Sudan: Nafisa Mustafa Shargawi

My aim is to achieve peace, justice and equality for women and children in the Sudan. I am working for better education and health of the Sudanese people so that they can have a prosperous life.

— Nafisa Mustafa Shargawi

Nafisa Mustafa Shargawi (50) was born in Port Sudan. She graduated from the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University - Khartoum Branch, and obtained a diploma in Information Systems. Now she is preparing for her MA in Islamic Studies. Nafisa is also the first woman journalist and writer in the Eastern State in the Sudan, regularly writes in the local and regional newspapers on women's and children’s rights and is also a short story writer. Now she is the General Manager of the Information and Culture Ministry, Sudan.

Nafisa is also a journalist and TV presenter. Every day she faces many challenges in her work, immersed in her indefatigable efforts to unfold the truth and address crucial issues in the Sudan. One day she was covering a reportage in Port-Sudan Hospital with a photographer. She obtained permission from the hospital's general manager to visit the major operations theatre. She was shocked when she saw the place: there was no sterilizing system, the surgical tools were very old and there was no clean running water. The photographer took photographs to show the catastrophic condition of the hospital. While she was interviewing a group of patients, Nafisa was physically harassed by some hospital workers to obstruct her interviews. Fortunately, the hospital guard stopped them and saved her life. When the reportage was screened on Port-Sudan TV, the administration of the hospital punished all the people who had assisted Nafisa during her visit, and some of them were even fired. Nafisa’s job was also at risk, as her coverage of the scene in the hospital put many officials in the hot seat and made them pressurize for her release from her job with Sudanese TV. Nafisa wrote a lot of books, most of which openly address the social and cultural barriers to women's social and economical participation. She touched upon very sensitive issues that are not publicly open for discussion in Sudanese society and is working hard for a society where women can live peacefully and dignifiedly.

Women Workers Union (WWU) Sudanese Women General Union (SWGU)