A South Sudanese initiative called “Catwalk to Freedom” is using fashion and photography to help women and young girls avoid early and forced marriage.
Nyagoa Nyuon, the founder of Catwalk to Freedom, strives to raise awareness of issues that affect young girls of South Sudan who were born and brought up in war and conflict.
According to Nyuon, “With the use of fashion, Catwalk to Freedom highlights the dangers of early childhood marriage that has challenged the young girls and women in South Sudan.”
Speaking in Nairobi at an event, Nyuon explained, “This is made possible by taking photos through Catwalk and documenting short films and narratives of the young girls’ life journeys, who face the dangers of early childhood marriage.”
Portraits and art produced by the project are sold and the money is used to fund girls’ education, benefiting girls in South Sudan and South Sudanese refugees at Kakuma refugee camp.
She says community elders are carefully approached before they select the girls and the priority is mainly for the orphaned ones. Up to now the program has managed to recruit ten girls in total and three are already enrolled in secondary school.
Nyuon says fashion rejuvenates lost hope and self-esteem. She is optimistic that educating young girls will help in reducing the high rate of early childhood marriage in south Sudan.
“Invest in your girls,” said a smiling Nyuong.
Catwalk to Freedom’s approach includes helping girls to pay off their dowries. “While some of the women participating in Catwalk to Freedom will use the world’s most coveted fashion runways to payoff their dowries, others will participate in entrepreneurship and training programs in tailoring and textiles to pay off their dowries,” the organization explains on its Facebook page.
“The goal of Catwalk to Freedom is to remove the barrier of brideprices and allow South Sudanese girls to make their own choices and begin writing a new story for their own lives.”
Photo (above): Nyagua Nyuon
Photo (below): A photo exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya (Catwalk to Freedom / Facebook)