wombwonders

[wombwonders]

“ We can have unity in diversity and diversity in unity. We don't have to be like one another to enjoy sisterhood.      

- Barbara W. Winder 

Picture by: Victoria Donnet

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My body is not a temple?

My mantra

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Learning to fully experience surfing the waves of change

Repost from my previous Cairo phoenix blog including my application for my Art Therapy training in CA

(Juli 2014) Today I am waiting for my American student visa, It has been more than 10 years since I last called myself a full time student, It is very exiting and I’m a bit in disbelieve because it all happened to fast. Two weeks ago I found this program and when I called they said the deadline has passed well over a month and the class is full, The lady told me to try anyway so I applied, got an interview last week and a day later received the email stating I got excepted.

I will be attending a 3 month full time program (is level 1 out of 3) at the Tamalpa Institute for Expressive Arts in California. I’ve been wanting to study art therapy for a while now but I did not want to lose 5 years doing it. I feel sad to put my lovely life here in Cairo on hold a bit, I’ll missing (out on some of) my collaboration plans, my friends, my dog, and my lovely apartment ) but I plan to come back and put my experience to good use. In my last post you can read about the crowdfunding campaign and how Cairo Phoenix was able to raise more than $4000 to start off co-creativity retreats for women after sexual violence. The money will be kept for that purpose only and the Tamalpa program I will be attending will be funded by my own personal savings only, I decided that I want/need to invest in a program that will help Cairo Phoenix with a deeper understanding of the use of expressive arts for the purpose of helping women after sexual violence.

Below you can read my Tamalpa application if you are interested and of course I will blog about my experience there.

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Tamalpa Institute ’ expressive arts ’

Application for Level 1 Training: Personal Embodiment:

Immersion Format for 2014

Dear sir/Madame.

My name is E. H. and I am writing this letter to express my interest to join in the Level 1 Training: Immersion Format for the fall of 2014.

Things are falling more into place the further I explore my passion in life. I was born in 1980 in The Netherlands and I have always been an expressive person. I love to dance whenever, wherever, however I can, tango, salsa or just a silly dance in nature, with friends or alone, it makes me happy and helps me feel centered.  My professional background is in fashion where I loved to work with colors, shapes and beautiful materials and I see fashion as a great way of practical self expression.  Another great part of my job was to help people discover what makes them feel good about themselves, Later that became more and more a focus in my life.

When I was around 6 year old my parents send me to therapy because I was not doing great at school. The lady who worked with me was very patient, she made a real effort to connect with me and asked me to draw things and later she would ask me questions about it. This, I realized much later, has been a life changing experience for me. It provided me with important tools that help me still today to express and deal better with my emotions.

My love for visual art inspired me to study  at The Photo academy in Amsterdam, The students were of diverse backgrounds and age groups,  I really enjoyed it  there  and  ever  since  I have been drawn to groups with a wide variety of people.

During the end of my 2nd year at the academy something happened that made staying focused on my studying very hard, I was raped while waiting for a bus late at night.  That event shook my world. During that time I received a lot of love and support from everyone around me, I am also grateful to have been given the creative expressive tools that helped me during the healing process.  Later I learned that many other survivors around the world do not find the same amount of support, if any.

When I realized I still needed some time to recover I decided to take a 6 month break and travel through North America where I have some family. I loved the feeling of new found freedom and have been traveling on my own every few years or so,  I noticed it has helped me heal after difficult times such as when my dad died, my divorce and 2 years ago when my mom also passed away after a long struggle fighting  cancer. Traveling can be an escape but I noticed it also helps me heal me and regain my love for life especially when I meet other positive, free spirited people.

One summer I lived in a big villa in Alaska with 25 amazing people from all over the world who worked on website that brings people together called Couchsurfing.org. Here and later on I learned about group dynamics and my own role in a group, I am very aware of others around me, Which can be a distraction from my own focus but it also puts me in a position where I can use that awareness to help the group develop in a positive way and reach its full positional.

