South Sudan’s First Lady Extends Support
On Friday in New York, the first lady of South Sudan-Mary Ayen Mayardit urged support for an organization she founded called Concern for Women and Children (CWC). The mission of the organization is to diminish suffering, injustice and poverty by empowering women and supporting children.
The first lady spoke at the First Ladies Alliance ceremony and told the gathering of people that 65% of women in the young nation cannot read or write, and many of the children are illiterate. “There are issues related to women capacities to achieve economic independence; women are in the rural areas, girls are either denied schooling or taken out of school at 14 years to be married”, said the first lady. She is doing her best to provide support for the new country, and doesn’t shy down from difficult situations caused by the many years of the civil war.
“It could be noted that women had always provided the lead in feeding their families either by cultivating or by doing marginal jobs in the towns…If women are economically empowered this could impact positively on the poverty level and the morbidity and mortality amongst children and mothers”. Says the first lady.
On Friday, she met Michelle Obama for the first time- her US counterpart, during the organized meeting by US-based Bush Institute’s First Ladies Initiative. The initiative supports first ladies from all around the world, and promotes education, good health and economic opportunities for women in society.
Published by Sudantribune on September 27th, photo by 1stladies.org
