Lettera alle sorelle: alla fine della mezzanotte di una primavera inesistente

Cara Nadia Selam e Sefora,

sorelline mie, come posso mettertela giù..Ok. Vediamo. La ricerca e coscienza di una consapevolezza profonda di essere umanamente diversa è spesso strumento di motorizzazione dell'io verso un qualcosa di più profondamente riconoscibile dal cuore.
Parole sul web che raggiungono tutti e nessuno. Forse. Ciò che si fa è la dichiarazione di un pensiero. Una certezza. Uno stato d'animo. Volere essere uno strumento di coerenza. Chi mi dice che sto svolgendo un compito importante?

Lettera alle sorelle: una Domenica Padovana diversa

 

Domenica (28 Aprile 2013)

Ciao sorelline,

dico sorellina ma ormai siete grandi adoloscenti. Mi chiedete al telefono cosa ho fatto oggi...
Cosa ho fatto oggi?

Questa Domenica (28 Aprile 2013) ero a Padova. Si, sono andata all'Auditorium Modigliani del Liceo Artistico in Viale Scrovegni 30 si è tenuta la 15° FESTA INTERNAZIONALE DELLE DONNE della Federazione Delle Donne per la Pace nel Mondo, sezione Italiana di WOMEN' S FEDERATION FOR WORLD PEACE INTERNATIONAL.(1) Ti direi di cercarle subito su internet, che ti può servire per la tua tesina di maturità ma non c'è quasi mai internet in Asmara, mi dici... figuriamoci non c'è la corrente!! Allora te ne parlo io gioia.
L'associazione lavora promuovendo un messaggio di pace e intercultura a livello nazionale e internazionale, la pace attraverso il ruolo della donna, superando barriere razziali, culturali , politiche e religiose. E' stata fondata nel 1992 in Corea dalla signora Hak Ja Han.
L'incontro ha ospitato anche due cori "coristi per caso" adulti e il loro spettacolo ha raccontato la storia di un bambino afgano che dentro 50 cm di spazio nel doppio fondo di un camion raggiunge l'Italia. Mi sono venute le lacrime Nadu, non potevo resistere al pensiero di te a quell'età passare quell'inferno.
Il  "coro multietnico di città di Padova" è formato da bambini e bambine dai 6 credo ai 10-12 anni,bellissimi! Fortissimi anche nella versione rap di un paio di pezzi tutta loro! Ma il merito di tutto questo va al direttore Maestro Alejandro M.Saorin, italo-argentino, rientrato in Italia , nato e cresciuto da genitori italiani emigrati in Argentina tanti anni fa. Un uomo energetico, carismatico e simpaticissimo! Ci ha ammazzati dal ridere! Devo dire che dopo quelle tre ore di spettacolo ero contenta di essere partita da Verona apposta anche se i mezzi sono ridotti di Domenica. E poi si mangiava etnico dopo, cucinato con tanto amore dalle famiglie di provenienza dai 4 angoli del mondo (lo so, tu dicevi sempre da piccola "il mondo è tondo non ha angoli!"). Immagina te che scorpacciata che mi sono fatta!
Le persone presenti erano famiglie dei bimbi del coro, amici e familiari dei coristi adulti e tanti altri curiosi come me! C'era da mangiare a fine spettacolo e premiazioni vari. Il cibo era di vari paesi: piatti orientali, somali e altro. A servire erano i liceali. Come erano loro a prestare assistenza e fare da hostess agli ospiti, qualche centinaio che riempivano i due piani dell'Auditorium. Erano sempre loro a vendere i biglietti della lotteria con primo e secondo premio. Il ricavato andrà alla Casa di fuga per donne vittime di violenze e del comune di Padova.

"Vi invito a essere generosi perché questa nuova casa per le donne e i loro piccoli ha bisogno di tanto, e il prezzo del biglietto della lotteria sarà il vostro aiuto a questo spazio nascente. Un'oasi per le donne violate e vittime di violenza" sono le parole della presentatrice dell'evento, Cadigia Hassan, italo-somala, padovana di nascita, giornalista, studentessa universitaria di sociologia e mamma di due figli. La sua simpatia, la sua voce squillante e vibrante e i vestiti scelti appositamente somali hanno dato all'evento una ulteriore ricchezza. La sua bellissima figlia di non più di 5/6 anni, faceva da "consegnatrice" dei fiori agli ospiti invitati sul palco per dire due parole in merito all'evento, alle donne, alla violenza di genere e alla lotta della città di Padova contro i crimini di violenza domestica sulle donne e di discriminazione razziale "visto che anche quella è una forma di violenza alla persona" ha dichiarato l'assessore alla Pari Opportunità di Padova.
Non sono mancati auguri di "buon lavoro" alla ministra italo-congolese Cecilè Kyenge, la cui lotta per i diritti umani degli immigrati, dei loro figli e degli "italiani di seconda generazione" è sul loro diritto di avere cittadinanza. Infine il tempo stringeva ma l'ospite che poi mi ha ulteriormente incuriosita è stata Cristina Zavloschi(2) e il suo libro "duemila chilometri dalla libertà"...
Ma di questo ti racconto domani o dopodomani, appena ho un attimo.
E tu? hai dipinto oggi? Sono così fiera di te, che sei tra i 5 finalisti della tua scuola per i migliori disegni e dipinti. Vorrei tanto vederti dipingere, come quando eri piccolina e ti insegnavo a colorare "bene"..ti ricordi?

