I Have To Speak

This booklet seeks to amplify some of the hidden and forgotten voices in conflict. These stories of female ex-combatants from diverse political, religious, ethnic and national backgrounds show that women and their experiences of armed conflict have to be taken seriously for building sustainable peace.

Authors

Evelyn Pauls, Tripani Baijali, Gypsy Queen Buisan Sumampao, Alabai Buisan Mikunug, Grace Nitunga, Lila Sharma, Salawati S.Pd

These are their stories as they tell them to each other. Six ex-combatant women collected the stories, reflecting as they did so on their reasons for joining the movements, their time as women in war, and how their lives unfolded once peace was restored. Theirs are stories of friendship and camaraderie, of life and death, of perseverance and resistance, and of rebuilding lives after war and continuing the struggle in peaceful ways.