Years ago while living in Holland during my time working for a co working space called The Hub I became part of a inspiring community called Art of Hosting (AoH), where  people come together to practice different ways to facilitate conversations that matter and help communities to understand and work better together. The purpose of this practice is to tap into the collective intelligence of (any) certain group of people. Later when I moved to Egypt I was delighted to discovered a very active AoH community and that has been one of the reasons for me to call Egypt my new home over the last 2,5 years.

In Egypt I started working at one of the first coworking offices in the region called The District. The District introduced the concept of coworking in Egypt and i was privileged to be part of the management right at the beginning of its establishment.  Coworking is all about creating a positive environment that inspires entrepreneurs to share skills and expertise with others to help grow the community as a whole. Being part of this pro-active community inspired me to finally take steps towards making my own dream and vision come true and so I after 2 amazing years I decided to quit my job and work full time  on my own initiative called Cairo Phoenix .

Cairo Phoenix was created in the beginning of 2014 to help support women in their healing journey. We do this by providing a supportive and safe space for small groups of women to share experiences and embark on a creative journey together, exploring different art forms like painting, collage making, group meditation, music and dance.

3 years prior to kick starting Cairo Phoenix,  I started my blog Called : 3Choices and it describes that search of  finding my life vision. I have gathered materials (blog posts, video’s, stories) that move me to the core, positive and negative. One of the topics that kept coming up was’ injustice’, especially in the context of sexual violence where victim blaming is a real problem and how Art- therapy can help the healing process after such traumas.

In Egypt a support system of any sort is almost non- existent. When I tell people about my work here many women (and men) end up sharing their own stories and many times it’s the first time they talk about it.  This I believe is why it is so important that there is a support system in place for everyone, everywhere. My goal is to make a contribution with the best of my abilities sharing my experiences with the group and also learn from theirs.

My reason to apply for this training in the Tamalpa Life/Art Process is because I want to deepen my understanding of expressive arts and how I can be used to reach more people who can benefit from it. I believe creative expression is vital to any healing process and I experienced firsthand that it can make a world of difference if communities can create a more holistic support system where everyone can feel safe and free of shame and blame. I know we can support each other more if we just let go of our fears and would trust each other more to share our stories and learn from them. Using expressive art forms is a beautiful way to do this especially when it is used for taboo topics like sexual violence.

The Tamalpa life/Art Process has a rich history of inspiring expressive arts such as movement; dance and other art forms that help individuals reconnect with their bodies. In this context, the initiation of art as a healing process is vital in an age where people are disconnected from their bodies due to their continuous attachment to modern technology. Tamalpa offers tools that enrich it’s participants with a hands on knowhow and deep understanding about the healing process through expressive arts.

With the experience and knowledge I am confident of acquiring during the Tamalpa training 1: Personal embodiment (and level 2), Cairo Phoenix will be offering more coherent services in the future.

Out of curiosity I started to google Art therapy programs and I did not expect to find something that resonates with me so much on so many levels. In addition to that, I found out that a friend of mine had done the training years ago and hearing her feedback made me even more exited. Here in Egypt I’ve been involved with initiatives that use visual, movement and dramatherapy and I can’t wait to join the Tamalpa Life/Art Process training this coming September so I can explore my personal embodiment and keep growing towards making my life vision come true.  I sincerely hope you will accept my application so I can join this creative expressive journey with you and the others in the group,

Kind Regards,

E.

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Cairo Phoenix’s first crowdfundings Campaign = Check.

This blog is from 2014 reposted from my previous blog Cairo Phoenix.

Update: Since than things have developed and transformed. I’ve been studying movement based Art therapy and certified as a sexual trauma crisis counselor. At the moment I am also working as a student Doula/Birthing coach. Becoming a mother to a beautiful son made my adjust my coarse for a bit. This year I’m offering workshops for new mothers in Cairo. The money that has been raised during this campaign I still keep aside to use when the time is right to work again with women after sexual violence ----------------------------------------------

With even still a few days to go Cairo Phoenix raised 14% more than the $4000,- target.

I’m so touched by all the support from friends and also strangers who believe in the impact that creative expression can have on the healing process for women after sexual assault. It’s a great motivation to keep helping Cairo Phoenix rise higher and spread her wings further.

