logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

A Sudanese Activist Exposes the Emotional Needs of Local Activists

Sheela Nimishakavi and Ruth McCambridge
April 12, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
“Wadi Halfa” by JoePyrek

April 11, 2017; Open Democracy

In a beautiful essay in Open Democracy, Nazik Awad, a Sudanese activist who documented both war crimes and the work of human rights defenders in Sudan, writes about the emotional pain that not only eats away at your mental health but also, along with the consequences of inactivity, prevents you from pausing when maybe you ought.

For the most part, this newswire will use Awad’s own words because they need no intermediation:

Five years ago, I had to leave my country, escaping from espionage charges as a result of my documentation of the ongoing war crimes in Sudan. But I also know these things because I interviewed and documented dozens of experiences of grassroots activists inside Sudan, who are working in one of the most hostile environments for human rights defenders in the world. These women and men working in conflict areas or with displaced people were deeply involved and committed. They had never considered their own wellbeing neither as a priority nor as a right. One of the most courageous anti-genocide activists I have ever known used to wear dirty clothes and ride a donkey for weeks into remote areas of Darfur. He wanted to reach those women who had been mass raped by militias, while also taking pictures of the burned villages and the mass graves of his own people. I often asked him why he did not stop after ten years of doing this, as it clearly was taking a toll on his health, but he simply said to me, “I can’t.” I did not understand why at the time. When he died a year ago, I had been disconnected with him for a while so I asked about the reasons of his death. His family told me that, “For more than a year he turned to the bottle; he drank himself to death.” My friend and colleague died of depression, because he just could not stop his advocacy work, or did not know how to.

Studies support Awad’s conclusions. While no peer-reviewed study has looked into the mental health impacts of human rights activism by survivors specifically, there are studies that detail the impacts of human rights work in general. For instance, one study found high rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD among 70 staff collecting human rights data in Kosovo. A more recent Internet-based survey of 346 human rights workers found results that mirrored those of the Kosovo study. Interestingly, this survey also found that 89 percent of those surveyed experienced secondary trauma through interviewing and documenting stories of survivors and witnesses. Of those who responded to the survey, 20 percent had directly experienced trauma because of their involvement in human rights work (for example, physical violence or hostage situations).

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Given the trauma survivors have already faced, it is fair to speculate that secondary and further primary trauma would have complex mental health effects on these activists. Further, because of their dedication to the cause, they may continue their work regardless of the health impact. Awad says, “The commitment and passion of grassroots advocates is admirable, but the main problem is that they do not know how to stop when they need to. Most of us feel that we should not stop, that we cannot leave our people’s fight.”

For grassroots activists, solidarity remains at the core of their coping strategies. One of the female activists who was a victim of rape in security detentions, as a result of her work, decided to share her relocation fund to help another colleague to relocate as well. We managed to find help for the raped activist to relocate and receive medical and psychological support, but she said: “My other colleague is at risk too, I will not leave her behind.” She made this decision because her colleague was living in a remote area inside the Nuba Mountains; she did not have access to Internet to apply for her own relocation or to communicate with protection networks. With a lack of resources to seek professional help, peer support has been the most effective—and often the only—safety and mental health network for grassroots advocates.

Awad suggests that more attention should be paid to the well being of activists who take on the most courageous of work in dangerous and unrelentingly oppressive environments and she charges NGOs with paying more attention.

The international donors and human rights defenders support networks need to take measures that consider the complicated challenges encountered by local defenders. More importantly, NGOs, either local or international, that recruit community-based activists must recognize their unique status and develop strategies that understand their vulnerabilities. Only when organizations approach this issue proactively will they be able to ensure the safety, wellbeing and work stability of advocates who are also victims.

—Sheela Nimishakavi and Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sheela Nimishakavi

Sheela Nimishakavi is a nonprofit finance and operations professional with a passion for creating socially just and inclusive communities. She has held senior management positions at several community based organizations addressing access to healthcare and services for persons with disabilities, currently serving as the Director of Operations of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia. After working in the nonprofit field for over a decade and seeing many organizations struggle with the administrative requirements of running a nonprofit, Sheela founded ThirdSuite, a consulting firm that offers nonprofit administrative services and trainings to help organizations increase their capacity and further their mission. Sheela received an MA/MPH in Health Policy and Management from Boston University School of Public Health, and a BS in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from the University of California, Davis. She currently serves on the boards of the Central Virginia Grant Professionals Association and Empowering People for Inclusive Communities.

Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: human rights volunteer managementManagement and LeadershipMental HealthNonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Shared Leadership in a Human Rights Fund
Clare Gibson Nangle, Rebecca Olschner-Wood and Frances Tennyson-d’Eyncourt
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights Movements
Devon Kearney
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb Plutocracy
Alan Davis
Healing-Centered Leadership: A Path to Transformation
Shawn A. Ginwright
Into the Fire: Lessons from Movement Conflicts
Ingrid Benedict, Weyam Ghadbian and Jovida Ross

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Shared Leadership in a Human Rights Fund
Clare Gibson Nangle, Rebecca Olschner-Wood and Frances Tennyson-d’Eyncourt
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights...
Devon Kearney

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.