Cries Not Heard

“I hope Yemeni women will get justice, independence and non-discrimination.” Buthaina Al-Qirshi

Buthaina worked as a broadcaster and human rights activist concerned with women and children. After graduating, she lived alone in Sana’a city. Buthaina remembers her mother’s call at the time – she was blamed for staying alone, a blame reflecting the objections of the male members of her family. But she asked her family to trust her.

Buthaina smiles as she remembers the phase in her life when she was discovering the world, discovering herself, and living as an independent woman to prove to herself and to others that women are strong and can rely on themselves in the face of difficult circumstances.

After graduating, Buthaina worked in media as a children’s programme presenter. Through her work she became aware of the issues of abused children and gender-based violence. She attended training courses on children’s issues and became familiar with cases of early marriage and dropout from schools. The idea of defending their rights began to take a more coherent form in the course of her life.

Buthaina got married and moved to the city centre, but she continued to visit her home on the outskirts of Sana’a. She used to spend a few days each week at this house, trying to make friends with local women. At first, they did not accept the presence of a strange woman from the city, but she kept inviting them to her home to listen to their stories.

During one of these women’s gatherings, the doorbell rang. A woman came in with her child and revealed that she had been stabbed in the waist – both she and her child had been subjected to violence by her husband. Buthaina listened to her story with astonishment, and sought to deal with her problem through the judicial system. She contacted to her friends and activists in the field of women’s rights, with whom she had established good relationships while working in the media. In the end they managed to save the woman and her child from their ordeal.

This incident was a turning point in Buthaina’s life. She decided to start helping women to solve their legal problems, but she did not receive the cooperation of the competent authorities. They always asked her: “In what capacity are you making this complaint?”

She established a civil society organisation that would enable her to defend women and children officially. She dedicated her house, which she had built herself, to this cause as a headquarters from which she worked to help women and children affected by violence.

She opened the rooms of her house to her foundation as classrooms for teaching literacy, sewing, embroidery and computer instruction; helping girls and women to learn crafts and skills that would help them start their own small businesses – more than 600 women have benefited from these training courses. She also worked legally to help those women affected by the war, and stood with them through their various issues.

Buthaina noticed the high rate of girls’ drop out from school at early ages so she hired a group of girls to work in her institution in exchange for paying for their studies. One of its employees completed her dental studies with the support of the foundation and is now a successful dentist employed by the biggest hospitals.

One day a woman entered Buthaina’s office and asked her to accompany her to reclaim the bodies of her sons who had been killed in armed clashes. Buthaina’s foundation was the only humanitarian organisation that had remained open after the closure of most institutions and organisations because of the battles and armed clashes in the area.

Buthaina accompanied her until they were surrounded by fighters who did not allow women to enter their area. So the two women used their words to make peace temporarily, so that they could bury the dead and end the fighting in this area. The two women stood shoulder to shoulder with only their words , facing the guns which were pointed at them. They negotiated until the men allowed the mothers and wives of the dead to enter the area to bring out the bodies of their dead loved ones.

Buthaina had been a well-known Yemeni broadcaster. She no longer holds the microphone, but she still uses her voice – to fight for the rights of women and children.