This also means that any excuse I had left for not pursuing this is now dissolved in thin air, Thank you very much!

There is no doubt about it; If you believe in what you do, if you follow your passion, others Will support you. You just have to find your own personal passion and share it with many other people so they know what you are into and they can share relevant information with you. Everyone enjoys the feeling of helping someone else. This is how I got contacts of other organisations and individuals who are also interested in the same topic and a month ago someone pointed out this Zoomaal Challenge for ‘women in the Arab world’ A crowdfundings campaign for women where every $1 raised until a certain amount would get matched by another $1.

Never before did I apply for anything like it but I did remember a friend crowdfunding her project and that inspired me to give it a go and to see what  would happen. While filling in in the online form I drove my roommates crazy. (my computer was acting up and needed to use theirs to make a video) I realised I really enjoy talking to people while looking them in the eyes, other than having to  talk to a computers screen where I see only myself stuttering. I decided to not edit it and just trust people could see past it. The fact that the deadline for applying was getting pretty damm close  had nothing to do with that off cource)  Just as I was about to send it of 10 minutes before the deadline  my computer crashed and I tried to recover it all night, The next morning it finally did work again but by now the deadline had passed, I decided to contact the organisation and ask if they would still consider my application, I was lucky because the community manager liked the topic of using the arts to help women in their healing process.

And so it happened that Cairo Phoenix was chosen to enter this challenge with 22 other projects initiated by women in the ‘Arab world’. The race against the counter began trying to raise as much as possible of the funds money that would double the amount.  The fund had already run out early the next morning and by than we raised around $700 that would get matched so that was a great first push, I decided to lay low a bit after contacting all my friends and using all the social media tools I  had at hand including asking others to also share the campaign to reach a wider public. 2 of the total 4 weeks passed and I still needed to raise about $1500,- to reach the 100% so I decided to organise a fundraiser event at my previous workspace The District. W’lessa a group of young theatre makers from fayoum came to perform on the Rooftop and the Cairo deli offered to give us a nice deal on their catering.

Two days before the fundraising event I got a very generous contribution from the author of Society30 and together with a few more contributions we where able to push it to over the 100% even before the actual fundraiser event!

With the raised money we can now start organizing the first few co creativity retreats.

The idea is to start off right after the month of Ramadan and use the time before to go out and explore more possible partnerships and to come up with the perfect content of the retreats where we aim to offer groups of around 12 women an inspirational & balanced retreat between, connecting with each other, exploring new art forms together, creating more self awareness and stimulating sharing stories, ideas and tools with one another. With the purpose of exploring and rising further within the individual and in the collective healing processes.

For more info register to the Cairo Phoenix newletter here and if you would like to read more about crowdfunding than check this blogpost on MBAonline.com for good tips. Yalla beena!

Last but not least I want to thank every one who supported, shared, and contributed this project. Thank you so, so much;

Pink, Pink’s family, David, Kholoud, Jim, Ahmed, Ahmeds mom, Sylva, Mandie, Hisham, Mazen, Sara, Hana, Anke, Nathalie, Helen, Dana, Paivi, Westen, Megan, Marina, Rachel, Walter, Michiel, Veronica, Bill, Joost, DaliaSteve, Zeinab, Catriona, Lina, Nada and Ronald, Helen, Laura and Hivos for matching some of these contributions! + all the kind anonymous  contributers and the ones using the District donation box.

Shukran kidan, kidan!

[wombwonders]

The steps taken so far to find my passion

This post is from my previous Cairo Phoenix blog (2014)

So YES I have finally started DOING and it feels so good. We began our first weekly meetups end of 2013 and they have been very rewarding thanks to the amazing women who joined them. In this post I will share some of the steps I took so far towards making this idea come to life. Just a intro for the new followers:

The project is called Cairo Phoenix, (The rising of the phoenix bird symbolizes a person that has gone through difficult times, but has resurrected). We are designing a programme to stimulate creative expression by using all kinds of art forms that can help in the healing process for women who have experienced sexual assault. Let’s express and create!

