SAGAL Help to Self Help Organization

Info

SAGAL Help to Self Help Organization is working for the empowerment of women in Ogaden, Ethiopia

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Historie

Who are we?

SAGAL Help to Self Help Organization was established in Norway in 2007 by a group of Somali women based in the town of Drammen. We now have about 50 members and supporters – both Somali and Norwegian – who work together to improve the situation for women in the area of Ogaden, Ethiopia.

Women in Ogaden

Ogaden is a conflict area in eastern Ethiopia, mainly inhabited by ethnic Somalians. The area has for many years been struggling with poverty and war.
The biggest losers in this difficult situation are the women, who live under very hard conditions. The Ogaden girls and women hva little pwer in an extremely patriarchal society. They are raised to not speak in public, often denied schooling, sometimes locked inside their homes, and at all times they have to act according to strict moral codexes. Traditions such as female genital mutilation and forced marriages – followed by frequent births at young age – live on, despite their damaging effect on women’s health. The maternal mortality ratio is very high.
Sexual assults against young women is a big problem, and the lack of contraceptives causes unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV and other diseases. This topic is however so shameful that girls – in fear of being condemned and punnished by their families and society – often run away from their villages and have an abortion or give birth under miserable conditions.


What do we do?

SAGAL Help to Self Help Organization has since 2007 run the project Help to Helfhelp It is one of few “women’s project” in the area; an area that seems to be forgotten by the international community. The organization and the project are run by volunteers, and aims both to support the women who are struggling the most in Ogaden, but also to work towards changing the society and the way women are regarded.
SAGAL is running a crisis/rehabilitation centre, where victims of violence and rape can get help and live for a period until they can take care of themselves. In this centre they get medical care, someone to talk to, and they learn how to read, write, cook and sew.
SAGAL is also running information campagnes in towns and small villages throughout the area, as well as dialogue meetings with the authorities and power elite in religious sector. In these campagnes we deal issues like HIV/aids, FGM, differences between culture and religion, women’s rights and the use of contraceptives. We have also visited schools where we arrange discussions with young men and women on these issues.

We work to make the women’s own voices heard, and to empower them to fight against the injustice they are experiencing!