On International Women's Day
Helen Hakena, Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency, March 2003
Thank you Jaslyn.
Firstly I would like to acknowledge that we are on Werundjeri Land.
I would also like to sincerely acknowledge everyone present at this fundraising event. You all look beautiful, and willing to help. Your very presence tells me that we are all here to support the work women do throughout the world in promoting peace, reducing poverty, improving gender equity and above all raising the quality of life of women.
We are also here to celebrate women's achievements. And - most importantly as far as I am concerned - we are here to celebrate being women.
Before I continue with my short speech, I want to sincerely thank the staff and Committee of Management of IWDA, for making it possible for me to be with you today - to raise funds for women who are in need of your assistance, tell you about my work and how your contributions and support, and that of the Australian Government, has helped the women of Bougainville. I have been looking forward to this meeting for such a long time. Bougainville Island seen from the air. Photo: Mike Crooke
Australia is Papua New Guinea's closest neighbour. Yet despite our closeness Australians know very little about the war we had on Bougainville. I know all attentions are now being focussed on Iraq. But the conflict in Bougainville has many important lessons for decision makers, and for all of us who are concerned about the future of our communities and cultures.
In 1990 when PNG withdrew all its services from Bougainville and imposed a total blockade on the island, I was seven months pregnant with my fourth child. Late one afternoon the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) chased my husband to our home after he refused to give them our car. Previously, BRA elements had taken five of our company's vehicles.
Chris, my husband, managed to run and hide in the bushes but he had no time to tell me and three of my children. We were having dinner in the house and were very surprised to see eleven gunmen come into our home demanding to see my husband. I told them we didn't know where Chris was, but still they refused to listen, continuing to point guns at me and the children and calling us names, even threatening to shoot us if Chris didn't show up.
The village people found out what was happening and came to our assistance. The gunmen left but the next day they returned in force, beating anyone in their path and destroying homes. Our entire village fled and hid in caves on the cliffs. It was then that I felt labour pains and saw blood. I was also sick with malaria. But we were too scared to leave our hiding place.
My husband sent a runner to get the local doctor as the hospital was closed because of the conflict and there were no nurses. The doctor persuaded my husband to take me to town. The doctor gave me antimalarial drugs and then, as the hospital was locked, he took me to an old abandoned South Pacific Bank building. It was here, on a bare floor with no light or electricity, no incubator or oxygen, that I gave birth prematurely to my son Max.
I was still lying down there when another woman, Rena, came in. She too was pregnant. She had lost a lot of blood the previous night. She gave birth to her son, while I was watched. She died ten days later, leaving her son.
In the bank that day, I also watched helplessly as another woman in labour died. Maria had previously given birth by caesarean section. This time her stomach split with the pressure of labour. She was terrified and cried and begged to be saved. The doctor couldn't help Maria although he was able to save her son.
My son Max was ten days old when our home - indeed our entire village - was burnt to the ground. The family again had to flee through jungle to my mother's home in Central Buka. The village was scattered all over the island for six full months until we were brought together at a Care Centre established by the PNG Defence Force.
After watching women suffer the most tragic deaths, I was determined to do all I could to end the violence and deprivation.
Women everywhere in Bougainville suffered the same. Nobody ever thought that there would be a civil war. Nobody ever thought that we would die at the hands of our own people.
When I joined with friends to try to stop the violence, many women came
with us. We organised a silent march to protest the war and the use of
rape as a weapon. One thousand women participated - an extraordinary number
given Bougainville's small population. We were stopped by the Papua New
Guinea Defence Force twice. They wanted arrest someone and asked, 'Who
is your leader?' We said, 'All of us are leaders. We all own this march.'
The soldiers couldn't arrest anyone.
We knew the Prime Minister was in Buka and that the media would be out
in force. We walked silently carrying banners we had sewn by hand, with
messages of peace. The media saw us and told our story to the rest of
Papua New Guinea. Our sisters in Rabaul were so moved by the story that
they organised a boat and sailed through Buka Passage, singing peace songs.
There was shooting on both sides of the passage before the women arrived.
As they sailed through, the shooting stopped. Their singing stopped the
guns.
It was the women who risked going out into the jungle to persuade our
sons, husbands and brothers to avert war. It was the women who really
made peace, not the menfolk. They were busy killing, destroying and raping
women.
I hope this gathering together will further raise the visibility of women's
peace building and leadership, and the impact of conflict on the livelihood
of our sisters throughout the world, including on Bougainville. The problems
don't stop when the war finishes. The memories and trauma, and the culture
of violence, last for generations. Because of their status in society,
the women of Bougainville suffered the most pain, trauma and loss during
the civil war. Photo: Mike Crooke
Women are not passive victims. We are contributing actively to peace making.
Our courage and contributions have made the world a better place to live
and work. Imagine what more we could do if we women were enabled to take
a more equal place at the negotiating table. It is with this belief that
I encourage those of us gathered here to continue to make a difference.
Many women from Bougainville went through bad experiences similar to those
faced by my family.
Our women felt the most pain, trauma and loss because of their place in
society. Many were tortured, pack raped and even killed. We were terrorised
for speaking out for the rights of our families.
We witnessed our sons and husbands being killed and treated like animals,
by all sides in the conflict. We were accused of hiding and refusing to
let sons and husbands join the authority of the day. Yet despite the atrocities,
we continued to pull our families together as the basic unit of community
support. We organised ourselves into church groups and community organisations.
It was in this context that LNWDA was formed in 1992 (formally launched
in 1995) by myself, Agnes Titus, Brenda Tohiana and Alina Longa, with
the goal of creating a world safe for women and children. Our motto was
'Women Weaving Bougainville together'. We just couldn't stay and watch
our sisters die in childbirth, raped, sexually harassed and emotionally
abused.
