war in their country. Each day, women are abused, raped, mutilated and burned, she explained. Some women are gang raped and forced to become pregnant. Government officials and rebels use women's bodies as battlegrounds, often raping them and spreading STDs and AIDS. This can destroy families and essentially communities, Ochieng said.
"Men are only worried about control and power," Ochieng said. "They have a low patience level, don't necessarily follow the laws and have large egos."
According to Ochieng, these abused women still play family roles efficiently. They continue to fend for food, care for the sick and live everyday lives. They have even begun using their indigenous knowledge to sustain their families, Ochieng said, by making wine and herbal medicines for money.
Ochieng also spoke of the government's role in preventing the abuse and mistreatment of women in Uganda.
"The solution lies in those in government to get away from personal gains and towards general democracy and human rights," she said.
The way the United States has reacted is a concern, Ochieng said, adding the world needed to wake up and pay attention to universal conflicts. Ochieng noted that though governments may sign peace contracts, not all are necessarily honored.
"Nobody has respect for the constitution," Ochieng said. "The minority gets nothing and those with power get everything."
Ochieng included another way to implement change — training women in leadership skills so they might band together in their fight for peace. In addition, Ochieng said, women could teach younger generations to speak out and advocate peace issues.
UW senior Carmen Marg-Patton said she thought Ochieng's speech was a refreshing approach to addressing world issues in an academic environment.
"I think it was great that they brought in someone creative and different," she said. "It was nice to listen to someone from the place of interest rather than professors who study the issues from afar."
"I liked how she tied in the nature of women and addressed the problem in a macro level," UW senior Neha Sheth said. "It was very interesting and unique."
Ochieng was this year's J. Jobe Soffa and Marguarite Soffa Distinguished International Visitor. The event was sponsored by the UW-Madison Division of International Studies.
Isis-WICCE, founded in 1974, helps educate and empower women in war-torn countries. The organization helps to build women's leadership roles in the peace-making process and documents their struggles on video and, more recently, the Internet.