Shifting Ideas Through Education for African Women Inc. SITEAW, INC. The Organization: i) Shifting Ideas Through Education for African Women, Inc., (SITEAW, INC.) is a nonprofit Organization 501 (C) 3 founded in 2004 by Sabina S. Santana (Sr.). It is based in Indianapolis, Indiana-U.S.A and at SITEAW, INC. Women’s Centre in Iganga, Uganda.

ii) SITEAW, INC., works with all people irrespective of colour, race, gender, or religion and with local communities in Africa (starting in Uganda and Kenya).

The Main Objective:

To use education to stop women oppressive traditions especially: Women circumcision, inheriting of women, women beating, women sexual abuse, women trafficking, women exploitation and deprivation of education. All these are violations against human rights and they have kept women in chains generation after generation.

Duration:

SITEAW, INC., is intended to be a perpetual organization with changing objectives according to the needs in society. SITEAW, INC., also intends to extend programs in other African countries and all over the world, one area at a time. Please find more information on our website at www.siteaw.org

The Problem that Needs Urgent Attention:

i) More than 3000 girls are circumcised every year in Kapchorwa District in Uganda. Many die due to infections such as AIDS (from using blades from one girl or woman to another) and over-bleeding.

ii) The girls who survive the knife are given in marriage to men twice or three times their age as soon as they heal. These girls are traumatized all their lives. Their education is terminated and they live in sheer poverty and abuse.

There’s great poverty among the Sabiny tribe. So, parents prefer to use the little money they sometimes earn from selling coffee to pay school fees for boys but not for girls. On top of that, they don’t want girls to be around for a long time depending on them. Therefore, they subject them to circumcision and give them away in marriage at a very early age in order to get rid of them. Girls as young as 12 years are married off if no one pays schools fees to keep them in school. As human beings, we feel these girls need a second chance in life.

iii) Because men pay big dowries to get circumcised girls, they treat them like commodities. And when one gets married to a man with many wives she becomes a slave to all of them, they regard her as the youngest and therefore strong for hard labour.

iv) During childbirth these circumcised girls go through great complications, as their bodies are too young to handle what they are made to go through. Many are cut again to widen the birth canal. Sometimes the mothers die and sometimes the babies die.

v) Among the Sabiny, an uncircumcised woman is not respected. She can’t go to the stream to get water, she can’t climb the granary to get food, she can’t participate in the communal activities. She is isolated and looked at a curse and can’t get married.

Practical Solutions to Stop Women Circumcision:

i) SITEAW, INC. practical solutions to stop women circumcision is first and foremost to help girls stay in school, especially among the Sabiny tribe in Uganda. Girls need to be empowered and helped to reach the age when they feel confident enough to fight those oppressive traditions in their tribes.

During our field trip from June 19th to July 4th 2006 sponsored in part by Wabash college of Indiana, we interviewed some of the girls to be circumcised in December this year (2006). Their appeal was so emotional and touching. They begged us to help them remain in school to survive circumcision and have a future with education and skills.

We are at present trying to raise money to sustain the girls in school. The needed amount for each girl per year is $400.00 so, for the 20 girls who have sent letters of appeal to us we need to raise $8000.00. We have so far raised $800.00 from people of good will.

ii) In 2004 SITEAW, INC., bought a piece of land in Uganda from the proceeds of Stella’s books to build a Centre to start Women Vocational Programs including: Human Rights, Tailoring, Catering, Computer skills, Reading and Writing (for the illiterate women and girls), Handcraft, Art, Embroidery, Pottery, Brick Laying, Music, Dance and Drama. Counselling, Gender and Multicultural Education Workshops will also be conducted all year around.

When completed, SITEAW, INC., Centre will be an answer to the problem the Sabiny girls and many abused women in Uganda are having. They will be able to receive counselling and to follow Vocational Programs that will empower them to fight oppressive traditions in their tribes.

Volunteers and Sponsors:

i) Some of the skilled volunteers who have promised to offer courses and workshops at SITEAW, INC., Centre in Uganda include: the Board Members of SITEAW, INC., in the U.S.A and in Uganda among whom are: Teachers and professors at Wabash College and the head of the Media Centre at Wabash College.

ii) Also arrangements are under way to invite students of Wabash College to be part of the volunteer group that will travel to SITEAW, INC., Centre in Uganda every year to teach Human Rights, Computer Skills, Reading and Writing and English to women, girls and others in need.

