“We have to make sure that homes are safe for women – if women do not find safety in their own homes, where can they find it?” Gamala Saleh

 

Gamala held the hand of the little boy, who was now too old to stay in the women’s refuge that she helped to run. The child needed a birth certificate to be accepted by an institution for the care of juveniles.

Many years before, the boy’s mother was subjected to extreme violence and cruelty by her family, who threw her out of the house when she was pregnant. She lived on the streets, giving birth to her first child, before the police found her and imprisoned them both. There was no way for the police to provide her and women like her with shelter, except by imprisonment. As a result of everything she’d suffered, she went through an acute psychological crisis, and as a reaction to the violence she’d experienced in her own life, she began to beat her small son. After being admitted to a psychiatric hospital to help her overcome her trauma, she found out about the refuge. She and her young son were provided with shelter and she received training, after which she was helped to get married.

Since 2005, Gamala has worked in this women’s refuge, which cares for abused women. The home works with women to shelter them and provide them with training in sewing, photography and baking; as well as collaborating with the authorities on female prisoners. If they want to, women are supported to get married and start families. Some are enabled to start their own projects. More than 50 women have been helped to set up their own small businesses, to provide income for themselves and their families.

The local community did not accept the idea of a this type of home, thinking that women were being encouraged to rebel and violate social traditions. Sadly, many people do not realise the extent of the brutal violence that women are subjected to behind walls. In order to keep going, the home is being run as a kindergarten, both to provide a cover for the women, and also to generate some income.

Gamala was always keen to try to solve the problems of abuse victims and prisoners, and to go into people’s houses to find solutions if necessary. She refers complex cases to social workers and helps to provide safe alternatives to women who leave the home so that they do not relapse.

In the case of the child, Gamala was able to obtain the official papers necessary to enrol him in a new care home. She made sure that the child would not face the fate of his mother, being abused or lost on the streets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I understand parents’ panic about the awkwardness of leaving their daughters alone in schools; this stems from fear. I want to build confidence between the rural population and the process of educating girls.” Ameera Al- Saberi

 

From the countryside – where people are busy with cultivating their land – came Ameera. As a girl she struggled to study but she finished high school in 1999 – she was the first female high school graduate in her rural area. The secondary certificate was not her last step; she had a bigger dream: getting a university degree to become an teacher. She did not complete her university studies due to her family’s opposition to this uncommon ambition. She was unable to live in the life imposed upon the women of Nuba village in Wadi-l-Dhabab  (valley of fog), and Ameera taught the village girls hoping to get a job.

One year after graduating, Ameera’s attempts to teach girls were full of hardships. Every time she began teaching in an empty house in the village that she had rehabilitated and prepared to become suitable for teaching the owners came to claim their home back. The situation continued year after year while she tried to find a suitable place to continue teaching and educating village girls.

After attempts to find a suitable place to teach failed Ameera managed, in 2009, to find a school that enrolled her students to complete the educational process. But the school principal did not accept the idea of ​​adult girl students in his school, and closed the classrooms to prevent them from entering, even though Ameera had obtained the approval of the Department of Literacy.

Ameera did not despair and took the stairway of the school as a classroom. The school principal did not approve and closed the school gates in the face of her students and prevented them from entering. This situation called her to teach her students in the village courtyard near the school. But the villagers refused to let the girls stay in the open to study, and forced the school principal to admit them back. The principal imposed the condition that they clean up and guard the school in return for their admission. This  situation continued for three years.

From 2011 onwards, the number of female students increased day after day for many reasons, most notably their admiration for their teacher’s persistence. When Ameera found herself surrounded by dozens of female students she decided to end the suffering of wage-less work and the humiliation of her students for the sake of continuing. She turned her father’s house into a school for hundreds of female students. Not only was she eradicating illiteracy, but she also opened up training in various fields such as embroidery, sewing and cooking. Ameera describes the house she lives in and in which she teaches the girls as ruins (kheraba); the place does not carry the minimal elements of an educational institute; rooms are threatened by torrents that halt education for days. Teaching aids are lacking. Students write on the walls instead of blackboards, or use hard-to-see writing metal parts, as well as problems of ventilation and overcrowding. The turnout continues to increase, with 486 female students graduating from the school.

Ameera’ objective was not just to get girls to learn, but it was a bigger dream: that she should not be an exceptional case; that the girls’ ambition to learn is not opposed. She declares that she knows perfectly well that she was deprived of university education because she was a case that her village had not perceived before. She understands that the people are cautious of all new things; and thus Ameera, the girl whose environment deprived her of completing the life she wanted, is sharing her ambition and completing her story for those girls learning to write, whose lips are trying to pronounce the alphabet.