Ti voglio bene. Sempre,

Eden

1.(http://www.padovanet.it/noprofit/immagini-allegati/allegati/PaceDUCI%20-%20web.pdf pagina 76).
2. http://www.blogger.com/profile/17876807825907591236

28/04/2013 06:30

Women's health and Coumminty Center's Role in Accessing Information: the case of Center"Casa di Ramia" in Italy

Casa di Ramia ( House of Ramia) is a Women's Public Community Centre. It is base din Verona the region of Veneto in  Italy. The Centre is under direct supervision of the Department for Equal Opportunities of the commune of Verona. The administrators are 2 public social workers. It was opened in the '90 with the intention to create a space for women of different ethnic ,religious,cultural and political background to have a chance to interact. The space CasadiRamia Its main focus has always been to provide the chance to the organisations NGOs informal groups and individuals  wanting to engage with the community can use the space as a hub and co-working place. It has been a place of Empowerment, Education and Dialogue on diverse topics. Talking to the administrator social worker : The place is exclusively for women with the intention to create a safe for women environment. According to the administrator this has allowed the Centre to be known in Verona's  most migrant women as the perfect place to go and participate in activities for women of diverse religions that would be otherwise not comfortable for women to interact with men outside the family. The women that often are present at the centre are Muslim women of North Africa, Nigerian women, East European women and Italian women as well. One of the basic rules is that there is no religious prejudice and all are welcome. IT is also child friendly space. It was well thought as this in fact permits women to bring also their children and interact in the centre with women of other cultures faith and languages as best as they can. The CasadiRamia has a public small library computers and a class room for courses. The courses  given are all for free. some of the courses are lessons of Italian, French, English and Arabic. Among the most important are the Storytelling Project. This a crucial moment,led by a published writer,  the women share their stories of motherhood, trauma of rape, trauma of domestic abuse, as well as racism and access to basic needs in Italy. Often this stories are a hint for the social worker and operators  of association to organise classes on different topics: sexual education  STD,reproductive health care in  Verona, FGM, basic computer skills, legal information on Child rights, Public health care and social welfare access. All these courses are also available at the Public health centre but rarely do the health workers interact with the Community Centres like CasadiRamia and this is in fact weakness due to lack of resources . Many cases of health issues related to violence and reported by the women to the social workers and NGO operators are immediately refereed to the Departments for Equal Opportunities for further referral to adequate services. The Public departments are starting to acknowledge these specific needs and are mapping their services and create network that can be also easily accessible to women that are not Italian, and that rarely speak Italian well before 2 or 3 years. Talking to the women receiving the service: the general response was positive and all replied wishing similar places Community centre existed in different ares of the city too. Many are happy casa that Ramia exists. They wouldn't know where else to spend their time  learning In fact many women come for distant areas just to be able to interact with other women. They feel encouraged to do activities of peer to peer training. Most of the training provided, such as cooking , sewing, computer course and language course it is of course informal education and often no valid certification can be provided for them these women that can be spendable for work. Many of the women that are coming to casadiRamia are unemployed. Sometimes they come seeking for work. Many women say that they are grateful to the safety Italy provides them but now they would like to have intensive  Italian language training so they can read and have access to all the public services themselves without support.

Trough the years I had different occasion to interact with that Community Centre.  I believe "CasadiRamia" has been a pilot project and a mode to imitate for many other neighbour cities, but often failed as they encountered difficulty in having public  government funds. There is a somewhat conservative and right wing politics in Veneto. Thus it impacts not only the immigrant women's inclusion into society trough Gender based research has been done by various university students, including myself, interviewing women on their perception of CasadiRamia.
CasadiRamia 's administrator compiles monthly report to the Department on the activities and the needs of the Community Center and asks for budgeting but often the public funds are not available for all the course is mentioned to be carried out by paid professional or companies thus the certificate Can be used to access the work market. This Community Centre  has been a place of knowledge and possibilities and voice for women, and often tries to address problems and issues that should be the government's public responsibility. The Operators that interact with the women in CasadiRamia often lobby for improvement. There should be better financing and training for the volunteers. Recently the situation has improved. The new politicians in power have supported the opening of similar women's co-working places in the city.
There is still a long away to go. The Conservative mentality needs to change and the Italian  society has been struggling with a growing number of migrants this , added to the fact the Italian economy isn't at its best, doe not help the general sentiment but

Dichiarazione di Beijing ONU e l'Attualità dei Diritti umani delle donne.

