Mama Africa's Endeavour For The Betterment Of African Women

By Balqis Jamaludin KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- The women in Sudan are gentle and soft spoken. However, don’t be misled by this gentleness as underneath the tenderness lies a strong will to see their country continue to prosper and stamp its mark not only in the African region but worldwide as well. Dr Suad El-Fatih Al-Badawi, 85, is one of these women. Known for her advocacy of women's rights, the Sudanese academic, politician and journalist, is determined to see Africans, especially the women, live a better life and free from poverty. Despite of her age, Dr Suad, who likes to be referred as “Mama Suad” still works on through various projects to empower African women and ensure that they are treated equally. “Be a strong woman. I like strong women. If we put our hands together we can overcome all obstacle, " Mama Suad said in a stern tone during an interview with a group of Bernama journalists who visited Sudan recently. MOTHER OF AFRICA Her hard work to empower African women was acknowledged by the Pan African Parliament (PAP) - one of the organs of the African Union (AU) - when it honoured her with the title of “Umme Africa” (Mama Africa or Mother of Africa). In fact Mama Suad was not only honoured by the PAP. Way back in the 1970s Saudi Arabia had sought her help to establish the Girls College of Education in Riyadh. According to Mama Suad, that was one of her proudest moments as she had succeeded in overcoming Saudi Arabia's cultural obstacles towards women's education at that time. "I am very happy about that college because it is only for women. It was very difficult to educate women in Saudi Arabia at that time because people say women should only learn al-Quran and Sunnah," she explained. Mama Suad is not only known for her keen interest in the education of women, her fight to reduce the rate of child death in the African continent has also pushed her further into the limelight. According to her, due to the lack of medical care in villages and small towns, some 276 child death cases per 10,000 child (276:10,000) were reported in African countries making it the world's highest rate of child deaths. PROJECT TO TRAIN MIDWIVES And due to this high rate of child death cases, Mama Suad decided to undertake a project where together with a PAP team they trained villagers as midwives to raise healthy children. Even though her idea was ridiculed by some people, she persevered and managed to recruit and train five women in each of the 10 African states under the project as midwives. It was a successful programme, said the founder of International Muslim Women Union (IMWU), which saw the child death rate in the African continent decrease compared to a few years ago. However, the project was currently put on hold because of financial constraints, she said. "I dream to train every midwife in every African village. We hope so. Let us just dream first. The more you dream, the more you will get," she opined. INVESTMENT IN GOLD This articulate lady, who is a member of the Sudanese lower chamber legislative body, not only advocates women's rights but she also has a keen eye for business. She encouraged foreign businessmen to trade and invest in Sudan, which is one of the largest countries in Africa with a population of more than 40 million. "Inside of Sudan, down the earth of Sudan, there is a whole universe of wealth. Uranium, gold, iron, everything is in Sudan," she said proudly. According to her, there was now a large quantity of gold to be mined and encouraged investors to take this opportunity to invest in this precious metal. Reports said that Sudan has become one of Africa's largest gold producers. It produced 25.6 tonnes of gold from January to November 2016. Mama Suad is also impressed with Malaysia and hoped that Sudan could emulate Malaysia’s success in achieving development. And her key recipe for success? “Dream high, always make a proper plan before you start anything, always stick to your time, and always find an alternative for everything.” -- BERNAMA