Life goes on, despite everything

Once upon a time, in a distant war-torn land, there was a group of women willing to do anything to protect women’s ultimate gift and power, that of creating life.

This is not the start of a fairy-tale, but a true story of women, of their strength and their courage.

Aya, Raghda, Karama, Niam, Huda, Thuka and Rawnaq are just some of the heroic women – doctors and nurses –  who for three years have been working with the “Zhyan” project, named after the Kurdish word for ‘life’.

And it is the perfect name for a project which has given thousands of women the opportunity to experience peaceful and safe childbirth in Iraq, a country still facing challenges in the provision of medicine, sanitation and education, with considerable consequences for  the reproductive and mental health of women and adolescents.

During this 3-year project, in an area which has been battered by war, the “Zhyan” doctors and nurses – who are all IDPs themselves – have put aside their own problems to focus on helping others. They offered support not only as doctors, but as fellow humans.

As well as medicine and check-ups, they also offered smiles, helping hands, and gifts to thousands of people who began to count on them as a point of reference.

I had the honour of managing this programme in its final year. I saw the joy of pregnant women seeing their babies for the first time, during scans in the IDP camp where technology is not readily available.

I saw the suffering of women when the same technology revealed miscarriage or a tumor. I listened to the sobbing of those who just could not get over the memories of their flight from Daesh. I witnessed the strength of  an illiterate woman who would recite poetry and encourage other women to keep going, despite everything, because life is the greatest gift.

This was Zhyan for three years. It created a space for the lives of women and paved the way for the arrival of new life.

As I write this, the project is drawing to an end. Unlike the needs of thousands of women who are still in need of medical and socio-psychological assistance.

But I like to think that, despite everything, in our own small way, the “Zhyan” project exceeded expectations, thanks to the strength of the women who remained optimistic that, against all odds, life goes on.

Miriam Hayate, “Zhyan” Project manager