We worked on a video with SWIGO where we talked about the issue of climate change, and that video was played to others. When Mama Sarah was still alive, she made sure she played it at our workshop in Egypt, and to the other girls of the country. This has really changed a lot in my life: knowing that I could do this, or knowing that I could get in such a path and do these things. 

It means I could do a lot. 

And if I can do these things, it means everybody, all the girls around me, in the community, they could also do so much.

Ever since we worked on that video, I have had a lot of opportunities. We went to radio stations and we talked about a lot of the girl-child issues. We went to two different radio stations. On one program they were interviewing us about the Wa’ed network and Karama, because they wanted to know everything about them. And then the second, we went to an urban radio station, and there, we were asked about cyberbullying, the impact it has, and what support there is for people experiencing it.

That opened a very big path for me. It made me known. Talking openly about the impacts of cyberbullying helped to raise awareness, we had a great response and people were grateful for what we did. I realised that there were lots of people who had been affected by cyberbullying, but people didn’t really know much about the issue. So we had a chance to talk with girls, and hear about what they experienced, and help them understand who they could talk to, and where they could go, and help them understand what they had experienced.

People were surprised to hear us talking about these issues on the radio. A lot of parents came out, parents whose children had experienced cyberbullying, and said “oh, you know, we didn't know something like this was really happening, and we didn't know that girls like you could be aware of such things”. I told them that we had been able to learn from being part of the Wa’ed network, this is where I got all the awareness from, and now we are trying to share it with the community and with the people, so that people know where to draw the lines.

As well as working in my own community, Wa’ed has given me the opportunity to connect with girls from across the region. The first time I got in contact with people from the Middle East and across Africa was when we went for the workshop. I got to learn that the challenges that we're facing as a country in South Sudan, are not unique to our country, everywhere we are having the same challenges, Africa-wide or worldwide. 

If we could come together from different continents and sit and talk about our challenges and what we are facing, it means this is the beginning of change, and this is the beginning of something new. If we can keep up with this, it means all of us will have to go back to our  countries and we can change everything. 

It was really nice. I really loved it. At least I got to know that we South Sudanese, we are not the only ones facing it, also the Palestinians are facing it. Also, the Yemenis are facing it. So, we are coming together as one and sharing our problems. People say a problem shared is a problem solved, we are coming together, sharing our problems, and seeing what we can do about it, and going back to our respective countries, and doing whatever we need to do. 

From my own experience, I have seen how activism can grow. When we were talking about issues on the radio, parents, children, students, they were eager to know more, and they really wanted to be educated. They were asking questions, they wanted us to share with them what we had learned. There was a time I spoke and I said that I felt like only focusing on the girl-child is not really good, because sometimes we also need to speak to all as a gender. Everybody is involved in this. The girls are the victims, but we also need to speak to the men, so that they can be aware of what they're doing is wrong, and that we all have a responsibility to take action,

The most memorable activity I have done as part of Wa’ed was going to a primary school, sharing my experience with the children. In that time we spent with them, we talked about the Wa’ed network, about the Karama, about girl child, about education, about cyberbullying. That was really an incredible moment, when I looked at the girls and the way they were looking at me, they told me that they looked up to me. They are really grateful, and they're really very happy, because they'd never had any session like it. Inshallah, we shall be having more of this and more contact. I gave them my number in case maybe they're feeling down, or if they're having maybe any personal problems, or someone they need to talk to, they will have to contact me. At that point, I felt like a big sister to them.