Augusta M. Nuwomah is founder and head of the only civil society organization focusing on gender issues in the mining communities of Rutile - Women’s Initiative Forum for Empowerment in Extractive (WIFEE).
In this interview with Kemo Cham and Mohamed Massaquoi, she talks about why she formed the organization and what it does and the major issues that justify the need for increased attention to the struggle of women in the mining communities.
Can you give us a brief background of this organization?
Augusta: WIFEE seeks to address the social problems of women in the extractive sector. It was established in 2013. Something gave rise to that and that is owing to the fact that women were suffering a great deal of social issues here, due to mining activities. Sexual penetration is one of the most predominant issues here. There is also teenage pregnancy. WIFEE is therefore meant to provide an environment, through advocacy, where women can feel belong and protected.
How is mining causing all these?
There is an influx of people – men, who are coming from different directions and backgrounds to seek job. Most of them are not indigenes of this place, and they do not come with their families. The women here become service bearers for them, sexually. At the end of the day, they misuse them. Some of the women get impregnated. And they just abandon them. We have a lot of children in these communities who haven’t got fathers. We have a lot of women who have suffered rape. We have a lot of women who have been separated, who have broken homes, who are single parents.
You mean men come and pretend as if they are not married where they come from?
Yes, exactly. But another reason behind the formation of WIFEE is that, when you look at the entire environment, majority of the employees are men. And since most of the indigenes are employed on casual basis, the men come with very little to make any difference in the homes in terms of earning. Having been in this field for this long, I know what it means when you just have somebody who can just manage the home, just a father that can just manage the home. We know what that means. It means chaos in the home. It means a broken home.
So, having observed all of these issues, I thought it fit to have this kind of organization that can help to empower women so that they too can contribute meaningfully to the socio economic development of their homes and even their communities.
This is a very big community. So tell us some of the challenges you are faced with?
I have a lot of challenges. The number one challenge is that this is a mining region where everybody’s focus is mining…Everybody’s hope is just the company (Sierra Rutile). The company has just been like a demigod. Everybody just feel that we do not have any other option. It has not been an easy task for me to change their mindset.
The reason why I am saying this is that, this is happening to even the women. Women feel here that everything is just the company and therefore the men are just the real solution to everything. Ones the man is working, I am ok. And they will just be like a liability to the men.
And we cannot just be a liability to these men who are just working for pittance at the end of the day. So we try to tell that let’s engage on something else that can empower us so that we too can contribute to the development of our homes.
Another challenge is support. Imagine this is not a government created something. It’s an initiative coming from just one person.
So you are not getting support from any agency?
I am not getting support from any agency. But that did not stop me, because I know starting from somewhere means you will one day go somewhere. I started with no financial support. But I started with something, and that is: an initiative. I started it with the willpower. Where there is will, you must succeed.
I used the people and resources that were available. I used the women themselves to bring them into the fold. That helps me a lot. I did not want to wait for support from other agencies.
Earlier you mentioned that sexual abuse was on the increase. Can you give us an idea of the situation?
For the past one year [2017-2018], it’s somehow better, compared to my first year of establishment. As far as sexual penetration cases are concerned, we have dealt with about three. But before this time, it was so predominant. In Junttionla Village, for example, where I stablished one of these women’s groups, when women wanted to come here [Mogbwemo] to sell their produce, they would come in group. One woman couldn’t walk alone, for fear of being raped. Because of my presence in these communities, it’s now better.
What did you do about that?
Well, I am working with partners, like the police and the company itself. I have a good working relationship with them because I know most of these things are happening because of the operations of the company. When I have cases I channel them to the police.
And you follow-up to make sure that something is done?
Yes, at least through monitoring. Just to ensure that it goes to court level.
Do you have any success story?
The creation of this organization was inspired by a particular rape case I dealt with. The victim went to the police station and at the end of the day the police did not even accompany her at least to see the scene. They just gave her paper and said go for medical.
