WEBVTT 00:00.007 --> 00:03.414 - I'm Warrant Officer Class 1 Nyekanga Vida 00:03.414 --> 00:05.030 from the Ghana army. 00:05.030 --> 00:09.400 In the future, I hope we have more women 00:11.660 --> 00:12.720 in the army 00:12.720 --> 00:15.620 because we have this female engagement now. 00:15.620 --> 00:17.890 They ask to get a female engagement team 00:17.890 --> 00:21.180 and go out of the country for peacekeeping. 00:21.180 --> 00:24.690 And if you don't have enough women in the camp, 00:24.690 --> 00:26.340 how are you going to engage them? 00:27.660 --> 00:31.813 And if you have them, my last operation was a Congo MONUSCO. 00:32.690 --> 00:35.690 We had this female engagement team, as I was telling Madame, 00:36.670 --> 00:40.390 we go to help them in their farm when the men are far away. 00:40.390 --> 00:44.030 We don't go alone, we go with our male, but there are few. 00:44.030 --> 00:48.763 But the women, we are the people that go forward. 00:49.610 --> 00:51.730 To help them cook their food, 00:51.730 --> 00:56.117 medical outreach, in their farm we help them, 00:56.117 --> 01:00.080 and, like, they interact with us. They interact. 01:00.080 --> 01:04.120 And we talk, we encourage them. We encourage them. 01:04.120 --> 01:09.120 Preaching peace to them, and what school can do for them. 01:10.646 --> 01:13.820 They can equally be like the way we are, 01:13.820 --> 01:16.440 if they school, and then... 01:17.560 --> 01:18.800 That is it. 01:18.800 --> 01:19.720 - [Interviewer] Yeah. 01:19.720 --> 01:23.550 - It isn't that we are better than our male counterparts, 01:23.550 --> 01:25.690 we are not. We are not. 01:25.690 --> 01:29.584 But in some parts, we can get some information 01:29.584 --> 01:31.143 for them to work on. 01:32.352 --> 01:36.997 A female will not come and give vital information to a male. 01:36.997 --> 01:38.420 She will not. 01:38.420 --> 01:39.557 Even there are... 01:39.557 --> 01:40.600 They look us 01:40.600 --> 01:42.490 and if they see a woman standing with the man, 01:42.490 --> 01:44.570 they think that they have something doing. 01:44.570 --> 01:49.570 And now notice sexual, SEA, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, 01:50.554 --> 01:52.370 it is there. 01:52.370 --> 01:57.368 So seeing a man and a woman alone standing, they may think. 01:57.368 --> 01:59.870 I mean a military man and a local woman, 01:59.870 --> 02:03.030 not military/military, the military man and the local woman, 02:03.030 --> 02:07.060 but you the woman in the role can sense (mumbles) and abuse. 02:07.060 --> 02:08.420 It is not there. 02:08.420 --> 02:12.823 So we can go for it, get information for the men to work on. 02:14.610 --> 02:16.260 Even though it's not everything that we can do. 02:16.260 --> 02:18.600 Our male counterparts support us, 02:18.600 --> 02:23.393 but who get the information for them to now take it up. 02:24.710 --> 02:29.593 Together we can all benefit what we are there for. 02:30.710 --> 02:31.680 But the woman forum, 02:31.680 --> 02:35.009 I think it should be organized frequently, 02:35.009 --> 02:38.450 frequently, to let us or remind us 02:38.450 --> 02:40.344 of our role in the service. 02:40.344 --> 02:41.500 It is very good. 02:41.500 --> 02:43.740 Especially the young ones coming. 02:43.740 --> 02:45.810 We shouldn't limit ourselves. 02:45.810 --> 02:48.840 Even though we have other responsibilities in the house, 02:48.840 --> 02:50.460 I'm a mother of three. 02:50.460 --> 02:53.624 And I can't say because I'm a mother I will not do my duties 02:53.624 --> 02:56.201 I left them in the house and I'm here today, Sunday. 02:56.201 --> 02:58.210 And I'm here because of a purpose. 02:58.210 --> 03:00.700 It's the work that brought me here, to come and work. 03:00.700 --> 03:04.520 So I shouldn't say because of my motherhood, my house, 03:04.520 --> 03:06.370 I should stop. 03:06.370 --> 03:09.690 So I think this symposium should be organized frequently, 03:09.690 --> 03:14.480 frequently, so we remind ourselves our role in the military. 03:14.480 --> 03:17.100 It is not by chance that we are in the military, 03:17.100 --> 03:19.240 but we are here for a reason. 03:19.240 --> 03:23.760 So I think this symposium should be organized frequently. 03:23.760 --> 03:27.060 It should be organized, and it will benefit all of us. 03:27.060 --> 03:28.663 But a leadership by example. 03:29.500 --> 03:33.360 If you see me, the way you see me when I talk to you, 03:33.360 --> 03:37.840 if I'm doing what is right, 03:37.840 --> 03:39.480 you will take it. 03:39.480 --> 03:42.460 But if I'm doing the wrong way, the wrong thing, 03:42.460 --> 03:45.880 then I can't talk to the whole "Do this, do this, do this." 03:45.880 --> 03:48.230 You say, (exclaims dismissively) "But this, Madame, 03:48.230 --> 03:50.561 we are not doing what you want me to do." 03:50.561 --> 03:51.394 - [Interviewer] Yeah. 03:51.394 --> 03:53.272 - (as third person) "Why do you expect me to also do this?" 03:53.272 --> 03:54.496 - [Interviewer] Right, you would not. 03:54.496 --> 03:55.594 - (as third person) "No, I will not do it." 03:55.594 --> 03:57.016 (as self) But leadership by example, 03:57.016 --> 03:59.913 so you have to set some goals. 04:01.110 --> 04:04.730 Let them know that you are up to expectation, 04:04.730 --> 04:08.587 you can do whatever tasks that is given to you.