My first step: helped me find my passion in life. After some of my long travels in Asia and north America I started to notice that certain topics move me more than other topics. That it has to be different for everyone, I figured that If I wanted to understand myself better and get closer to my own core values and passions I needed to somehow document those particular things before they would just ‘poof’ desolve again in thin air. What was it that made my heart pump faster, those moments when I would feel butterflies or as someone recently called the negative equivalent; Bats flying in my stomach. Anything that gave me goose bumps, made me cry my eyes out or laugh till me cheeks hurt I would try to collect somehow. It could be anything: music, blog posts, movies, books, conversations, songs, pictures. At some point I began to see a very clear and personal theme.

The second step: involved an exercise my dear friend Kelly calls: The Ideal Wednesday Exercise. It’s very simple and I would recommend this to anyone, you describe your ideal ‘random’ Wednesday in the future. Somehow mine ended up with me living in a different country and helping create a safe community full of free creative expression and specifically for women who have been through sexual trauma.

My third step: happened 3 years ago when Amr sat with me at the kitchen table and was finally able to convince me to start this blog (for more info see 'about’ section). It has helped me al lot to gather information and blog about issues I found relative to the subject and document my journey to follow my hearth and make a positive contribution to our world.

My forth step: Time for change. I wanted to commit more time to this project so 3 years ago I resigned from my job as communications manager for a Fairtrade fashion store brand called Nukuhiva in Amsterdam. My background is in fashion and I liked being around beautiful creations but mostly I enjoyed meeting lots of new people, making connections, finding out what people want, and what drives them, I loved hearing about other peoples journeys and working in a fairtrade store meant; meeting lots of conscious people who actually live an inspiring life.

My Fifth step: After Nukuhiva I started to work at & for a coworking space (now) called: Impact Hub Amsterdam. I had come across this coworking space half a year earlier and fell in love with the overall feel of the place; Open, welcoming and buzzing with friendly, motivated people, I just felt I needed to be part of this not even knowing yet what this 'coworking’ was all about. Needless to say that this became my workspace and soon I also worked there part time as a members host until I moved to Cairo for real. As a members host I organized some events and attended several trainings and workshops like: Practice of Art of Hosting. Where you learn different tools to facilitate and host groups and tap into the collective intelligence of that group. Speaking Circle: Practice being with one person at a time, allowing natural silence, and listening without judgment, and something simply amazing called; Circling: Where a small group pays exquisite attention to one person, they share, explore patterns and co-discover in a way that encourages growth.

My sixth step:During my Hub-time I also worked with Rambler; a very inspiring initiative that combines being a social venture (providing teens from the street a creative outlet) and being a street fashion brand where the proud teens can sell their end product in the form of street fashion wear. A few years earlier I met Carmen the (co)founder of Rambler and we agreed to share our skills, I offered my experience in the fashion industry and the Rambler team shared their knowledge and their office with me. I worked with some of the young designers and watched them create their moodboards, writing, photography, fabric samples or listened when they just needed to vent about what was going on in their life. I helped with some sale/communication training and traveled with the team for the Berlin fashion week.

My seventh step: Moving on: 2 years ago I ended up leaving Amsterdam  and moving to Cairo, I ended up in the right place at the right time; a new coworking space called The District , In a previous blogpost you can read more about this great place that has become my new home base in this strange country. I have been working here since (off and on) by organizing events and together we have helped the District grow from an office space into a rich community of entrepreneurial coworkers. It has been an amazing experience all around.

Being around all these inspiring people made me think about pursuing my own passion and so; It’s only baby steps and more than 2 years later than planned but I like to believe that all things happen at the right time.

This month we will have our 10th Cairo Phoenix gathering where women who are interested in exploring new ways of expression through art on the topic of healing after sexual violence. My point was to start small and slowly but surely build this community. So far around 20 different women joined a gathering with around 7 people each time. Our private Cairo Phoenix facebook page has about 70 members. We are now preparing our first Phoenix retreat where we will dive a bit deeper and will discover new ways of creative self expression.

