Budi women and girls mixing cement at a construction site|Courtesy

Women in Budi County of Eastern Equatoria State are constructing a women and girls’ friendly office space to address GBV-related issues including the use of girls for blood compensation.

One of the initiators, Medelina Dudu Lawrence said women and girls do not have a space where they can raise their concerns in a safe and secured space.

She decried that women and girls have often been under looked with girls taken as source of wealth, depriving them of education.

To address the rampant GBV cases, the women ganged up and laid bricks -thanks to a local organization backing up the group’s initiative.

It is hoped that once completed, the space will enable the women to come together, discuss and raise issues affecting them in the community.

“Women and girls here do not have an office, so we said let us construct an office so that I will help women and girls.

“We started the construction; the woman and girls are really happy because we never had an office here in Budi because women are often under looked and seen as a source of wealth and cannot go to school.

“We laid the bricks and requested an organization in the area to assist us, it will finish in probably two weeks’ time”, she said.

Medelina further stressed that the under-construction office will be used to keep record of incidents of GBV including cases of girls used as blood compensation.

According to he, women who fall victim of GBV in the area tends to commit suicide adding that the office will help in providing counselling to women in case of domestic violence.

“When the office is built we will keep record of the number of girls used as blood compensation, and also women who commit suicide as a result of GBV.

“There was woman who committed suicide because they did not have a space where they can raise their concerns. So, the office will also provide counselling to the women.”