 

 

“I tried to make of my situation something positive.” Manal Al Ashwal

 

At the age of eight, Manal contracted mumps and lost her hearing. When her parents thought about arranging her home-schooling, Manal refused. The school was more to her than just a place of learning – it was also a place to play and meet her friends. So she decided to continue with school despite the difficulty of her situation, and the non-acceptance of others of her deaf status.

There, Manal got to know the chessboard that became her hobby. She became a chess champion who later took part in school and local tournaments. After completing her education, she was unable to travel outside Yemen because of her condition. She joined the university in Ta’iz where she was routinely excluded and marginalised. Although she faced difficulties she completed her studies and attained her Master’s degree with distinction.

After graduation, Manal decided to identify the deaf community in Yemen. She noted that deaf children were trained to work in carpentry workshops, for example, and girls to work in sewing workshops. So she decided to help her students discover and achieve their dreams, out of the framework that their communities restrict them to. She tried to change people’s perceptions of the deaf, and realised that teachers can change the lives of others.

During her Master’s degree Manal was accompanied by her students to the university and introduced them to its various departments to motivate them start thinking about specialisations suited to their ambition. She trained them to develop their hobbies and talents, such as chess. She also made the disabled aware of their legal and civil rights, not recognised by others who treat them in a manner different from people without disabilities.

Manal became head of the Department of Deaf in the Education Office. She also developed, with her colleagues and the support of an international organisation, a technical dictionary for the deaf and dumb. She  founded the first women’s sports club in Ta’iz, and provided activities in rural Ta’iz to help deaf girls who are there in large numbers to narrate their own stories to help them in their lives.

 

 

 

 

I cannot live without work.” Eman Al-Anesi

 

When Eman first started volunteering she worked with the Association of Life Makers as a volunteer and trainer. She quickly demonstrated the strength of her personality and abilities, so one of the social personalities offered to appoint her as a youth leader. He was surprised that she had not completed high school, so she decided to finish her education and received a grant for a one year NGO Management Diploma studies.

She was then employed in the Right to Life Foundation for cerebral palsy. She became acquainted with the disabled community and decided that helping them would be one of her life’s goals. She established the Alwan Children’s Foundation which cares for the children of prisoners and provides them with shelter away from the prison. She adopted a learning-through-play style of education.

After the project was shut down, Eman had to stay at home and became depressed after time away from the work that had become her passion. She decided to return to work in the Take My Hand Association which had been created by the well-known philanthropist Fatima Al-Aqil before her death to help disabled people. Eman restored life to this association and managed it efficiently.

Eman helps disabled people to start their own businesses, preparing them for the labour market by providing economic empowerment courses; and supports the families of those in need. She also runs school activities in several schools to raise awareness of the role of the disabled, their integration into society, and to help the community to understand and help them.

Fifty students with disabilities, affiliated to the association, graduated from the university in the fields of pharmacy, management, accounting, finance and banking. Seven of them are now doing their Master’s degrees. Fifteen projects including stationery and grocery stores, clinics, real estate agencies and ice cream vending carts have been inaugurated. Monthly financial guarantees have been distributed to 90 families, and medication provided to 85 beneficiaries with disabilities, in addition to other seasonal and relief activities being run by the association.

 

 

 

 

“In such circumstances, the girls of my country are more worthy of the work that non-Yemenis are getting.” Asmaa Abdel Wahab

 

Asmaa studied pharmacology, encouraged by her father who died in the final year of her studies. She worked in a pharmaceutical company and was helped by one of her brothers to travel to Malaysia to complete her studies, but she could not continue because of one disabled brother who insisted on her staying with and taking care of him. To be able to go out to work she decided to hire a lady to take care of him in her absence. She looked for a suitable caregiver but she did not find anyone who had the skills or who would accept to take care of a sick young man. So she decided to stay with her brother who needed her and sacrificed her job to be with him.

Asmaa had heard complaints from housewives about Yemeni domestic workers and of their preference for foreign workers. To try and tackle this she proposed to an organisation that foreign workers should be replaced by local workers, especially during wartime, in which Yemeni families need income more desperately than ever. Also many Yemeni women lack the certificates or skills necessary to do other jobs.

Asmaa visited the slums and conducted a field survey to ask for the opinions of the community. She realised that many people did not accept the idea of Yemeni women working as domestic workers. So she started to convince some of the women to work. She established an office to coordinate between Yemeni women workers and households. The community began to accept the idea when Yemeni women workers proved their competence, honesty and abilities. This helped many poor girls get a good source of income.

Not only did Asmaa help these women by providing work for them, but she also housed the girls in her own house before they started working, so they could feel safe when they moved from other provinces. She worked to raise their awareness of the ethics of the profession such as honesty, self-respect and dignity. Keen that girls should develop their abilities beyond domestic worker status, Asmaa intervened when a problem occured. She selected well-known and respectable families and tested the client before sending the girls. She does not take money from the workers, and helps them to manage their own financial affairs so that no one will exploit them.