After fleeing for safety from South Sudan with her family at age four, USQ alumna Akeer Chut-Deng spent years in refugee camps before eventually coming to build a new life in Toowoomba as the city’s first Sudanese settled refugee family in 1995.
Akeer was born in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan. Not long after she was born, war broke out and her father was murdered so the family moved to a rural community.
It was Akeer’s sister who insisted the family move from the village to raise their chances of receiving an education, moving from South Sudan to Ethiopia, from Ethiopia to Kenya, and then from Kenya to Australia.
More than 20 years later, Akeer has been an international model became a mother of three, graduated from USQ in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in International Relations, and recently founded a mission close to her heart.
Freedom Pads Project is a movement to improve the chances that young girls in South Sudan and other areas of Africa have in receiving an education by ensuring they have access to sanitary pads.
While Akeer has always had a desire to give back, and while she couldn’t necessarily give financial aid, she has always been full of ideas. After a discussion with a friend, the concept for Freedom Pads Project was born.
“I wanted to free girls from being limited in terms of education,” she said.
“I know in my country, many girls can’t make it to year five and I thought, one of the main factors that keeps them at home and not in school is they have no sanitary pads each month.
“When they’re on their period, they will be home or in isolation for three to seven days.”
Speaking with 56 women of various ages located in America, India, China Australia, and back in South Sudan, Akeer asked the ladies about their personal experiences living in refugee settlements.
“The women said sometimes they would sit in ashes, they weren’t allowed to eat what everybody else ate, or drink the milk that everyone else drinks. We are cattle keepers in South Sudan so tend to rely on milk a lot in our main diet,” she said.
“Sometimes you would need to go to the nearest river and spend your days there and come home at night, because on your period you’re considered dirty and put in isolation.”
While the women Akeer spoke to said sanitary products are provided every now and then, it isn’t consistent and girls often miss out.
“The girls drop out of school and get left behind, then they lose their confidence when they are failing school,” she said.
Akeer began talking to her friends and reaching out through their networks. The more conversations that were started on social media, the more attention Akeer and her friends received. They started raising money, mainly through the project’s GoFundMe page.
In February of this year, Akeer travelled back to Africa for the first time in 23 years, supplying 1500 reusable sanitary pads to girls in the Kiryandongo and Rhino Camp Refugee Settlements in Uganda and then in South Sudan.
“We drove for 16 hours to go to one of the refugee camps. It was in the middle of nowhere and everybody was living in little huts,” she said.
“It was a good experience in a way because it made me appreciate what I have, but it was sad to think I could have been one of those women because that’s where I’m from and I was a refugee.
“It really hit home, and made me realise I want to put more into the Freedom Pads Project so we can help girls and make sure they don’t miss out on an education.”
“They want to go to school but there are so many things holding them back.”
Since her return from South Sudan, Akeer is even more motivated to make a difference and fight for this cause so close to her heart.
Her ultimate goal for Freedom Pads Project is to set it up as a social enterprise based in South Sudan.
“If we can set it up this way the women in Sudan can make the pads, then we can help the girls who are disadvantaged by empowering them with employment,” she said.
While the word is out there with SBS Radio having recently interviewed Akeer to share her story, she is now at the stage of trying to get Freedom Pads Project registered as a not-for-profit organisation.
“I think education is the key to everything really,” she said.
“If you have the basics, the fundamentals, just to be able to read and write – that is what we’re trying to aim for.”
“In South Sudan, only 27 percent of the adult population are literate and 7 percent of those are female. With so many unable to read and write you can imagine the devastating effect it has on society.
“It’s so important that we try to fight the barriers there. I would love to see the statistics change.”
To get involved or to learn more about the Freedom Pad Project, please contact Akeer by visiting the Facebook page.
If you’re interested in furthering your studies in International Relations or other related programs, read more on the USQ website.