WUNRN
FIJI - ELDER, RURAL WOMEN'S
CONSULTATIONS
FemLINKPACIFIC - Community Radio
LINKING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, SECURITY,
WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS
By Kalpana Prasad and Sharon Bhagwan Rolls (femLINKPACIFIC)
15 January 2010
“We have been struggling as
women, it seems all our lives. We struggled to provide for our families during
our youth, when our husbands spent their wages on alcohol but Sister Bali gave
us a chance to be part of the centre and sell the vegetables that we grow,
rather than go out and rely on social welfare.”
That was how we were greeted as
we arrived at the Ba Senior Citizens Centre to commence our first rural Women,
Peace and Human Security Consultation in 2010 on Wednesday 13 January.
They had come from Yalelevu and
Namosau. They had come from Wailadi, Varandoli, Vatulaulau, Nukuloa, Mangroru
and Tauveqaveqa. Some traveling more than 14 kilometres to be part of the first
monthly Peace and Human Security discussion which femLINKPACIFIC will be
convening every month in partnership with the Ba Senior Citizens’ Centre
(BSCC):
“The purpose of the monthly
consultations is to enable the seniors to be actively involved in identifying
and articulating their human security and development priorities, as a way to
support their advocacy for the type of assistance they need in their own
community” says Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, the Executive Director of femLINKPACIFIC,
“This will compliment the monthly radio programmes which will be documented in
Ba through our women’s media network which is also based here at the Centre. We
are also conducting a monthly women’s household and income survey. Similar
activities are being organized through our women’s media network members in
Nadi, Nausori, Labasa, and Savusavu and also in the capital city. This will
enable femLINKPACIFIC to be able to regularly provide not only the stories
about women’s peace and security issues, but the data or the evidence to assist
in ensuring that development programmes are actually contributing to peace and
security.”
The information is then linked
to existing policy commitments through the production of regular Women, Peace
and Human Security reports which are presented to policy makers.
According to Bhagwan Rolls,
femLINKPACIFIC focal points and correspondents are trained to conduct
interviews for the organizations community radio station, facilitate
consultations and are women recognized in their home town as community workers,
as well of course as being mothers, neighbors, wives, work colleagues, and
friends. Far from appearing in a local area as a ‘stranger’ requiring answers
to many sensitive questions, our network members live in these rural areas
amongst the women whose stories they document on a weekly basis with tape
recorders, cameras, and a pen, speaking the same language and dialect:
“Using community media we are
able to demonstrate the link between women’s human rights and commitments to
women in decision making, such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and
CEDAW, for example, and the daily struggles in women’s lives, which becomes the
basis for our advocacy for change. To
ensure human security is defined and understood from a women’s perspective and
that if we would like to pave the way for the political empowerment of women,
then it is critical that we address addressing poverty, violence and maternal
health issues so that women have the social and economic climate to be able to
be active participants in the political arena. So this work is also about
working to enable political security from the local to the national level.”
Economic Security is Key for
Seniors’ Food and Health Security
Every week at least 50 women
and a few men attend the weekly programme organized at
Transport costs, remain a
critical concern for the seniors as 70 year old Pritam Singh highlighted. Mr.
Singh, who is a retired farmer, wishes for the return of the senior citizens
bus fare discount, which had previously assisted the members of this local
community enjoy mobility and boost their sense of community. Most of the
seniors pay bus fare prices which range from $2 to $5 just to attend the weekly
meetings at the Seniors Centre which is for most, the only opportunity for an
outing and recreation.
But bus fare discounts is also
more than just about access to recreation. As one women shared, the reality is
many cannot even afford the return fare to and from the Ba Mission Hospital and
so she, like others, walks sometimes for half an hour under the hot sun to the
hospital because they simply do not have the money.
Food Security for the seniors
means something completely different from the food security of younger family
members, but too often despite having special dietary requirements, they have
no choice but to share the regular family meals, resulting in high cholesterol
problems:
“Our children have different
tastes and needs as compared to us. We cannot eat fatty foods and meat and need
more vegetables, but because we cannot buy what we would like to have cooked
for us, we have no choice to eat whatever is served at home,” Pritam Singh told
us.
While there is an option to
grow their own vegetables, as many of the members of the BSCC do, we were
reminded that the impact of Cyclone Mick, as well as the limited access to land
for vegetable gardens, especially in the informal settlements means, the
inability to even have the opportunity to grow their own vegetables, but then
they still have to buy their weekly groceries and according to Monica Latchman,
a retired nursing sister, many of the women, including those with the advantage
of social welfare assistance, cannot afford to buy nutritious food items.
“The prices for groceries are
really high and the vegetable prices are also rising constantly due to other
factors such as the natural disasters and flooding which makes it harder for
the senior women to get fresh produce which is necessary for good health”, she
stated.
Padma Rao of Yalalevu
highlighted that even the $60 a month social welfare assistance does not cater
for the entire household expenses for a senior citizen which includes food,
household bills, transport and medication, let alone clothing and other
occasional expenses:
“(But) many women at the centre
do not get any assistance from the social welfare department and even if they
do then it is not enough to cater for all of their basic necessities. Most
senior women also do not get money from their children or families.” Subsequently
a number of the women are growing food to sell at the Centre every Wednesday as
well.
