Perepetu: The
role of community theater in women’s leadership at the grassroots
(Perepetu,
right in cap, enacting the role of a man)
Perepetu Mukankera is an actress in community theater. After
receiving training on legal and human rights in the early 2000s she and other
women in the program have over the years being engaged in advocacy and raising
awareness in their communities through the Byiringiro Community Theater group,
sponsored by Rwanda Women’s Network.
Through a play of the same name (Byiringiro means
hope in Kinyarwanda), the group dramatically traces the women’s eventful lives
and the effects from the 1994 genocide to date, and offers a story of hope
where there is opportunity to heal from the trauma suffered by many women from
rape during the genocide, including isolation, fear and stigma caused by HIV
and Aids. The play incorporates SGBV, HIV/Aids, justice, peace and
reconciliation and leadership as some of its major themes.
Through community theater women survivors are able to see themselves and are encouraged to come
out and open up about their concerns. Citing examples from her experience as a community
paralegal, Perepetu narrates how some women mistreated by their husbands,
fared.
“I explained to them their human rights and about
the legal course of action to take,” she says. “I urged them to take their
concerns to court. However, when their husbands came to know about it after the
cases were taken to court, the women were chased from their homes. With nowhere
to go they sought me out, and I accompanied them to court. The men were charged
and prosecuted and now observe the law and accord the women their rights. Some
of the husbands even went ahead to formalize their marriages.”
Being aware of issues affecting one individually
or those around you and having basic knowledge on how to address the concerns
is empowering. Being among the first women to get community paralegal
training and accumulating experience in assisting women through the years has
meant that Perepetu has gained leadership status among her peers.
Community theater is the vehicle Perepetu uses to
spread the word. As a grassroots woman and being able to enact situations that
afflict the grassroots women and their families gives her the power to communicate
and transform her community.
Her personal story is painful, which many of her
peers may relate to.
Perepetu was a 36-years old mother of five during
the genocide, and was pregnant with the sixth. Her husband was killed during
the genocide, while one of her children was shot – though the child survived.
“I was beaten and suffered extreme sexual
violence and rape,” she narrates. “My attackers used all sorts of objects on
me, including hands and sticks during the rape. I lost my pregnancy as a result
of the ordeal.”
With no husband and destitute, she became a
beggar by the roadside. “I had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat, and went
from house to house begging.” She explains that immediately after the genocide
one could not trust anybody “because it was the people who knew each other who
ended up killing one another.” It was however through a neighbor that she got
to know about where she could receive help and treatment free of charge.
“I
have since been receiving the assistance I need from the RWN,” she says.
Rwanda Women's Network (RWN) is one of the four partner institutes of the African Centers of Excellence (ACE) for Women's Leadership program run by the Institute of International Education (IIE) , Ethiopia Office.
For more on IIE , ACE or RWN please follow the links below.
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