On the bright side of adversity
The story of a displaced woman: from distress to empowerment
Death at midnight
“In the middle of the night, we heard that people were killed at the local market in Aweday in Eastern Harerge of Oromia region where we lived”, Tirik Dulane, a 40-year-old Somali woman recounts the events of a fateful night in April of 2017. The killings were a result of an inter-ethnic conflict which resulted in large-scale displacement. Tirik went on to describe the horror of that night. “I saw the bodies of our neighbours who were among the casualties. Fear and uncertainty reigned for the rest of the night. There was no time to waste. We had to flee. We left very early the next morning, escorted by the Federal security forces.” Tirik left Aweday with her five young children, along with many other Somalis, but anxious about her husband who was not with her at the time. They stayed at a temporary site in makeshift shelters for one month before they were finally transferred to Kolloji IDP site in Somali region. At Kolloji, she was reunited with her husband, which brought a sense of calm to her family.
Displaced, but hopeful
Back in Aweday, Tirik was an avid businesswoman. She owned a boutique at the local market where she sold clothes. Aweday is mostly known for its chat production. The town’s busy bus depot, which is at the center of the local market, hosts hundreds of trucks and minibuses daily that transport chat to other towns and regions. Tirik’s boutique was one of several dozens of shops that were looted during the conflict. All was lost, even household items and personal belongings. Tirik and her family had left Aweday empty handed. But Tirik clung to courage and determination. She held on to optimism and hope. It was easy for those around her to see it all. Before long, she was elected by her camp community to represent them in the distribution of food and non-food items working closely with IDP camp managers. UNICEF and its local partner – the Kolloji Woreda (District) Women, Children and Social Affairs officers invited Tirik to volunteer in the community-based child protection committee in the camp.
Tirik’s energy beamed as she learned a new language as a community child protection committee member – the language of rights, protection of children and women from violence, abuse and exploitation. Tirik had completed high school several years back. She was excited to learn again. She appreciated the UNICEF-supported child protection case management training she attended following which she was offered a job as a community service worker by the Kolloji Woreda Women, Children and Social Affairs Office. Tirik speaks with a commanding voice how her new knowledge unleashed a strength that she didn’t know she had. “I learned that I have confidence to help women and children who face violence. I learned that everyone is under the law regardless of their position or status.”
A new mission - Rescuing girls
Tirik recalls a case she managed in the first year of her career as a community service worker.
“One morning the mother of a nine-year-old girl came to me crying. She needed help to rescue her little girl from a man who had just taken her as his bride. The man had used the girl’s friends to take her out of her house to play. The girl was then taken by the man’s friends. Her mother found out at night when her daughter didn’t return home. She told me that her husband had agreed to give their daughter in marriage to this man since she was three years old and that he has received money from the man over the years.”
Tirik goes on to narrate how she helped rescue the girl. “It was good that the girl’s mother didn’t agree to the marriage because that’s how I came to know of the case. I immediately reported the case to the police. The police arrested and interrogated the girl’s father, the groom and his friends. The police also found the girl tied in the groom’s house. Her friends were also there. The girls were all taken back to their homes.” Tirik made consistent follow-ups with the family and discussed with them the negative consequences of child marriage. The family put the girl back in school and Tirik enrolled her in the girls’ empowerment program. Tirik’s role as a community service worker includes facilitation of community conversations and girls’ empowerment activities.
Tirik says that community awareness on child marriage was very low at that time. She had since worked closely with community members and girls to raise awareness. Tirik happily speaks that nowadays, girls themselves report hints that they see in their families or communities suggesting any plans to marry them – that is because girls are empowered. For Tirik the most fulfilling thing in her newfound career is to see children and women protected from violence, abuse and exploitation.
Serving the community, empowered at home
Tirik speaks how becoming a community service worker has changed her personal life. “The knowledge and experience I got as a community service worker has helped me improve my personal life as well. I had no idea that I have so many rights. Knowing that I have rights is so empowering. I didn’t know this before I became a community service worker. I didn’t know about the negative consequences of child marriage, nor about female genital mutilation. I had our oldest daughter cut when we were still in Aweday. My two younger girls are not cut because I know that it is a violation of their rights.”
Tirik’s knowledge and skills have also helped her relationship with her husband. “My husband used to save money in his own bank account, and I had no access to his finances. We’ve now had a joint account for the last four years. We openly discuss our finances. At times I get a hint that my husband is not very comfortable with my transformation though. He sees that my work has changed me a lot. But I am very open with him, and I do all I can to make him comfortable. My job has taught me skills to be emotionally very well connected to my family. I understand my children better and can sense when they need psychological and emotional support. Being a community service worker has made me more apt in my approach to children including my own.”
UNICEF supports the pre-service and in-service training and deployment of community service workers as part of its child protection system strengthening work across development and humanitarian settings in Ethiopia. Community service workers are usually members of the community or affected populations. UNICEF supports deployment of over 1200 community service workers in Ethiopia of which 96 are in Somali region. Tirik is one of them.
