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#AWomanEvenHere: an everyday story
As humanitarian emergencies continue to plague the Arab States region, it might become easy for women's voices to fade and for their everyday needs to be dismissed as less important. In 2019, we can't look away from the faces and lives behind the numbers. Only then can we truly appreciate how distressing women's experiences can be in humanitarian settings such as being on the move while pregnant, or having to give birth while cut off from all medical support, or enduring the loss of pride that results from something as simple as menstruating with no access to sanitary pads. For eight weeks, UNFPA has run a storytelling campaign under the title of #AWomanEvenHere to bring women's basic needs to the forefront of humanitarian response and to show a glimpse of the lives of five women:
Sahar from Yemen survived the war, a bad marriage and obstetric fistula and is now a midwife providing the women of her community with reproductive services.
Nadia from Iraq was 14 when ISIS took over her town, 15 when she was forced to marry an older man, and 16 when she had to flee the war while five months pregnant.
Dalal from Syria had to leave school, marry at 16 and is now the sole breadwinner for her son.
Sahar from Gaza is trying to make ends meet for her family of eight under a decade-old blockade.
Reem had to leave school and fled Syria with her family before the start of the war. Now a mother of two, Reem can't shake her anxiety about her future as a refugee.