USA: Somali Woman Champions Women’s Rights in Africa

It can be a lonely job fighting for women’s rights. But Farhiyo Farah Ibrahim, just 25 years old, has found the fortitude to withstand severe ostracism in her fight for a better life for women in Africa.

Her bravery in the face of rejection by her family and community has won her recognition in the United States: On March 10 she was honored with the International Women of Courage Award.

The award, now in its second year, is the result of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s desire to recognize women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in promoting women’s rights and advancement.

Ibrahim was joined by seven other 2008 award recipients at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. The other women, from Fiji, Kosovo, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, Paraguay, Iraq and Afghanistan, were selected from 93 nominees submitted by U.S. embassies worldwide.

Ibrahim came to Kenya in 1992 as a young child after clan-based militia killed her grandfather and raped her mother in Somalia. She grew up in the Dadaab refugee camp. She completed the eighth grade but had to leave school to support her family.

She became an incentive worker for the National Council of Churches in Kenya (NCCK) as a reproductive health motivator in 2002 and was accused of converting to Christianity. She campaigned against female genital mutilation (FGM) and won a small victory when her mother agreed that the youngest sister would not undergo FGM; but the child was sexually attacked and forced to drop out of school.

Ibrahim advocated condom use and promoted voluntary counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS. Her father accused her of bringing shame to her family through her work and forced her to leave her family when she refused to marry a man much older than she.

Faced with open hostility from the Somali community, which ridiculed and attacked her in public, Ibrahim had to quit her job with the NCCK but found work as an interpreter in Dadaab.

Despite the extremely hostile environment in which she lives and works, Ibrahim remains a passionate champion for the rights of women, girls and refugees. She continues to speak out against forced marriage, violence and FGM on women and girls in the refugee camps in Kenya.

Source: African Path – 19 March 2008