Good nutrition is also
important for many of the seniors who now rely on a range of medication for
ailments ranging from high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and heart
conditions, but many do not have the money to cover their medical expenses:
“Many women here at the centre
suffer from diabetes, hyper-tension, and eye problems. We visit the local
health centers available in Ba, but if the disease is at an advanced or crucial
stage we are usually sent to the Lautoka hospital for which we need money once
again to be used as bus-fares”, Salifan Bibi of Wailadi told us.
Pritam Singh added that too
often prescribed medicine is not available at the local health centers, but the
seniors do not have the money to pay for the medicine from the local chemist:
“Sometimes we have to purchase
some medicines from the private pharmacies in town such as tablets for
cholesterol and this requires money, even reaching the pharmacy requires
bus-fares and which senior people do not have any form of income to help them
overcome this problem especially in the rural areas as almost all of us are
from farming backgrounds and retired”, Singh said.
On to Nadi
femLINKPACIFIC’s Women, Peace
and Human Security Consultation moved on to Nadi on Thursday, January 14th,
bringing local leaders from Sabeto, Nakavu, Navakai, Namotomoto, Navoci,
Wailoaloa, Korovuto and Korociri for their first monthly Peace and Security meeting
in 2010 who identified Environment security, as well as personal security,
health and food security as key issues.
According to FemLINKPACIFIC’s
Nadi rural correspondent Julekha Mustapha, health and environment issues are
closely linked especially to the floods and Cyclone Mick in December:
“Women in Nadi feel that
flooding was the major environment issue faced by them as they have suffered
two major cyclones last year, one at the
beginning of the year and one at the end, which destroys most of their food
crops and livelihoods”, said Mustapha who is also a member of the Nadi Rural
Advisory Council. Many women also continue to suffer from the lack of regular
water supply.
According to Vasiti Pettitt,
who is also the Rural Vice President of the National Council of Women, there is
a close link to economic security, health security and environment security.
Many of the villages which are situated along the
“Some women pointed out that
the food rations given by the state was not enough to support those households
affected by the flooding until they get on their feet,” said Pettitt especially
as the floods destroyed the food plantations along the river:
“Most of the villages’ we have
are situated near the river and it floods on their plantations and farms, from
the areas of Saunaka to Narewa, and it takes time for these villages to recover
from the aftermath of the floods”, Pettitt added.
Other concerns raised during
the discussion at the consultation revolved mostly around food security
worsened by unemployment:
“After the flooding, some households
did not have enough income to begin with and that really crippled the food
security in many households along the river areas”, she added
Pettitt said that another cross
cutting issue for most women in Nadi was their personal security which revolves
around economic security, food security and health security.
Yasmin Khan, of Martintar added
that she is concerned about poor sewerage and rubbish disposal which is a
growing health concern and Taina Lord who travelled 9 kilometres from
“People in my area tend to
pollute the rivers which add to the effects of the flooding as there is no
proper waste disposal or rubbish collection in the village that we live in. I
implore the proper authorities to somehow resolve this issue which is adding up
to become a serious health issue in my village”.
These women, peace and human
security consultations assist women come together from the wide range of local
mothers clubs and groups to discuss and document common issues which can then
be highlighted to relevant authorities and development partners through
femLINKPACIFIC’s women, peace and human security reports. Pettitt is also the
President of the Nadi District Council of Social Services:
“We have taken these issues to
the district authorities and the provincial authorities to be addressed by the
state and hope something can be done soon to resolve these sewerage and
drainage problems which exist in Nadi”, she said.
“We are looking forward to
support local women through our women’s media network to continue to voice
their concerns and provide data and information to policy makers and
development partners through our Women, Peace and Human Security reports so
support the call for the type of development and changes the women see as
priorities,” says femLINKPACIFIC’s Executive Director, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls,
“Our women’s media network will continue to offer women’s voices
and experiences through our community media and policy initiatives and the
focus for 2010 we are working to strengthen our own local information and
communication systems through the monthly local meetings on 1325 and women,
peace and human security. It is one way we can ensure that UNSCR 1325 is fully
integrated and accounted for in local and national development plans because women’s
experiences and expertise must be part of the process. Women make a difference when they are in decision
and policymaking positions and unfortunately there is still not enough
substantive representation by women in formal processes, or even consultations
with local women leaders, so our work is contributing to bridging this gap so
because we believe that the inclusion of their expertise and experiences will
help to ensure, to build and to strengthen policies which create sustainable
peace and development in their communities and in our nation. A lasting peace
cannot be achieved without the participation of women, especially grassroots
women’s groups and networks, especially when it is organized across ethnic
lines.”
Sharon Bhagwan Rolls
Executive Director: femLINKPACIFIC
DL/T: 679 3310303
M: 679 9244871
F: 679 3307207
E: sharon@femlinkpacific.org.fj
P O Box 2439, Government Buildings, Suva, Fiji
www.femlinkpacific.org.fj
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