South Sudan: More than 1000 Indian peacekeeping personnel, including five female Army members, were awarded UN Medals for their excellence in the work assigned to them in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS).
Major Jasmine Chattha hailed the recipients of UN Medals, stating,” Take a bow, India. Precisely, 1171 of our sons and daughters have been honoured with UN medals for their vital UNMISS work in Upper Nile, South Sudan.”
Meanwhile, the other female colleagues narrated their experiences with United Nations Mission in South Sudan; they remarked that one thing that set this year’s medal award ceremony distinct from the previous medal ceremonies was the fact that this was for the very first time that the parade of such large contingent, that consisted of infantry, engineers and medical personnel, was presided over by a woman, that was Major Jasmine Chattha.
Major Jasmine Chattha also took to Twitter to express the pride she felt in representing the regiment, being a woman. In her tweet, Major Chattha wrote: “ It has been an honour to represent my regiment today, on this day so special. By positioning women as leaders, we send out a really powerful message to the citizens of South Sudan, particularly the women.
She also quoted an example of them inspiring women in South Sudan, which is as: “When we repair roads or try to mitigate floods, we are in contact with the local population, and they see that women are leading a team while being duly respected and listened to.”, which is really a motivation for the women in South Sudan.
Along with Major Jasmine Chattha, there were five other woman compatriots to receive the UN medals for excellence in services in South Sudan.
An engineer, Captain Karishma Kathayat, was also awarded a UN medal. Captain Karishma hails from a military family as well. On her achievement, Karishma remarked that “ It feels great to contribute to a better standard of living for the people. We take great pride in our engineering work.”
As per United Nations, the contingent serving with the UNMISS is best known for its efforts to build and restore critical infrastructure, but the protection of civilians forms a significant, sometimes dangerous, part of their mandate.
