Dear friends and supporters of JINWAR,
We hope you are all well and healthy! For the new year 2022 we wish you a good start into the spring months…
Of course, we have been following the latest news and developments around the Corona virus here, its spread and its short and long term effects on our lives are still devastating after two years. The measures taken by the states, the fear-mongering and especially the social distancing will leave even deeper consequences, similar to the scars of the third world war that is going on here for years on the backs of the population. At the same time, we see the importance of the political social life, which ensures to act in a self-responsible way and, besides all the measures, to act independently and to find solutions in the construction process for an equal, ecological life. Examples exist both here and there: as examples the provision by the society of their neighborhoods to be in solidarity with each other.
During the isolation and loneliness during the Corona regulations, violence against women as well as the number of feminicides has increased a lot. Mainly, mothers suffer from the closure of schools or daycare centers because they are the main caregivers of the children, or they are the first to be fired from their jobs.
Secondly, in the current situation, women have fewer to no opportunities to move outside the home, to exchange ideas, to find places for women to go, to get organize themselves. At the same time, there is more pressure to take on traditional roles that they could previously by organizing themselves with other women and shaping their lives together.
In the last two years, we have once again seen and felt the importance of preserving our natural of our natural resources and ecological way of life is. This means building healthy relationships between nature and people and among people.
Here in Jinwar – the women’s and children’s village in northeast Syria – life goes on. It is important that life goes on and does not stand still.
We organize our life together and continue our work. Even though the conditions have become more difficult, the borders continue to be closed, the embargo against self-governance continues and the attacks from Turkey and its gangs are taking place very close and we lost 121 Şehîds just two weeks ago, in the social self-defense operation against the planned prison break of the IS-prisoners in Hesekê. While here as women we do not experience direct violence in our daily lives and have the opportunity to share, deepen our relationships, plan and discuss how we want to live our lives together, nevertheless we feel the pain of all women who are struggling and resisting in many
different places around the world today.
Here in Jinwar village, we meet as a council every two weeks, discuss the current political situation and the various developments in the village such as our communal life or upcoming actions such as the 8th of March, on which the first foundation stone of this village was laid five years ago. Furthermore, we evaluate the work of the different committees in the village. We discuss what progress has been made and whether it is necessary to change the way we work. With this basis we plan the work for the next period. We decide together which of us will be responsible for which work in the next period. We also elect the spokesperson of the village on a monthly basis. We see in the current situation, how important it is to build up alternative ways of supply. That means building local economies and creating ways of self-sufficiency. The closer we are involved in our own economic supply, the better we can react to exceptional situations. Especially groups that mainly live and work together can better cope with and react to changes in the economic situation. At the same time, being closer to our supply also means being closer to our environment and to nature. This strengthens our ecological awareness and our health.
Here in Jinwar we can provide for ourselves in many ways. We have collected many herbs and edible plants that grow in and around the village. Furthermore, we still have dried and preservedfood from last year. We have made yogurt and cheese from the milk from the village sheep and shared the eggs from the chickens in the village. Several times a week we continue to bake bread in the village bakery with the flour we milled last year. This year we have again tilled the fields, sowed wheat and chickpeas, which have started to sprout due to the much awaited rain and the few days of snow and are already visibly green under the first warming rays of sunshine. The solar panels, which were installed three years ago, continue to supply us with electricity. Our goal is to supply the whole village with solar and thermal energy. Due to the current situation and the continuing embargo, we are not yet able to implement the project.
Our village school “dayika uveyş ” has opened its doors again since one week for the children of Jinwar, as well as for those from outside as part of the educational system of the Autonomous Self-Government of this region. Likewise, the Şîfa Jin Health and Healing Center has treated 320 patients with natural medicine and homemade medicinal herbs in recent months. Mainly women and children but also a few male patients from the surrounding area have visited the health center. The Şîfa Jin team also has the ambulance now, where they can also go around to heal patients and bring them to different hospitals if necessary. In addition to the treatments, the healing center itself is an important place for the women, because here they can meet other women, exchange ideas, share their experiences and knowledge. This alone contributes to strengthening their health and healing.
We hope we could give you an insight into the village life with this newsletter. Of course, there are many things that we have not mentioned here, but that enrich our daily life, such as the four beautiful peacocks that enrich the village life, the young lambs, the chicken that lay eggs every day, the many small shoots of the fruit trees, or the winds from all directions, the snow people that were created during the snowstorm or the frozen water, the common walks with thick clods of earth on the shoes, through the fresh red and moist earth rich in vitamins. We can happily tell you that it has rained – the rain here is considered sacred after almost two years of waiting and the drought has left long-term agricultural losses….
We welcome feedback, ideas and suggestions. Write us if you want to share your thoughts and questions with us.
And we wish you much strength for the coming period!
JINWAR, February 2022
E-Mail: womensvillage.jinwar@gmail.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jinwarwomensvillage/