More details about the Cairo Phoenix gatherings will come soon, you can subscribe/follow this blog and, or find 3choices on facebook. If you are interested in being involved than please feel free to contact me via fb also if you would like to join our gatherings. We (the other Cairo Phoenix women and me) would love to hear from you!

[wombwonders]

Finding the right place = finding the right people.

This post was written in 2014 for my previous Cairo Phoenix blog: 

Around 2 years ago I traveled to Egypt, I had been here before but this time I wanted to do some research on women’s programs for my project. While at the same time I was on the look out for an inspiring place to work from while living in Cairo. Via The Hub Amsterdam, a coworking office where I worked I had heard about a new coworking space so I went to pay them a visit. I took a taxi from El Haram to El Maadi (one of the nicer/greener areas of Cairo) where I found a seemingly normal apartment building and when I arrived on the forth floor where The District is located I was pleasantly surprised, the place was very colourful inside, and after climbing another set of stairs I found a big sunny roof terrace overlooking the beautiful Nile. It is here where I met Mazen Helmy for the first time, not knowing he would become such a dear friend and inspiration. We started talking and I totally understood his passion for coworking and I asked him about how he had been working towards this goal to create a community where people can meet, connect and work together side by side, making their dream come true by not just dreaming or talking about it but by actually just DOING it.

The District had just opened its doors a week before my visit and I knew right than and there that I had found my home base in Egypt. Soon after, I joined as a coworker but there was one problem, The thing that makes coworking so special is the combination of people around and since the concept of coworking was and is still relatively new to Egypt there where not that many people around yet other than just a few opportunists.

Sometimes it was just us three: Mazen and Ahmed Maher (who managed the place with Mazen) and I, we would brainstorm about the concept of coworking in Egypt, I shared with them some of my experiences working for The Hub Amsterdam. There was already another coworking initiative called Rasheed22 in another area in town but Cairo is a very big city with so many people being stuck in traffic all day that more spaces in every neighbourhood could really make a difference on so many levels.

Some time later I met a new coworker named Veronica Yow and we found out we had just done the same training called The Art of Hosting so she and I decided to put our newly obtained skills to the test and organise a co-creation event for women entrepreneurs.

This event was the first of many I ended up organizing for The District and slowly but surely Mazen, Ahmed and I became a team together and I am so proud to have worked alongside these two amazing men who worked many long hours day after day especially that first year. luckily our efforts did not go unrewarded; Slowly but surely more and more people came by, new coworkers joined, and others just wanted to see what all the buzz was about or even start another coworking office just like ours.

With each and every new person even just visiting The District our community  became more mature and with a rich mix of different experiences, stories, connections and opportunities for all of us. We kept growing steadily and later also more people joined our team and this month we’re celebrating our 2 years anniversary, It has been an amazing journey being part of all of this.

The District community (incl. the team) has given me so much and I am very proud to have been part of this exiting dream that I know will keep on growing to be an even bigger community of hardworking proactive entrepreneurs willing to help each other and share experiences. Step by step keeping at it, i’ve seen these people making it happen.

That said I believe after these 2 years of inspiration it is time for me too, to put my dreams into action steps and I have decided to finally kick start my own project called: Cairo Phoenix.

I want to hereby first thank my beloved District team and everyone else at The district. You have no idea how much each and everyone of you separately and as a community as a whole have inspired me to try, to learn  and be understanding and helped me create a home in a strange country, and last but not least told me  “Yalla, Just start already”

Thank you all.

[wombwonders]

Cairo Phoenix

This blog Womb Wonders has risen out of my previous blog called Cairo Phoenix

2014.Cairo Phoenix is created to develop a program that helps support women that in whatever form and wheneverhave come across serious sexual violence. The aim is to support a joint journey to discover different creative ways of self-expression that can help overcome these sexual violent experience(s) and other hardships from the past or possibly in the future.

I strongly believe that expression through art in whatever form can be very helpful for a healing process. Everyone has a unique way of expressing but some people might not have found their own favorite medium.So that’s why the idea came about to start a proactive & self supporting community to connect with other like-minded women and together embark on a creative journey.

