I send my message to you directly from Gaza, Palestine, where we are still living under siege and under occupation.

I send my message to you directly from Gaza, Palestine, where we are still living under siege and under occupation.

Through my work with the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), I visit each day with communities throughout Gaza who provide services for women and their children. MECA provides safe clean drinking water at schools and kindergartens throughout Gaza; we provide university scholarships for over 150 university students, most of them women; we support community-based organizations to give trainings to mothers, social workers, and teachers on how to help and support children suffering from trauma; we provide financial and administrative help to creative women’s initiatives including a catering cooperative and a healthy lunch program.

Unlike our scholarship recipients, many of the women I meet in communities in Gaza have never had access to formal education and some cannot read or write. But they can teach us how to survive.  These women face daily challenges and are working hard to give their families the best life possible. Many live in refugee camps and all of us share the stress of living under Israeli siege. But the siege does not break our spirit. I met a woman who uses the hours when there is no electricity to bring the family closer–by teaching them songs and telling them stories about life, nature and their homeland. Tonight, when it's dark, they sing and play games together.

And today, on International Women's Day, a group of Palestinian women were looking forward to starting our day by taking action to express our desire for equality and justice.  We expected to be joined by a human rights delegation comprised of women headed by a leader of the Algerian resistance, Gameela Bouhreed.  Our hopes to meet in person did not come true, the delegation was not allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt via the Rafah crossing. The crossing has been closed for more than a month, leaving 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza unable to travel or move freely.  

We are less than fifty kilometers away from our sisters in the West Bank but are separated from each other by more walls and crossings that never open. Every day in Palestine, we struggle to protect the land and the olive trees from Israeli soldiers and settlers.  We work to protect our children who are attacked on their way to school. We organize to protect ourselves and the people we love from being taken from us, by Israeli weapons and Israeli prisons.

I think we women of Palestine are like artists who, despite harsh realities, struggle for our social and political rights, while creating a new generation that is optimistic about the future.  I see tremendous strength and a great determination among women to gain their freedom and make a better life for themselves and their families.  And I know we will one day succeed.

I commemorate this day while the women of Palestine, under siege and occupation, struggle to achieve homes that are safe, healthy food, basic security, clean water, access to education, employment, expression and  yes, even enjoyment.

That is something I ask you to join me in celebrating on International Women's Day 2014.

In solidarity.

Dr. Mona El-Farra
Director of Gaza Projects