Karak Mayik, the peace maker of Sudan

■ BY JOHN OKINDA
“I have so many stories in so many places. I went to the internet and got so many stories. People are writing about me. I got so many things, some of which I did over five years ago”. This was the opening statement when I first met Ms. Karak at her Women for Women International –Sudan offices at Afex compound in Rumbek.
“ I want to put together what others have written about me and what has not been written into a biography” she added
When talking to Karak, one gets the impression of a woman well prepared for her work as a peace maker and a women rights advocate. She is full of energy and optimism that is unmatched by any standards.
The 33 years old mother of three children, Karak Mayik was born in the Nuba Mountains where her family had settled after escaping the conflict that had engulfed most parts of Sudan in the early 80’s.
Difficult upbringing
The many years of conflict between the predominantly Arabic Islamic Northern Authority and the Christian-animistic African South soon took it’s toll and affected Karak’s life and that of her family members massively.
In 1985, the fighting militias killed a number of her family in an attack on Leri. Her farther was later to be abducted and, although released, the family decided to flee the Nuba Mountains to other areas they considered safe. She was aged 11 by then.
During her early teens, Karak and her family were displaced several times constantly loosing all their belongings.
Karak currently lives with her old father in Rumbek and her last born child. Her two other children lives with their grandmother (Karak’s mum) in Kampala, Uganda.
Early education
During the flight from one state and village to another, access to basic education was scarce. Karak traveled up and down the country struggling to receive an education. She separated from her family at the age of thirteen in a bid to learn.
Her brightness in the first year of her joining school saw her promoted up two grades.
She had to later rejoin her family in Khartoum and in 1990, they moved to Mayo Internally Displaced Persons Camp. Karak took up cleaning jobs in order to supplement her secondary fee requirements. She graduated from secondary school in 1993 after a great struggle by her parents to educate her for lack of resources.
Karak later joined the University of Juba where she studied Rural Development and Community Studies.
Karak at Mayo IDP camp
When Karak and her family finally settled in Mayo IDP camp South of Khartoum in the mid nineties, she grew up developing a strong spirit and vision to help people from her community and others. Staying at the IDP camps taught her an important lesson; the lesson of taking charge of ones life and destiny. Karak learnt that waiting for other people to assist them was not a panacea to the myriad of problems that bedeviled them and the solution laid within their conscience and ability to accept that there was a problem that needed to be solved.

It is at Mayo IDP camp that Karak’s vision to emancipate her community, particularly women from miseries of war and untold suffering became clear. After many years of difficulties and struggle to see another day, Karak became proficient in teaching women ravaged by war to survive and overcome the challenges posed to them as a result of the long standing war. She taught them new skills and self discovery.
Conditions of IDP Camp around Khartoum
IDP camps around Khartoum that include Mayo-Mandela, El Salaam and El Bashir house hundreds of thousands of people, mainly displaced from not only war torn Southern Sudan but also from Darfur region, refugees from Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad.
The IDP camps are deserts and are deprived of basic services and utilities such as electricity, clean drinking piped water, drainage system, food supply and security.
The refugees and IDPs are faced with violations and frequent attacks from robbers and sometimes armed men. They also have to put up with demolition of their structures and amenities such as schools by the authorities, in what government officials claim to be a major replanning program aimed at improving the physical conditions of the camps by providing electricity and water(IRIN Report).
IRIN also reports that following the demolitions of houses including latrines, sanitation became the biggest health problem at the camp.
Working with IDPS in Mayo
When the International Rescue Committee (IRC) started a women’s empowerment program in Mayo IDP camp in 1998, Karak was employed as a literacy teacher. Karak took up this opportunity and performed her responsibilities with a lot of zeal and determination. She worked extremely hard to strengthen the capacities of IDP women in the fields of health, leadership, gender, business and entrepreneurship and legal rights.
Her training programs continued to raise awareness in order to enhance the capacities of displaced women to participate in the peace process, even after IRC handed over the empowerment program to AZZA Women Association.
Karak then founded the Friendship Agency for Community Training (FACT) in 2001 and became it’s Executive Director. FACT sought to build on the success of IRC’s training courses by establishing a sustainable women’s program. Karak managed to recruit volunteers from the community to begin training in literacy, cottage industry, peace building, gender, health and hygiene, human rights, family planning and conflict resolution.
FACT opened a training centre with assistance from donors, government ministries and other specialized research institutions.

Diar for Rehabilitation and Development Association (DRDA)
Formed in 2004, Diar for Rehabilitation and Development Association (DRDA), is currently headed by Karak. DRDA is commonly to as ‘Diar’ (meaning ‘woman’) in Dinka.
With it’s roots based in Mayo-Mandela IDP settlement, Diar has the overall objective of building the capacities of women in IDP camps across Sudan in the broader socio-economic and political spheres.
Research and personal experience confirms that many IDP women across Sudan not only lack information about their rights but also primary means of mobilization. Diar has responded to this need by providing ongoing workshops in the areas of peace building, micro credit schemes, literacy classes and women’s empowerment, as well as programs that target adolescents and children. According to Karak, Diar conducted a research in Unity and Kordofan states in order to understand the would be needs of the IDPS once they are repatriated. Diar is also focusing it’s attention on the implications of the existence of land mines in the area and work to develop and promote projects that will provide economic alternatives to agriculture.
“Basically, we want to assist the women sustain their development activities and solve problems on their own, both in Khartoum and once repatriated, without wholly relying on development and humanitarian organizations” said Karak.
Awards
Karak Nyok is the 2004 winner of the prestigious Van Heuven Goedhart International Award for Refugee/IDP women presented in the Hague as part of World Refugee Day celebrations. It is given every two years by SV, The Netherlands Refugee Foundation to a refugee or displaced person ’who has made tremendous effort in fighting the difficult life of refugee life, has shown great courage and talent to overcome the difficulties, and is able to inspire other refugees to take their lives in their own hands again’
Karak has also been nominated for the Nelson Mandela Award for her outstanding commitment to reconstruction of the Southern Sudan, her continued support to the women of the Nuba Mountains including donating all her prize money to the tune of 50,000 Euros.
Karak recently lost her sister as she couldn’t afford money for her treatment, yet she had donated 50,000 Euros to women projects in Nuba Mountains although she is a Dinka from the Upper Nile State.
A selfless role model to the Sudanese and African womenthat she is, Karak is an example of how someone, learning from her own refugee situation, can offer strength and a future to fellow women, who are trapped in perceptible desperate situations.◙