Another thing, that I think is very important to be able to heal and overcome is the feeling of safety, connected and supported and not to feel rushed. Just something as simple as sincere attention for one and another can make all the difference. During these fast lives and online communications that is sometimes hard to find other than perhaps some close friends and family (if they are around). Some things might just be easier to share with a group of people outside that close circle, People who are willing to provide these few simple but very valuableingredients.

We began our first weekly meet up end of last year. (Dec'13) and has a private fb group. The name Cairo Phoenix comes from the Phoenix bird and represents: “Renewal, rebirth and a beginning of a new life. The rising of the phoenix symbolizes a person that has gone through difficult times, but has resurrected and survived. It means that he or she has arisen from flames as a winner, beating all life challenges and defeating hard times. Phoenix is therefore a symbol of rebirth from the ashes of the past. The phoenix represents also a number of good virtues in the person. The reason for this may lie in the fact that when someone comes out of difficult situations, i.e. flames, he or she emerges as a new, better person”

In this blog I will post more about what we do during the meetings and how we are proceeding in making this Cairo Phoenix project grow and spread her wings.Contact me if you want to be added to the fb group.

[wombwonders]

[wombwonders]

I love this idea!

‘Golden wombs’ collaboration with my best friend little soph (insta @sophiegloverdrawing) For the strength, beauty, power and tenderness of womanhood. Goldwork by the genius that is soph, womb by me.

[wombwonders]

Unfolding Stories Of An Everyday Hero

Cairo - march 2013

This blog post is dedicated to my dear friend Ahmed: Who keeps surprising me every time I discover more about him. I have to keep asking for he is not one to flaunt his stories, They only unravel themselves if I happen to ask the right question concerning a certain topic. Like the time I just came back to Cairo for about 2 weeks after a long trip to Holland and we where talking about what was new on the house front as we where both on house hunt.  He told me he had turned down the apartment he had been eyeing for a while and after the usual “oh well, life goes on” I asked him more about what had happened the previous months I was away, The look in his eyes changed as he slowly started to share the reason he had not gone through with the buy and so I discovered he had spend his life savings that was suppose to be for the house he and his ‘wife to be’ would live in after they marry. All the money was spend for a medical operation, Not for him but for a young boy who was born with a serious birth defect that had started to take its toll on his body. The boy had been like Ahmeds little brother or son even as he used to spend hours with him playing computer games and other boys stuff. He had suddenly gotten very sick and the only thing that could safe his life was a complicated operation. The boys family was very poor so could not afford the huge amount of money needed for this operation, So Ahmed who is not by any means rich himself took it upon himself to take care of the boy but when he went to the doctor he learned that he didn’t have enough even with all his life savings. The doctor then suggested to do a smaller operation first that would give him more time to raise more money for the actual long term life saving operation… to cut a long story short: The boy never even woke up from that first 'operation’ and Ahmed was left without anything. Just like that the boy he cared for so deeply for so long was gone, just because he was not insured and the doctor didn’t want to do the proper operation before receiving all the money and next to that now his life savings that he needs to get married to the love of his life was also gone. He has to start all over again while trying to keep his fiancee and her family happy. With tears in his eyes over the boys loss but with no regrets about spending all his money to try to safe his live he tells me “such is life and we just go on, kullu tamam, All will be fine”……

So today as I am about to leave for home after a good but long day at work I drop meself on the couch in the lounge at work for a last little chat of the day with Ahmed; not knowing that a half hour later i would again leave with tears in my eyes and feeling a big admiration for this man who I thought I knew pretty well but sometimes still take for granted.

I’m not sure how we started on the topic but somehow he casually started to unfold the following story;

“It must have been two years or so ago when me and a few of my friends where walking down the street in Mohandessin (neigbourhood in Cairo) when we heard strange sounds, we thought it was just people playing but as it continued we decided to have a look to see what was going on.We turned the corner to find a car garage where the sound of a women screaming came from. The doors to the workplace where open and we saw a small group of men harass a girl, we walked inside, started to tell the men to stop and we tried to fight them off and away from the girl, one of my friends got beaten up really bad. The girl was lying on the floor petrified, they had torn off her top and she was struggling to cover herself up, I took of my t-shirt and tried to approach her so she could put it on but she started screaming even louder wondering if i would attack her next, I told her "I’m am trying to help and get you out of here, Just put on this shirt and go with me."By this time more people started to notice the uproar and wanted to see what was happening, The girl was very scared and still screaming, not knowing who to trust and who not.