The group that made the trip to Africa in June presented a talk on the 25th September 2006 to Wabash students, faculty and staff. The response was very promising.

iii) Sponsors from the Indianapolis Links Organization have promised to assist us in various ways. This year (2006) Indianapolis Links sponsored our trip with $1000.

iv) The women of the Church of the Brethren assist SITEAW, INC., by donating money towards the building of the Centre in Uganda. They donated $1000 each year for the past three years. They have promised to continue donating $1000 every year for the next three years. Two of them visited SITEAW, INC. Centre in Uganda in 2005.

v) Sabina S. Santana (Sr.) has given her life to work for SITEAW, INC., as a director. She uses her skills as a teacher and leader to educate both men and women about oppressive traditions and their consequences in society. She has chosen to be a mouthpiece for the oppressed women and children of Africa starting from Uganda.

vi) In Uganda; the group of volunteers include: Olivia K. Kabaale (prominent teacher), she is the director of SITEAW, INC., in Uganda, Irene Kabaale (Treasurer general of Jinja Senior Secondary School), she teaches the women how to be creative by using whatever local materials they have to make some money and how to budget and survive on the little they make (financial management).

vii) Patrick (researcher about women circumcision in Kapchorwa district, Uganda), volunteers by helping SITEAW, INC., establish a relationship between the elders (the custodians of all the traditions in that tribe), the parents of the girls at risk, the vulnerable girls at risk themselves, the surgeons and the traumatized women who underwent circumcision. Patrick’s devotion and tireless effort is one of the reasons we were able to successfully enter the Sabiny tribe and make a documentary with the okay of the elders during our field trip this year.

viii) Steven Nawuba (Banker at Uganda Centenary Bank), for SITEAW, INC., he volunteers to do the accounts and to organize field trips for researchers and volunteers.

The Short Term Program in the Long Term Program:

As we struggle to complete the Centre, we would like first of all to meet the most urgent need of helping the Sabiny girls (especially those who have forwarded letters of appeal to us) stay in school. When these girls become empowered they will be the founding strong women for SITEAW, INC., Centre to help other oppressed girls and women. We believe indigenous educators of society and volunteers will come from this group. They are the ones who can actually end such barbaric traditions in their tribes.

Educating girls is part of SITEAW,INC., long term program of building the Women’s Education Centre in Uganda to establish Educational Programs. This we already started. From the many generous hearts and hands we now have three buildings on the site, two are roofed, no windows and doors yet. One is not yet roofed as you can see on our website. So, at present, we can't conduct many courses at the site except temporary counselling workshops, brick laying and handcraft.

Creating Awareness to the Public:

We continue to create awareness to the public in the following ways:

i) Speaking to communities, Churches and schools.
ii)Using our website to disseminate information.
iii)Television and Radio shows.
iv)Newspaper and Magazine articles.
v)In addition to that we use music, poetry and drama to tell the stories about women circumcision and other women oppressive traditions.
vi) Stella's books are another way we create awareness especially in the U.S.A.
vii) We are also going to use the documentary we made (it is being edited) on our field trip to Kenya and Uganda in June, 2006 to create more awareness about the situation of the oppressed women and girls in Uganda and Kenya.

Sabina Stella Santana (Sr.)
Founder and Director

The Board Members: Jeana Rogers-Head of Media Center, Wabash College (Public Relations, communication and Research) Dr. James Makubuya Associate Professor of Music, Wabash College (Men’s Panel and Multicultural affairs) Dr. Lucinda Huffaker Theology (Treasurer) Stacy Files- IUPUI University Staff (Secretary) Olivia K. Kwagala -Teacher (Director, Uganda), Irene Kabaale-Bursar General Jinja S.S.S, Uganda (Treasurer SITEAW, Uganda), Steven Nawuba-Banker (Researcher & trip organizer). Delores Thornton (Volunteer) David Clapp(Volunteer) Evans Kita (Volunteer).