By: MOHAMED SAHR
National Sowei Council, which comprises senior initiators of the Bondo Society from different part of the country, has voiced out their challenges amid International Women’s Day Celebration (IWD) at Youyi Building car park on Tuesday 8th March 2022.
The Global Women’s Day Celebration which is considered to sheer light on the strengths, successes, resilient, hardworking feats as well as the impeccable things women in various workplace have done, and how they are scaling the gender parity rank especially in Sierra Leone by extension.
In this regard, whiles making her remark, Gumbu Lawo, the Organising Secretary of National Sowei Council said their main motive is embedded on installing informal education into the lives of prospects thereby maintaining necessary household chores during the time of attaining marital status.
She revealed that in recent times they are having back-and-front challenges particularly from people at different quarters as a way of putting an end to their socio-cultural activities they had inherited from their ancestors. Adding that they had signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the age consent and the preparedness of children ahead of initiation. ‘’We choose this day in order to vet out our plights as well telling the nation that we are part of society and we equally hold our tradition in high esteem,’’ Gumbu Lawo said.
She stated that most of their membership entails people who had acquired western education and are role models in society such as teachers, nurses and police officers. Noting that their own generation of ‘sowei’s’ are intelligent people. Madam Gumbu Lawo pleaded to the Government of Sierra Leone to accept them as members and stop the blame game.
Sowei Nekeh Sonko Turay, Organiser at the Waterloo Lumpah Community said they had made efforts to nurture a table discussion with the First Lady Madam Fatima Bio by explaining the essence of being part of society. Nonetheless, she said their attempts have been ineffective.
Mammy Soko Dumbuya, a member said the Bondo Society is a doctrine that they have met as far as history would trace and it has to be embraced. She furthered that the Government needs to recognise them as Africans more so as tradition may permit.
Fatmata Sesay, member of the National Sowei Council pleaded that they should be similarly cared for and that most of them do get their earnings from the various initiations they do. ‘’We need to be accepted because this is where we most time sustain the lives of our family;’’ she said.