In 1994 International Women's Development Agency (IWDA) came to our aid,
sending Ms Rae Smart and Sharon Laura to work with us during the peak
of the crisis, to document the experiences of Bougainville women in the
lead up to the Beijing World Conference on Women. These two were the first
white women to come to Bougainville after the blockade.
This was the beginning of our valuable partnership with IWDA. In 1998
both organisations jointly devised a project called Strengthening Communities
for Peace. It has been funded by the Australian Government and IWDA and
its supporters since 2000. AusAID has recently provided funding through
IWDA for another 13 months to consolidate the progress and learnings of
recent years, and provide a basis for our future work.
In 2001 Leitana Nehan was awared the UNIFEM Millennium Peace Prize for
Women in recognition of our contribution to preventing war and building
peace. We accepted on behalf of all the women in Bougainville who have
worked for peace.
We recognise the strong connection between violence against women and
the militarisation of Bougainville society. Because of this LNWDA is working
not only with women but also with men, youth and entire communities towards
reconciliation and freedom from violence. Leitana Nehan Women's Development
Agency works to protect Bougainvillean youth and children like these from
violence.
Building relationships between young people from different communities
within Bougainville has been one of our approaches in healing the rifts
created by war.
We work with ex-combatants and encourage men to be involved in our work
to assist their recovery, to 'balance the teams' sharing of experiences'
and to involve men in building peace.
'Hard core' guerillas are now working with us and talking to communities
about the impact of violence against women. They offer powerful role models
to other young men in the community. Our anti-violence workshops help
boys and young men to understand that the guns and violence of their childhood
are not a necessary part of their futures.
Our workshops for young women attract participants from all over Bougainville,
providing them with the opportunity - for the first time in 10 years -
to socialise, to share ideas and concerns and to learn. The workshops
encourage young women who have lived with violence for much of their lives
to speak out, learn about their bodies and discuss things of concern to
them. They provide a safe environment for young women to discuss their
feelings and realise they are not alone.
Volunteer teams also travel on foot to communities and schools in more
remote parts of Bougainville. They talk to communities about topics such
as domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment,
incest, homebrew alcohol, violence and positive human development, self-esteem
and healthy living.
Our awareness work in communities and schools about the problems encountered
by women and girls, has led to a decrease in the number of victims of
violence in the areas targeted by our volunteers.
A popular 20 minutes radio program every Thursday reinforces our work
with the community. We believe our program is heard by an estimated 10,000
people out of Bougainville's total population of 200,000, as well as by
people in Solomon Islands.
A vital part of LNWDA's work is addressing homebrew abuse. Homebrew is
an extremely potent locally-made liquor, 90% alcohol, that did not exist
in Bougainville before the war. It is a problem all over the island, and
is closely linked to high rates of violence against women. Young men drown
themselves in homebrew alcohol to block out their negative experiences.
People have died or gone blind through alcohol poisoning from homebrew.
While working actively to prevent violence, LNWDA also provides counselling
services for women and girls who experience violence, rape and sexual
abuse, general trauma counselling, individual counselling and couple counselling.
Since our counselling services began in 2000, we have assisted some 1,400
victims.
Over Christmas alone we dealt with 12 cases of rape, 30 cases of domestic
violence and 12 cases of child abuse. Our counsellors have successfully
defended six cases in court, mainly on child maintenance, where women
have been left without any resources even to send their children to school.
But despite the efforts of our counsellors, cases are often thrown out
by magistrates saying that there is lack of evidence.
Our counsellors believe that this is not often the case, and that the
real problem is the magistrates. Male magistrates often support men and
blame the victims who are women. They need to be sensitised to gender
issues and the potential for the law to work against women's interests.
In Bougainville at the moment, the focus is on disposal of arms and on
the formation of the autonomous government. But this alone does not tell
us that the war is over.
Weapons can be containerised or disposed of, expensive infrastructure
can be built, with assurance of a better and brighter future by leaders.
However, peace will be just a dream if people's minds are not healed.
It will take years to rehabilitate a people who have been severely affected
by an uprising such as the Bougainville crisis. Indeed, one of the biggest
problems we now face is that of attitude.
Just recently on the 8th February, 2003 a small argument among three brothers
that could have been solved peacefully resulted in the chopping off the
right arm of the eldest, Francis Borgia. Francis was one of our first
volunteers. On the 20th February, 2003 during a fundraising dance a young
boy indiscriminately kicked and punched a girl who was the gatekeeper.
She was badly hurt, and the boy's relatives, who are fed up with the violence,
came to the aid of the young girl and beat the young boy very badly. Again
on the 22nd February, 2003 a young women returning from a dance was stoned
by drunks. She was left unconscious on the road, and was later found by
people who brought her to safety. On the 23rd February, 2003 a young girl
of 15 was brutally raped in front of her small sisters in broad daylight.
Young men can still be seen wearing camouflaged army uniforms, red headbands
on their heads and knives in their bags. Looking in their eyes tells us
so much. These young men have not changed.
These are just some of the examples that tell us how much there is still
to do on Bougainville.
In closing, I wish to extend my organisation's gratitude to those of
you here today for your continuous efforts in assisting organisations
like ours to build stronger, peaceful societies.
I also would like to thank IWDA staff past and present who have assisted
us in successfully co-managing the Strengthening Communities for Peace
project. Also the very many IWDA supporters who have given their unwavering
support to IWDA and its partners, enabling us to continue our works on
peace and community building.
Finally on behalf of LNWDA I would like to extend our sincere gratitude
to AusAID for the funding it has provided for our programs.
Please continue to stand by us. We need your support to continue what
we are doing to make a difference for women. Let us all stand together
and make a difference!