Linked with INTERNEWS, and with Stigmatisée par la société.
When Houda Mahamat Malloum first applied to work as a journalist in her native Chad, she was turned down because of her gender. But she persisted, and became the only female member of a small group of journalists-in-training at the Internews office in Abéché, eastern Chad. There, Malloum learned reporting skills and digital sound editing. Now she is a full-time host, reporter and producer at La Voix du Ouaddaï, a community radio station set up by Internews in Abéché to serve refugees from Darfur as well as local Chadians. In this conservative Muslim society, the 25-year-old journalist often faces disapproval for her choice of work … (full text).
Houda Mahamat Malloum is a full-time host, reporter and producer at La Voix du Ouaddai, a community radio station in Abeche, Chad, set up by the non-profit Internews network to serverefugees from Darfur and local Chadians. As well as presenting the news at noon every day, Malloum produces Internews’ weekly radio show, « She Speaks, She Listens. » The program focuses on violence against women and girls, covering taboo subjects such as rape, female genital cutting and forced child marriage … (full text).
Watch: Internews reporters Houda Mahamat Malloum (left) and Al Haram Oumar (right) interview Darfuri women at the Farchana refugee camp in Chad (scroll down).
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Houda Mahamat Malloum – Chad
… In the middle of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Darfur area, three radio stations based along the Chad-Sudan border have been giving a voice to refugees, internally displaced and local populations, and delivering news critical to their survival as well as information and entertainment making life easier in these extreme circumstances … (full text).
Internews first “Every Human Has Rights” Media Awards.
She says: … Girls are commonly married off as young as 10 years old. It was the episode about child marriage that evoked some of the strongest responses, and which touched Malloum the most … and: “People in Abéché criticize girls who work with men, but I close my ears so as not to hear it,” Malloum says. “I am proud of my work, and my parents are proud of me, too” … and: “The young girls that I interviewed said they couldn’t continue to live as they wanted because they were married too young. They are now parents, they couldn’t continue to study, they couldn’t work,” Malloum says. “It’s not just a problem for them. It’s a consequence for the development of the country also” … (full text).
… Houda Mahamat Malloum est journaliste pour la radio La voix du Ouaddaï, qui émet dans ces camps dans l’est du Tchad. Pour elle, circulation de l’information et de l’aide alimentaire sont intimement liées. « Imaginez une veuve africaine avec huit enfants, qui n’a rien à manger, à qui l’on donne cinq à huit kilos de mil par mois. C’est très difficile. Nous allons dans les camps, nous rencontrons ces gens, nous prenons leurs doléances. Ensuite, nous rencontrons les humanitaires pour voir comment trouver une solution », explique-t-elle à FRANCE 24. Selon elle, certaines personnes utilisent aussi la radio afin que leurs demandes soient écoutées par les responsables et les humanitaires … (full text).
Pourquoi ce travail? Est ce que ces femmes sont obligées de faire ce travail? Que font les hommes si tout est fait par les femmes. C’est la question qu’on pose souvent quand on visite les camps des réfugiés soudanais … (full text).
links – More on women in Chad:
Chad’s Darfur refugee camps ‘shocking’: women leaders;
Docu-drama highligjhts courageous Israeli and Palestinian women;
Chad: ‘They’re Going to Exterminate Us’;
Chad: Women and girls at risk as they flee violence;
Chad on wikipedia, a long article;
Un haut-parleur pour le silence.net, en français (aussi en arab, espanol, english);