"Yet, when war ends, women are the first to pick up the pieces. Where there is no market place, they go door to door. When homes are destroyed, mothers and daughters haul stones to rebuild or plow fields together" – Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International
Recently we had the treat of having Walids mother with us. Walid was born in Lebanon. His father is Lebanese and his mother is American. At 20 years old Walids Mother left her home and family behind in New York, to start a new life as a young bride in Beirut.
Arriving in the 60s when Lebanon was the "Paris of the Middle East" (PARADISE LOST: MEMORIES OF A GOLDEN AGE from the Aramco World Magazine September - October 1982, Vol. 33 No. 5 ISSN 0003-7567.) my mother in law learned the language, she made friends, and adapted to a country which would come to be her home. During her time there she had 5 children, all of whom were born in Beirut.
Throughout their time they experienced unrest and war. They came and went, always hoping for peace, until finally, after the Israeli invasion in 1982 in Southern Lebanon they left for good.
During our evening dinners in Barcelona we spoke about the affect this had on Walid, her youngest son, who was 3 years old when they left his childhood home. They came to America, where they spent a summer in Maine with family. Walid, as a child, was terrified to leave his mothers side for over a year. His mother suspects that her entire family suffers hearing loss as the bombs dropped around them. She has vivid memories of holding her 2 year old son and covering his ears to try to protect his hearing. There is a selective memory loss that continued through Walids childhood, but through her nurturing, Walid grew into a happy, healthy young adult and now man.
As we had these conversations my thoughts were drawn to mothers around the world who are doing the same thing, the best they can for their children.
I was lucky enough to have grown up in a stable country, with a stable family, but there are so many who are not. My husbands family was lucky to have escaped the country safely.
There are so many who do not/have not had these options, but women continue to forge onwards. There is no choice. In many discussions with the participants in Women for Women International, a huge goal is to acquire skills and ability to help give their children better opportunities and a better life than the life they lived.
To quote E.M Forster: "I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars."
Women for Women International helps less fortunate Women in so many ways, and the recent conversations we shared re-enforced how much it does to help.
A movie I would suggest on Mothers and war is:
Where do we go now, directed by Nadine Labaki
Recently we had the treat of having Walids mother with us. Walid was born in Lebanon. His father is Lebanese and his mother is American. At 20 years old Walids Mother left her home and family behind in New York, to start a new life as a young bride in Beirut.
Arriving in the 60s when Lebanon was the "Paris of the Middle East" (PARADISE LOST: MEMORIES OF A GOLDEN AGE from the Aramco World Magazine September - October 1982, Vol. 33 No. 5 ISSN 0003-7567.) my mother in law learned the language, she made friends, and adapted to a country which would come to be her home. During her time there she had 5 children, all of whom were born in Beirut.
Throughout their time they experienced unrest and war. They came and went, always hoping for peace, until finally, after the Israeli invasion in 1982 in Southern Lebanon they left for good.
During our evening dinners in Barcelona we spoke about the affect this had on Walid, her youngest son, who was 3 years old when they left his childhood home. They came to America, where they spent a summer in Maine with family. Walid, as a child, was terrified to leave his mothers side for over a year. His mother suspects that her entire family suffers hearing loss as the bombs dropped around them. She has vivid memories of holding her 2 year old son and covering his ears to try to protect his hearing. There is a selective memory loss that continued through Walids childhood, but through her nurturing, Walid grew into a happy, healthy young adult and now man.
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| Our most recent visit: me, my Mother in Law, and Walid (from left to right) |
As we had these conversations my thoughts were drawn to mothers around the world who are doing the same thing, the best they can for their children.
I was lucky enough to have grown up in a stable country, with a stable family, but there are so many who are not. My husbands family was lucky to have escaped the country safely.
There are so many who do not/have not had these options, but women continue to forge onwards. There is no choice. In many discussions with the participants in Women for Women International, a huge goal is to acquire skills and ability to help give their children better opportunities and a better life than the life they lived.
To quote E.M Forster: "I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars."
Women for Women International helps less fortunate Women in so many ways, and the recent conversations we shared re-enforced how much it does to help.
A movie I would suggest on Mothers and war is:
Where do we go now, directed by Nadine Labaki
Amazon.com
In an isolated Lebanese village, the mosque and the church stand side by side--but religious tension threatens to boil over, particularly as a series of pranks escalates into ever-increasing hostility. The women of the village, both Christian and Muslim, concoct improbable schemes to defuse the tension, including hiring a troupe of Ukrainian belly dancers. Where Do We Go Now? veers back and forth between wrenching drama and cheerful comedy but somehow maintains a balance. Director-actress Nadine Labaki leads her mostly nonprofessional cast with heart and fervor. This commitment allows the movie to juggle the broad comedy of the mayor's wife pretending to channel the Virgin Mary and the grief of a mother losing her son to a random bullet. In a particularly poetic moment, the belly dancers take a tour around the town and discover that the cemetery is segregated into Christian and Muslim plots; even in death, the town is divided. Where Do We Go Now? has been a huge success in the Middle East and deserves to reach an audience in the broader world, both for its message of compassion and its vivid emotional power. --Bret Fetzer
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