What is Peter doing with all these Women?
It’s not strange that Dr. Peter Okaalet appears in a project so committed to women’s issues because he has been a powerful advocate for empowering women to bring change and hope to their communities. When he was a teenager, his mother was chased from their home by the 5th and youngest wife of his father. His father issued the ultimatum: “When I get home in the evening you must not be here, and nothing that you own.” His mother gathered up her one dress and few belongings and left. Peter’s father also told him, “If I ever hear that you have gone to see your mother, I will not pay for your education.”
As Peter watched his mother’s courage in the face of losing everything, and grew to realize how disenfranchised women in Africa can be, he committed himself, as a medical doctor, to the cause of women. Peter says, “Socialization in Uganda is negatively biased against women, my sisters carried the firewood, cared for the sick, helped with the family and the boys were free to play sports and be served.”