Mary Chol’s face lights up when she speaks about her aims and dreams.
“I would love to be a leader. I would love to be Prime Minister of Australia,” the vice captain of Brisbane’s St James College said.
The teenager, who grew up in war-torn South Sudan and arrived in Australia after fleeing her homeland, believes education for every woman should be a right, not a privilege – and she has a shocking personal story that illustrates what it is like to be denied this basic right.
In South Sudan where there is a food crisis and ongoing conflict, many women and girls are not allowed to attend school, and those who dare to resist this rule are severely dealt with, Mary Chol told an International Women’s Day luncheon at her school in Brisbane’s inner city.
“Right now, over 70 per cent of women are uneducated and illiterate,” she said.
“I was born in a village where we did not have lights or clean water, yet the government was still spying on us to make sure no girls or women were receiving an education.
“I remember my mother said I wasn’t allowed to go to school, yet my brothers went each day.”
Without her family knowing, Mary Chol snuck off to the local school wearing her brother’s uniform.
The teacher was shocked, covered her in a blanket and rushed her to the principal’s office.
“The teacher said ‘young girl, what are you doing? Do you know how dangerous this is? If any soldiers see you here, every teacher will be killed’,” she said.
“As a result of my actions my father quit his job and decided to teach his two girls in secret even though his life was in danger.”
Mary and her sister were taught by their father inside their family house, but somehow the government found out and soldiers were sent to brutally stop the teaching.
“That was all because of my father wanting equal rights and an education for women,” Mary Chol said.
What happened next was traumatic and life changing.
“My father was murdered by the government right in front of my eyes,” she said.
“Terrified, my sister and I ran to hide but sadly she was bitten by a poisonous snake and died within an hour.”
Mary Chol’s surviving family escaped to a refugee camp in Kenya and waited three years before being granted visas to Australia.
“Don’t think that the rights of young women in Australia are the same rights for women in the world,” she said.
“On June 23rd 2014 everything changed – our visas were approved and we were able to come to Australia.
“It was this moment I realised I would be allowed an education – finally allowed to learn.
“Australia will forever be in my heart because it has accepted me for who I am, as a woman.
“I saw a quote once that read ‘There are two things that define you: your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything’.
“I feel that this summarizes my journey to Australia and the resilience that I have shown to overcome the many challenges I have faced.
I love my culture, my country and language but South Sudan is not a place I call home because it has failed me as a human being and a woman.”