But then people were already in the know that there was somebody on the ground who champions some of these issues. So they directed her to my house and I took up the matter. I gathered every woman in this community and we stormed the police station. I ensured that I moved the police from that moment on to the scene. The incident happened in the bush outside the town. I ensured that the perpetrator was prosecuted and sent to jail.
He was?
Yes, he was. And the sad thing is that the husband had wanted to abandon the woman. We have therefore come to realize that our work doesn’t stop at prosecuting and punishing perpetrators, we also have to manage the trauma the victim is left in. I did series of counselling. Both the husband and wife.
How many years was the perpetrator jailed?
Well, he was sent for 10 years.
At some point the women told me they used to see the convict around. They were terrified. I went to the police station and told them if we saw the man in the community again they would be held responsible for whatever happened.
So what? They released him?
They attempted to release him.
And since then have you ever seen him?
No.
That means either in jail or somewhere else?
Somewhere else. But at least our community is free from that particular threat.
You said the incident happened at the farm. Was the victim working?
She was going to her farm and this man chased her right in the farm.
From the same community?
Yes, from this same community. He was hunting for women.
How old was the victim?
She was around 40.
Your organization is also talking about empowerment in the extractive for women. What are some of the issues that you have been taking up with the company, especially with regards the areas where you are operating?
Well, before this time, women were not involved in decision making regarding mining issues and the communities. Now this has changed.
For instance?
For instance, we have what is called the Community Development Committee (CDC) which represents the people and works directly with the company to solicit development support. Apart from the Paramount Chief and the council chairperson, who were women, within the community stakeholders there was no woman representative on that committee. Yet it was clearly spelt in the CDC document that women are supposed to be part of it. There were attempts to overlook that. I ensured that it happened. Today, as I am talking to you, we have women who are representatives in the CDC.
Including you?
Including me. In fact I am at the secretariat.
How many women?
For Imperi Chiefdom, we have three women representatives. Three in Lower Banta, two in Bagruwa, and two in Jong – in all the five mining chiefdoms.
Each chiefdom has its own CDC?
No. You have five mining chiefdoms and that make up of one CDC.
Ok, I see. So when you have money for this CDC how do you decide which amount goes to each chiefdom?
Well, they have to allocate it by chiefdom, according to the level of mining activities. That is why we have the primary host communities or most affected communities or most affected chiefdoms. Imperi is the most affected chiefdom. Lower Banta is another seriously affected chiefdom, and then Upper Banta. Jong and Bagruwa are not yet affected.
Does that mean they have not yet commence full mining in Jong and Bagruwa?
That’s how it is. And then even in the project identifications, every community or every chiefdom is supposed to identify its own felt needs. We do train these women at WIFEE on project identification and presentation.
Because we are talking about empowerment, I have a project that we have already discussed, that is a market center or a store, where women can store all their produce. Transportation between here and Freetown has been a very difficult issue for women in business here. With such a store, people can easily access their goods of choice here, sell it here and stay here.
How do you intend to fund that project?
We intend to present our own project to the CDC and even to the company. That’s part of the Corporate Social Responsibility of the company, to empower women. We are working on that.
Getting the money is one thing. The major thing is for its sustainability. How do you intend to ensure this?
I told you we started with nothing, but I gave them training in business, how to start all by yourself, to make a foundation all by yourself before ever you seek for help. That’s what they are embarking on right now. The money we are using is not coming from anyone else, but ourselves. And because it is coming from us, we would know how to manage it. By January or February [2019], we would be having another training workshop on business orientation.
In most of the communities where you are operating, the people are aggrieved over issues relating to the operations of Sierra Rutile. How do you reconcile these differences?
Before this time, when they say strike action, everybody was involved. You heard some of the women in one of the communities you visited saying that they no longer encourage strike or demonstration. There was this incident in Kamano. Because of the intervention of WIFEE, women went there, walking on foot from their villages to the office of the Community Affairs Manager of the company. They sat there in silence until their concerns were addressed.
That was a form of protest?
Yes. Not that these things are not happening. They are, but now this female team has somewhere to complain. Like for instance, another community was suffering over lack of drinking water. They called me. I had a meeting with them and they explained everything. I walked to the point where they were fetching water, about two miles from the town. I went there and saw that for myself. I then went on radio to advocate for them. Three days later, the company installed a Miller Tank.