People started to think I was one of the attackers and things started to get ugly fast. While the girl was still screaming non stop, in a split second I slapped the girl in the face to make her calm down, she became quiet and appeared in shock I carried her out of there because she was unable or unwilling to walk.

My friends and I put her in the car and drove off, We then tried to ask her where she was from, her name, her home address but she couldn’t speak, she was in total shock and couldn’t stop crying, for an hours we tried to calm her down and tell her we needed to know something for us to be able to take her to her home, than we figured her bag must still be in the garage so we decided to park the car somewhere safe and I went back on my own to the garage hoping to find her bag and luckily I managed to return to the car safely with her bag.

We found her phone with her home telephone number, but the problem was that still she would not speak, I called the number and her father answered, I told him that his daugther got attacked but that she was fine, just a bit shaken up and we would like to bring her home safe, The man went crazy and demanded to talk to his daughter and to know where and who we where.

After talking on the phone for a while to calm him down. I decided to go to his house to talk to him alone in person first, as I arrived at the door with my dirty clothes the father looked at me with suspicion and demanded to know why his daughter wasn’t with me. I told him ” she is very shaken by the whole attack and is not able to speak but she is fine. He wanted to know how far the attackers went in their assault luckily I could assure him she was not raped as she was still wearing all her bottom clothes, Thank god we didn’t arrive any later than we already did. When the father finally calmed down we brought him to his daughter where he huged her and took her home to safety.Afterwards we went to the hospital to visit my friend and luckily he was going to be fine.Every holiday her father still calls me and a few months ago he even invited me to his daughters engagement party, I congratulated him and thanked him for the generous invite but I declined,

After hearing this story I asked him why? Ahmed told me “I figured she probably didn’t want to be confronted with a very bad memory from the past on possibly one of happiest days in her life..

[wombwonders]

Our Bodies are not Battlefields

2013.Article posted in uprisingofwomeninthearabworld

With the current protests in Egypt against the Muslim Brotherhood, we are witnessing a lot of outrage about how women protesters are being beaten and humiliated in the streets. The exact same phenomenon happened during the protests against Mubarak and SCAF. It is interesting to observe that during times of political conflict, a woman’s role is reduced from an active citizen to a “female body” under aggression by the regime in place. Her body becomes a battlefield: a witness on the regime’s brutality and the exploitation of those who want to overthrow it. The rhetoric goes as such: the regime is attacking even the weakest, those should be protected!

However, it is just as interesting to observe that most of those who are shocked by the brutality used against women during protests don’t seem to mind the physical, sexual and psychological violence that women in the Arab world are facing every single day of their lives.

Getting outraged about a regime’s brutality against its citizen is fundamental. It is irrelevant whether the victim is a women or a man, we should denounce it equally. But where is that same outrage regarding the national laws that tolerate crimes of “honor”, rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence and female genital mutilation? Those laws are surviving through the changes of political regimes, they are endorsed by religious rules and overlooked by the seculars.

The blunt conclusion is that women are constantly being used for political causes but when it comes to their legal rights, they are left behind. We are witnessing this phenomenon again and again, all around the Arab world and beyond.

Women and men should have the same rights and same duties, for better or for worse. The strive towards more justice and more freedom is gender-blind. It is time for us, women, to take our destiny into our hands. To impose ourselves as citizens equal to men, with no distinction. No distinction when it comes to being part of a revolution, and no distinction when it comes to practicing our rights and our private and public liberties in our every day life.

[wombwonders]

2013 

This is a hand drawing from syrian girl named Deema and she tried to express through this drawing that no one can kill the goodness inside ourselves.

