Notes from the Field — balancing motherhood while working
Lamia Elsamani, is a Monitoring & Evaluating Consultant in Kadugli, South Kordofan
Even though I sacrifice missing my children’s school functions and spending weekends with them while working in the field, I know all the details of their daily lives from what kind of sandwiches they took to school until they brush their teeth before sleep.
I have been working as a Monitoring & Evaluating (M&E) consultant in Kadugli, South Kordan for the past 3 months, prior to that I was a child protection consultant from the beginning of this year (2018).
This has always been my dream job, we are constantly monitoring and evaluating our own journey in life and working as an M&E is suitable for me and I believe in UNICEF’s mandate and feel the responsibility to help children.
While working in Kadugli, I am away from my three daughters, the youngest is 3-years-old, and it is one of my biggest challenges. However, I always tell myself that I am at least only an hour away by plane and it’s easy for me to contact them versus what I witness when working in the field, where children lose their families and are left with no support.
Being a mother, a wife, and working full time shapes me to be a strong, sharp thinker and a role model for my children, as I grew up also with a strong working mother who made me the person I am today.
Many women choose not to work in the field so they can remain close to their family. Women need to know their rights are as equal as men and to practice these rights. As a mother I always empower my daughters, as they are the seeds growing for our future community.
One of the toughest question I have been asked several times is how can I work and leave behind my children and husband? I always redirect the same question as it mostly comes from men, to which they answer; because we need to work and we are men. I simply answer that I need to work and I am woman, we need to change this wrong concept of women not working because they are women.
Prepared by: Iman Mustafa, Communications & Advocacy Consultant UNICEF Sudan