Clearly, what you are doing needs collective efforts. How have you been relating the concerns of these women to the government?
Well, just like I told you, it’s a gradual process. We started it in a very small scale. Maybe people were not even thinking of WIFEE to reach this stage. We are making partnership. I am in partnership with the civil society network within this mining region. I have been engaging other political stakeholders like councilors. As you know we work with the media. Gradually we shall get there.
What has been their response?
Their responses are good, even though I am not getting financial support for now.
Back to the issue of sexual abuse. You spoke briefly about the life of the victims after the legal process. Let's talk about it some more. How do these women fare when they go back to the communities where they were abused?
It has not been easy for many. It starts from the time we seek justice, when the offence has been committed. You know we have to do all our investigations by talking to the victims and their families. When they go back home, they get intimidated, especially when they are underage.
So whatever information they give us, which we pass to the police, end up getting changed after the accused or their representatives would have reached the victims. This is one of the biggest challenges in efforts to fight sexual abuses. When the victim is a child, in this circumstance the parents tend to compromise the case.
How do you think this can be addressed?
Before we come to the way forward, I want to expand a little bit on the reasons why these people tend to want to compromise cases.
Often these victims come from poor background. When they are referred for medical examination, it often forces them to abandon the case for lack of money to travel to the nearest health facilities. And if they are able to travel, they are thinking of financial demands at the hospitals.
Imagine, victims have to go all the way to Mattru Jong for medical. To address this, we will need medical facilities here to handle such issues.
What is the distance like?
It’s about 12 miles from here. When they go there, most often you don’t see them again, because medical is not free. That’s where they will tamper with the whole information. Parents who are keen on compromising a case often threaten their children with banishment.
The solution to this is to have a safe home for these children. This is very important because even if the perpetrator is at the end sent to jail, the victim must be able to live in the community without being looked at with some eye. All of these compel the parents to compromise.
Safe home is particularly important for underage victims. We need organizations to come onboard. I wonder what’s wrong with the public. Is it because of the presence of the company here? We don’t seem to have other humanitarian organizations to come up and help in standing for the rights of these children.
Are you saying everyone is looking up to the company to take care of every problem?
Yeah. That’s how it seems. Most times you call on other humanitarian organizations for support they don’t respond.
UNICEF and Street Child, are their impacts felt here?
Yes, in Rutile.
They are doing something?
Yes, they are doing something. I can say they are concentrating on the educational aspects. But as far as some of these cases are concerned, you will call repeatedly and it’s hard to get a favorable response.
And this issue [sexual violence] undermines education.
Exactly. You can give all the books, you can give all the uniforms, you can give every learning material to the child, but if the society has a negative impact on that child, believe me, it undermines all that effort. That is why WIFEE has tried to bring together a female teachers’ association to help in this regard. We also have a mothers’ club.
How is the female teachers association relevant in this?
Most of the victims are school going children. And like I noted earlier, before this time a lot of girls have had to drop out of school once they get abused. We think if we have these teachers, we can provide counselling which is important to overcome some of the challenges they confront. And the mothers’ club serves as a community agent.
Let me just take you back briefly. You are handling one case right now which is in court. Just give us an idea how it came about.
Like I noted, my members in the communities serve as change agents. So one of the groups in Jonttionla learnt about this incident, which actually happened to one of their members’ own child. They probed into it. But when they saw that it was above them, they called me. I went there and conducted investigations. At the end of the day I had to channel the matter to the police.
What’s her age?
She is just 12
And the man?
He is around 30.
Are they related?
No. They are not. The matter is in court. I am trying to make sure that they do not do anything without my consent. This is to prevent them compromising.
When the thing happened, I called the father here and warned him against any attempt to compromise the issue or he risked going to jail. That was when they reported the matter to the police. I have spoken to the magistrate. Now that he knows that our organization is behind this case, I hope it will be handled with all seriousness.
This interview was done in collaboration with the National Advocacy Coalition on Extractive and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
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