Peace by Piece

Peace by Piece

A Sudanese Women’s Peace Building Initiative with Waging Peace

And a Personal Testimony

The beautiful patchwork shamla or toub above and featured in the title montage is the fruit of a Waging Peace UK-based women’s workshop initiative.

“By incorporating arts into the work of peace building, and putting Sudanese women at the heart of this project, this workshop aims to create a space where Sudanese women can heal, build trust, and be encouraged to stand up for their communities’ rights in Sudan and in the UK.” (Waging Peace project concept notes)

The peace toub was also displayed at this year’s recent annual symposium of The Society for the Study of the Sudans;

Society for the Study of the Sudans UK

SSSUK Facebook

It was while attending the symposium that I was blessed to meet Mrs Liela Medani, who told me about the Peace by Piece project and the remarkable impact it has had. She also talked passionately of her own experience of fleeing Sudan and the harrowing circumstances faced by those who remain. She has a powerful message for everyone touched by the war.

Peace by Piece

In Conversation with Liela Medani

Above, Mrs Liela Medani, member of the Peace by Piece initiative.

“Sudanese women are the core of both their families and their communities and when they take the initiative, when they believe in a cause, they will act. It only takes two or three courageous women to lead. It’s time for women to take the front seat and call for the end of the war. The pain of war is felt so keenly by women and peace can be restored by women; every wife, mother, sister, daughter, grandmother and aunt has a part.” Liela Medani

Imogen: Could you tell us about the inspiration for the peace toub, how it started and who was involved?

Liela: The project was sponsored by Waging Peace and started in November last year. We were looking for ways to alleviate the trauma and distress Sudanese were suffering. There was the war in Darfur and all the growing instability in Sudan, with the mass migration these have caused, so the project aimed to overcome the isolation so many Sudanese were feeling. We wanted to help Sudanese women connect with each other and tap into their creativity.

The idea was to produce a small textile piece where we could express our emotions, come together as a group and by creating sewing circles we could help not only to build peace and reconciliation but also to regain our trust in each other. So, we brought together Sudanese women from all over the UK and from all different backgrounds and they met to collaborate in creating and decorating patchwork squares of fabric that expressed their own feelings and hopes for Sudan. All these squares – there are still more to be added – would be sewn together to to make a giant toub, our national dress. Sewn together, the patchwork toub is a powerful symbol of unity, strength and resilience.

Imogen: How did the sewing circles work and what was the atmosphere like?

Liela: Sewing circles are a well known part of Sudanese culture. We have a tradition of Sudanese women gathering together in the courtyards of our homes, where we have tea and coffee and do needlework while we chat away, enjoy each other’s company as friends. This time, sewing together in London, was a unique experience to see all the positive energy, love, unity and creativity everyone brought to the workshop. We transformed our needlework into a piece of art emphasizing peace and love and embracing hope. At the same time each group was able to build understanding and connect more with each other by sharing their visions and ideas and aspirations for peace. Each piece was unique, each piece is part of a foundation for positive change, peace and reconciliation.

Imogen: Can you talk a little more about the structure and form of the piece?

Liela: The squares are fifty centimeters each, of different colours and embroidered or painted with designs chosen spontaneously by the craftswoman. Some pieces are designed by several women, working together.

Imogen: What would you like non Sudanese to take from the project and what can they do to support Sudanese during this tragic time?

Liela: The giant toub Is a symbol of unity and it fosters peace by bringing people together, overcoming the misunderstandings and divisions that war causes. The patches have been cut and separated with scissors but are united by needles and thread. It’s a wonderful tapestry but each patch is unique, with its own quality and features; just like the peoples of Sudan. We are different in features, accents, culture but united, we make up our beloved nation.

We need the international community to acknowledge and understand how rapidly the situation is deteriorating and how vital it is that they call for the end of the war. Many members of the international community aren’t aware of the crisis in Sudan and there’s little media interest in it. Our country’s infrastructure has been destroyed, and those who couldn’t flee the capital have had no medicine, water or electricity for weeks. So many Sudanese, including my own family, can’t even go out of their front door to buy a piece of bread without risking their lives. If the war isn’t ended, it will spread beyond Sudan and it will be unstoppable.

Imogen: Where will the toub be displayed?

Liela: The toub has been displayed at Sudanese community meetings, for example, last Sunday, 17 September in Birmingham, and at the SSSUK event, where we met. It’s featured in Waging Peace’s newsletter and at an event organized by Waging Peace and Holocaust Memorial Day Trust with members of the UK Sudanese community, attended by HRH King Charles. We hope to continue to share the power of the giant toub representing the strength and fortitude of Sudanese women with parliamentarians – as a symbol that helps keep all eyes on Sudan and towards peace. We have high hopes for the giant toub to keep evolving and growing – and travelling! – to inspire hearts and minds.

Imogen: I know everyone reading hopes and prays for a swift end to this terrible conflict. Could you – if it is not too painful – talk a little about your feelings about the war and how it has affected those you know in Sudan and outside?

Liela: It’s a very harsh reality. It affected me to the core. War to me is the lingering smell of burning buildings and fuel, the sound of air raids, the sound of shelling, a child holding bullets thinking they are date kernels, the smoke rising from the passenger terminals and other buildings of Khartoum Airport; I used to pass through these buildings every day for twelve years as an air hostess.

Left; the burnt-out shell of Khartoum Airport, Al-Arabiya News, below, Al-Arabiya and Dabanga News photographs showing destruction in Khartoum and Darfur.

I returned recently from the war zone but as a permanent resident in London I have another chance; I have a lovely safe place to escape to, my true equal love of two countries. I managed to leave Sudan with great difficulty, under the shadow of death, through shelling, and crossing valleys and mountains until I reached safety, I left behind a dismantled government, a capital destroyed and a population scattered and seeking refuge on the borders of the neighbouring countries.

There was no government nor governors to turn to; all of them had abandoned the capital, with most of the population fleeing the atrocities. Some were killed by bullets; bullets of ignorance, treachery and betrayal, some of them died of broken hearts, others from disease due to lack of medicines and hospitals being destroyed. Some of them fled with the hope of reaching physical safety but were psychologically destroyed. Some of them were forced to evacuate to escape threats and intimidation. The city is devoid of cats and dogs and even the birds are gone because the air is polluted by the smoke of a city in flames. Rivers of blood, it’s war, a real war. It’s not a joke. Despite all this, though, we will never lose hope for a Sudan of peace, freedom and justice.

As far as the Sudanese diaspora goes, you need to know that Sudanese families in general are very close-knit and their diaspora communities too, so the outbreak of war in Sudan has greatly affected all the Sudanese in diaspora countries. I can talk especially about Sudanese women residents in UK, who come from all regions of Sudan. They hold within themselves a wealth of experience and great traditions but they are overwhelmed by the pain of forced migration and war. It has a great impact on their lives, affecting their families and work and daily life, causing great distress and worry. They are in need of psychological support and healing. One woman described her feelings to me, saying it’s like life has stopped, she has no taste for food, she’s lost her concentration, has sleepless nights and nightmares, she’s worried about her family; about everything.

Imogen: Thank you so much, Liela, for these words of great courage, resilience and reconciliation. Everyone reading today shares in your hopes and prayers for a return to peace in Sudan.