Women are power – that’s why I am a human rights activist! I founded Crown the Woman with six other young, passionate South Sudanese sisters to make the women of South Sudan feel powerful; crowning them the queens they deserve to be.

I was born in South Sudan when the country’s political tensions were high.

When I was only a few weeks old, my Ugandan mother took my sister and I to Uganda to seek safety while my father stayed behind in Juba. The war in South Sudan separated my family. One of the reasons I started Crown the Woman was to work towards building peace – the peace that I never enjoyed as a child.

Crown the Woman provides a lot of trauma healing along with gender-based violence protection and awareness. We also advocate for women to thrive economically by providing training to help women start businesses, allowing them to take care of themselves. I believe a woman who has economic power has the power to protect herself from many forms of violence.

We are part of the South Sudan Women’s Coalition for Peace, which advocates for including women in decision making for our country’s peace process. Women are the foundation of South Sudan, making up 60 percent of the population and therefore the majority voters. If our voices aren’t part of decision making, then South Sudan won’t thrive to its fullest potential.