[wombwonders]

Half the Sky: Trailer Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide  

Using VIPs to raise awareness always makes me think of how much of it is also for PR,  But then again they do have so many people that they can reach other then let’s say one person with a tiny blog. I like what Susan Surrender says  “We can help shine a light on the people who do the real heavy lifting”

[wombwonders]

2013

ONE BILLION RISING is a short film by Eve Ensler and South African filmmaker Tony Stroebel.

One in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. This powerful three minute film reminds us how violence against women appears worldwide in the every day lives of women, from Afghanistan to Australia, the United States to Peru, South Africa to Great Britain. One billion women violated is an atrocity. On 14 February 2014, V-Day’s 15th anniversary, one billion women dancing will be a revolution. After viewing this film, we hope millions will be inspired to join the ONE BILLION RISING campaign.

[wombwonders]

‘I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me’

2012 An article found in http://cratesandribbons.com/

Most of us are familiar with this picture. Captured in Times Square on V-J Day, 1945, it has become one of the most iconic photographs of American history, symbolizing the jubilation and exuberance felt throughout the country at the end of World War II.

For a long time, the identity of the pair remained a mystery. It certainly looks passionate and romantic enough, with many speculating that they were a couple – a sailor and a nurse, celebrating and sharing their joy. This year, however, historians have finally confirmed that the woman is Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental nurse at the time, and George Mendonsa, a sailor. Have a look at some articles about it. Do you get the feeling that something is not quite right?

A few facts have come to light. Far from being a kiss between a loving couple, we learn that George and Greta were perfect strangers. We learn that George was drunk, and that Greta had no idea of his presence, until she was in his arms, with his lips on hers. The articles even give us Greta’s own words:

“It wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed!”

“I did not see him approaching, and before I knew it, I was in this vice grip.”

“You don’t forget this guy grabbing you.”

“That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me.”

It seems pretty clear, then, that what George had committed was sexual assault. Yet, in an amazing feat of willful blindness, none of the articles comment on this, even as they reproduce Greta’s words for us. Without a single acknowledgement of the problematic nature of the photo that her comments reveal, they continue to talk about the picture in a whimsical, reverent manner, “still mesmerized by his timeless kiss.” George’s actions are romanticized and glorified; it is almost as if Greta had never spoken.

In a way, I understand this. The end of war is a big deal, and the euphoria felt throughout the nation on that day is an important part of American history. For so long, this photograph has come to represent that unbridled elation, capturing the hearts of war veterans and their families alike. The fact that this much-loved photo is a depiction of sexual assault, rather than passion, is an uncomfortable truth, and to call it out as such might make one seem to be a priggish wet blanket. After all, this sailor has risked his life for his country. Surely his relief and excitement at the end of the war is justified? Surely these are unique circumstances? The answer to the first question is yes. He is perfectly entitled to be ecstatic. He is perfectly entitled to celebrate. However, this entitlement does not extend to his impinging on someone else’s bodily autonomy.

The unwillingness to recognize a problem here is not surprising, considering the rape culture in which we live. It is not easy to assert that a woman’s body is always her own, not to be used at the whim of any man without her consent. It is far easier to turn a blind eye to the feelings of women, to claim that they should empathise with the man, that they should be good sports and just go along with it. And the stronger the power structures behind the man, the more difficult it becomes to act otherwise. But if we are serious about bringing down rape culture and reducing the widespread violence against women, then we need to make it clear that engaging with someone sexually without consent is not ok, even when it is an uncomfortable position to take. Especially when it is an uncomfortable position to take.

[wombwonders]

2012. 

Her story Egypt : Episode 6. Mariam Kirollos

Click (cc) on the youtube screen for English subtitles after you click play.

A weekly web-series documenting the participation of Women in the Egyptian Revolution. An audio-visual Herstory project, to remind history!

They are a group of independent film-makers and activists who are working to document the participation of women in the Egyptian Revolution.

Follow them on facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/HerstoryEgypt )

And/or donate here http://www.indiegogo.com/herstoryegypt

[wombwonders]

2012 article about the healing quality of Art Therapy