My name is Adak Maluak. I am 29 years old and single. I am a lawyer (Barrister) by profession, and I am now working as a legal advisor in the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Juba, South Sudan. I am happy to share my life story, specifically, the journey of my education and what it means to be a career or educated woman working in my country.

I was born in a village where life was very hard. Children growing up over there, especially girls were deprived of their basic rights, most especially the right to education. Going to school at my time was a desire, a battle and a struggle. At the age of 5, I had to gather some courage and confidence to ask my father to go to school, and I still remember vividly how I fought against stopping my education by my uncles and aunts because they believed that girls are only raised to bring wealth (cows) to the family through marriage. My elder sisters were not given a chance to go to school and were married off at the ages of 15 and 16.

The journey of my education was not an easy walk. The primary school which I studied at was located far from our house. I used to walk for 2 hours every morning to go to school. I studied under trees because there were no classrooms. Sometimes, when I returned home, the weather would be rainy, making my books and notebooks wet. I would then have to rewrite my lessons and homework the next day after drying the book in the sun. The quality of education was bad because we did not have qualified teachers.

“When I came back from school, I had to cook and wash for my brothers – a duty to prepare me for being a good wife and mother.”

Unfortunately, my father passed on while I was still in primary school, and I always remembered how my mother suffered so I could build a bright future. This empowered me to achieve the highest grade since I was in primary school. I managed to complete primary school, and I decided to join Loreto Secondary School. Joining Loreto was a challenging process because we were 100 girls competing for only 35 positions. I managed to get selected and joined Loreto.

“Loreto was not just a school for us. It was a refuge. We felt safe from early and forced marriage, and we were able to receive quality education”

It was a privilege to study in Loreto. Unfortunately, my mother could not afford to pay my registration fees because my elder brother had joined university, and she could not afford to support us both. She asked me to stay home while my brother continued his education. She hoped he would come back to support us after he finished university. But this was a long journey and a missed opportunity for me to study in Loreto. So, I decided to talk to the Loreto sisters about my challenge, and they offered to support me.

When I graduated, I returned to Loreto to work for a year as an intern to secure a scholarship from Loreto Sisters to join the university. I completed my internship program, and luckily, I was granted the scholarship and went to Uganda to study law.

When I graduated from university, I had to prepare for the bar exam to practice law. This was the time I had a boyfriend, and he proposed to marry me. But I turned it down because I knew I would not finish my Bar. This brought a huge fight between me and my family because they had high expectations of getting cows and becoming wealthier. But they could not force me to marry the guy because I was far away from home. Thankfully, I completed my bar exams successfully, and I came back to South Sudan to practice law.

Even as an educated woman, thriving in my career is still a challenge. The most difficult challenge I am facing now is age and marital status. Marriage is considered as a prize for being a good leader in my society. For example, I now aspire to be a judge, but I can’t be one unless I am married and have children. This it is not a legal requirement, but a matter of cultural practice.

Being single up to the age of 29 is considered culturally a consequence of my bad behaviour. I am considered an old woman because the ideal age for marriage is 14-16. Though I would love to marry and have children, it is difficult for me to find a man who will support my career. Even though I am the only educated girl in my family and provide for the family through my paycheck, I am still considered a girl because I don’t have a husband and children.

Growing in my career, I have learned to embrace my strengths, and through Mary Ward’s vision of “Women in time to come will do much”, I am managing to carry on.

“If I had followed the structures outlined in my culture, I would have never made it this far.”

As an educated woman in my society, you have to learn who you are and not let anyone tell you who you should be. It is now my top priority to advocate for other young women who are facing challenges similar to mine. Getting the chance to go to school and get educated will empower us to develop solutions to the problems we are facing in South Sudan.

And, as the saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child” I would like to say that I am truly grateful to my parents, the Loreto Sisters and our generous Donors for being the village that raised and educated me. THANK YOU! I would also like to encourage you to continue to be part of our village and I invite you to journey with us in educating more young people in South Sudan.

This work would simply not be possible without financial support. We are very grateful to all those who believe in our mission and support our work, particularly in relation to educating and empowering girls and women. If you would like to help us assist more women like Adak, please visit our online donation page.