BOR – From supporting mobile courts dispensing justice in the rural hinterlands to coordinating efforts for the return of children abducted by armed groups, Geetha Pious has seen it all.
Straddling the invisible line between the Greater Pibor Administrative Area and Jonglei State, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan’s Bor Field Office, led by Geetha, is at the forefront of helping to prevent the cyclical cattle raids, revenge attacks, and intercommunal violence plaguing this part of the country.
“If I had to sum it up, I would say that the cause of this violence boils down to a lack of resources and opportunities and food insecurity,” she says.
“This region is abundant with very fertile land, and if we can support and encourage these communities to grow their own crops and make them self-sustainable, I think we can remove one of the biggest triggers for violence and criminality.”
Geetha’s role requires a sharp intellect, tact and diplomacy to engage successfully with key stakeholders across the spectrum, whether its government officials, civil society leaders, women and youth or faith-based leaders.
These engagements over her three years as head of the field office have reinforced her strong view that the cycle of violence can only be broken if communities have access to education and economic opportunities.
It is also critical that rule of law is strengthened, so that harmful practices embedded in the communal psyche for centuries are formally criminalized, she says.
“When abduction of children is no longer reduced to a “communal practice” but is instead a “serious crime” punishable by law, it will dramatically alter how people view this practice.”
Geetha’s convictions were born four decades ago when she was growing up in Kundur village, in the picturesque backwaters of Kerala State, southern India. The youngest of three sisters, Geetha lost her father and the business supporting their family when she was in primary school.
Even at that tender age, she knew that her ticket to the world was education.
She walked two kilometres every day to the bus stop to catch the bus to the missionary school. Her commitment to learning saw her topping her class, year after year, in almost every subject.
It was during this time that she also started challenging what she saw as unfair societal rules.
“Back then, my community frowned on girls wearing trousers. It was considered scandalous to wear them. But walking to school every day, I just didn’t feel comfortable in a skirt, so I wore pants. I decided to be a little rebel.”
“I think that because I was good at studies, people were forced to accept my choice of clothes. That tiny streak of defiance helped me make other choices in life,” she says, smiling at the memories.
After high school, although she preferred medicine, she studied civil engineering: a choice driven by the need to commute daily to college and still be home to take care of her mother.
Not content with one degree, Geetha enrolled in law school and, when that was done, enrolled for another degree in human rights. By her late twenties, she had three degrees.
Employed by the Kerala Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, she spent more than a decade as the Regional Director for documentary films. She later moved to Mumbai, India’s film capital, where she was part of a team digitizing documentary films and archival footage, in the mid-90’s, before the word “digital” entered the mainstream.
The Kerala Government then appointed her to a team credited with designing one of the first E-Governance portals in that part of the world. Called Akshaya, it was piloted in 2002 in Mallapuram village, where the same team was tasked with designing and implementing an E-literacy course for adults.
The project was so successful that it attracted the attention of the London School of Economics (LSE) and multiple United Nations agencies who hailed Akshshaya’s ability to bridge the digital divide and eradicate illiteracy. One of those agencies, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was so impressed, they asked Geetha to set up a database for violations at the UN Mission in Sudan.
“I had been working for the government all my life. I had heard of the United Nations and thought why not give it a try,” she says.
She went on to work on human rights issues in Darfur, Iraq and Kosovo before seizing the opportunity to lead the UNMISS team in Central Equatoria and then Bor.
Despite the heavy burden of her leadership role, still considers herself a student.
Already a skilled computer programmer who can write code, she’s using her spare time to learn about Artificial Intelligence.
“You never know what might come in handy,” she says with a smile.
For Geetha, education is a never-ending process.
“If you are educated – no one can take that away from you. Once you are educated, you are no longer satisfied with the life you have lived previously. You always crave more.”
By Rabindra Giri/UNMISS