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action- Fourth World Conference on Women - 15/9/1995:
a mile stone in the struggle for  women's human rights    

Reading the Beijing Declaration I get always overwhelmed by the will of women struggling a better world. It was I believe the first time in the history of humanity that such a number of women form all over the world were able to come together and initiate a path for improving women’s lives a round the World. It is a declaration stating that human rights are also women's rights that are being forgotten, . The commitments that interested me are many,here are some:
“196(b) Advocate at all levels to enable women to influence political, economic and social decisions, processes and systems, and work towards seeking accountability from elected representatives on their commitment to gender concerns
249.[...]Governments have expressed their commitment to creating a new development paradigm that integrates environmental sustainability with gender equality and justice within and between generations as contained in chapter 24 of Agenda 21.
291[...]There should be a clear commitment to international norms and standards of equality between women and men as a basis for all actions.”

 
It was the celebration of commitments by nations and governments. It was made clear that even if women came from different countries,different social, economic, religious and culture realities they had common problems. Henceforth women’s human rights violation were declared to transcend the economic status. Women being violated happened among the rich and the poor, the high-income and the low-income. The lack of proper legislation and accountability, the paucity by policy makers in recognising these circumstances, made women twice victims leaving them feel invisible thus reducing them to silence. On that account, Universal Declaration of Human rights is insufficient to safeguard also women,girls and children. This was vastly demonstrated and declared at previous United Nations conferences and summits - on women in Nairobi in 1985, on children in New York in 1990, on environment and development in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, on human rights in Vienna in 1993, on population and development in Cairo in 1994 and on social development in Copenhagen in 1995 with the objectives of achieving equality, development and peace women’s rights violation as societies around the world often consider them as a separate entity with no rights ,or simply lesser right than a man.Societies where women are considered shadows of men are still committing crimes unpunished. It was a declaration of commitments by nations and governments to do better. But it was most of all it was a historic moment that. Not all countries have respected the commitment made in Beijing to finance programs, implement legislation for the safekeeping of women and girls.
The political and social economic situation of many countries at the present moment has become a justification for those governments to not feel as they should respect the commitments taken. There are nations that are not yet feeling pressured enough to respect the commitment develop successful national implementation strategies for the Platform for Action, for instance. Governments where still there is a culture of systematic violence against women and girls girl child. These governments as we all know do not allocate sufficient resources. the strength of these leading women , activists and influential women that helped many more women stand their ground on safeguarding themselves and their children. Some of those strong women had a crucial role in the education and empowerment of women like my mother. Empowered woman that choose not to do Genital Mutilation on her 4 daughters. To educate her son to the respect  women instilling the belief we are equal. Many women like her face hard dissents from the elders of towns that still have power over law. Her strength allowed me to leave the forceful military life.Her strength come from the strength and determination of many before her that were stepped on but managed to bass the light. It is a new dawn. The fact remains: change has come, and many women are empowered, educated and have the know how on the mechanisms of politics and policy making, have the know how to pressure and call on governments to implement change. The important fact is that there is unity in the struggle of women for human rights. Unity inspires many, men and women,  humanity is improving, and that in its self is, for the women that started this struggle decades ago, is a step forward. The women of Beijing had one message: “No more to silence. We are watching, we are empowered and not asking permission anymore. We are here to stay and see commitments been implemented by the countries we belong to”. This being said I believe in better times. After all what are human rights if not the wish and belief that inspire us to work, advocate and demand for the better world the human race has envisioned learning from its mistakes?

Resources and info:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/Beijing%20full%20report%20E.pdf

20 June. Eritrean martyrs day: women fighters and broken promesies

The June 20 -2015 is the Day of Remembrance of the dead during the war years of Independence Eritrea, that ended in '91.



Since the 60s, the Eritrean "tegadelti" - guerrillas Tigrinya - hundreds participated in a struggle for independence that lasted more than 30 years, one of the longest in Africa. This year I want to commemorate Eritrean women: they were about 30% of the guerrillas. The story of Eritrean women in the last 50 years is littered with war, military service and violations of their human rights.

training of soldier women in the '60

We speak of brave women, strong, who sacrificed their youth alongside their brothers to give the next generations a peaceful existence. They fought for Eritrea where they could be free to study, graduate, dream and live in dignity.

They believed in the cause. Profoundly felt that the fight for a free State from the totalitarian regime Ethiopian DERG was also their task, not only of their husbands and brothers.

NO Human Rights for Asylum seekers in Israel

Israel 2014. Daily Human Rights Violation. Travelling with many buses to join the peaceful demonstration. Were people showed up by the hundreds. Over 30,000 people. Men, women, elderly and children.

 Eritrean female Refugee message for all female Refugee in Israel

PAKISTAN: the price of choosing a different kind of love

The content has been moved to my italian language blog:
http://edeneritrea.blogspot.it/2013/10/pakistan-il-prezzo-della-scelta-di-un.html

Bianco Cenere Veronese

The content has been moved to my italian language blog:
http://edeneritrea.blogspot.it/2013/01/bianco-cenere-veronese.html

Wistawa Szymborska: nobel prize 1996

The content has been moved to my italian language blog:
http://edeneritrea.blogspot.it/2012/03/wistawa-szymborska-premio-nobel-1996.html