myMADRE

Hope and Happy Anniversaries in the West Bank

“As an Israeli midwife, I always wanted to talk to Palestinian midwives, to see their experience and exchange stories—that’s how we learn. We are neighbors, and with neighbors, you should talk. It’s unnatural that we don’t talk. So I came to the first meeting of this group. That was five years ago. Now we are [...]

You Don’t Have To Be A Mother To Be A MADRE

My beloved coworkers have a saying: “You don’t have to be a mother to be a MADRE.” They’ll say it lightning-quick, in tones that range from reassuring to affirming to just plain old firm. And certainly we practice what we preach; most of us are not mothers – but we are MADREs. I’ve been a big [...]

Happy Mother’s Day!

Wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at MADRE.

This is my MADRE, Not my Mother

My MADRE, the woman who brought me into this world, embodies what I believe a MADRE is through the resilient strength she demonstrates every day and her willingness to do more than what is asked of her with this strength. My MADRE’s strength is powerful and inspiring. She has given birth to and raised three children [...]

Mothers Fight Back

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and like many of you, I will spend it at home with my family. I’m looking forward to the home-made cards and presents from my kids, and maybe the great gift of sleeping in an extra hour. As I enjoy this time, I’ll also be thinking of the Syrian mothers [...]

My First Mother’s Day

This time of the year last year, I was over-the-moon pregnant with Lucia, a baby girl who brought joy and big smiles to our families, friends, and of course to our partners in different regions who joined us in celebrating the birth of my first daughter! This time this year, we are celebrating my first Mother’s [...]

Surge of Violence in Haweeja

The small town of Haweeja, where we work with our partners at the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), has become one of the sites of increased violence across the northern part of the country as largely Shiite government militias engage with Sunni gunmen in a sectarian conflict. According to the New York Times: The deadliest [...]

Attempts to Halt the Trial against Rios Montt and Silence the Voices of Survivors

A judge in Guatemala yesterday announced a decision to suspend the genocide trial against Efraín Rios Montt and José Mauricio Rodríguez Sanchez, ruling that the proceedings to date were invalid. Guatemala’s Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz has denounced this move as illegal, and prosecutors have pledged to appeal this decision. Seeking to nullify the existing [...]

Follow the Rios Montt Trial

The trial of former Guatemalan General Rios Montt, accused of human rights abuses and genocide against Indigenous Peoples, displacing nearly 30,000 Guatemalans and overseeing thousands of acts of sexual violence, is underway. Today, the defense asked that the trial be suspended. Follow the trial: On Twitter: @xeni @RiosMonttTrial @NISGUA_Guate @PzPenVivo Online: http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/ http://www.wola.org/highlight/para_que_se_conozca_blog_covering_the_rios_montt_trial http://www.ghrc-usa.org/ http://www.awid.org/eng%3D/Library/Guatemala-Genocide-Trial-Begins-Be-Part-of-this-Historic-Process http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2013/0404/Guatemala-Rios-Montt-trial-hears-testimony-on-conflict-era-sexual-violence

“It’s like you are living without your life.”

I’ve been in refugee camps where people are listless, resigned; where everyone seems suspended in a state of traumatized limbo. But Za’atari camp in the north of Jordan, where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees now reside, is different. Za’atari is seething. People here give off a manic, restless energy. Some seem ready to snap from [...]