Dear friends
My name is Nigussie Betata. I am 21 years old and live in Obi Koji village, in southern Ethiopia. My friends at ActionAid asked me write to you about a really important project I am involved with, thanks to your support of The Next Step.
In this part of Ethiopia, traditional practices are very important to us and lots of people respect them and follow them. Some of the traditional practices are very worrying for young women, like the fear of abduction - and the forcing of early marriages. Many people in my community didn't like the way that women and girls were forced to do these things, but we didn't know how we could change the practices and get our neighbours to stop.
ActionAid and their partner Woliso Youth Development Association (WYDA) came into our community in 2006. They called a meeting and told us about human rights and particularly about people's right to safety and to have control over their own body. They showed us that some of the traditional practices that were going on in my community were violating people's rights, especially those of women.
ActionAid encouraged us to identify together as a community if we wanted to carry on with traditional practices or not. They explained that it was important for us to decide ourselves to ensure that we stuck with the decision. At the end of the meeting they asked for volunteers to join a group which would work on changing people's attitudes to harmful traditional practices and help protect the rights of women and girls. I was happy because I could finally see a way of ending the practices in my community that I disliked and I readily volunteered.
ActionAid brought us together in a group, and we began to meet every two weeks. There were similar groups in 12 other communities near here. Fifty or sixty of us would get together each time - men and women and youngsters - with a local member of the community who has been trained by ActionAid in how to lead the group. At the meetings we discuss about all kinds of issues relating to the rights of women and girls. At the end of each session we all pledge to help stop harmful practices in our community.
But when my pledge was tested, I was forced to make a very difficult decision. I came to know that a member of my community was planning to abduct a young girl in our neighbourhood and force her into an early marriage with him.
I couldn't sleep the night I found out what he was planning. But I knew that I would be responsible for that girl's abduction if I didn't speak out and stop it from happening. Early in the morning, I went to see the WYDA coordinator and told him everything. We discussed all the possibilities to stop the abduction taking place, but knew we had to make him understand the implications of what he was planning so that this didn't happen again.
We went and confronted the man and talked to him about what he was planning to do and why it was wrong. We also told him that what he was planning was illegal. This shocked him; because people around here had always done what he was planning he thought that it was ok. We convinced him to come to our group meeting so that he could learn more about how, some of our traditional practices can hurt people.
Thankfully he came along to our next meeting. Over time he came to understand about girl's rights and how we as a community need to respect them. I was so proud when he decided to take the pledge with us at the end of our meeting. It really showed me how we can change people's attitudes to harmful traditional practices for good.
It will take a long time to change attitudes but we're hopeful that we can achieve our aim. Your support of The Next Step is truly helping to make a difference. I am so proud to be part of this work, and will continue to do so for as long as I can.
Thank you so much
Nigussie Betata
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