The hottest part of the year is not the ideal time to travel to Northeast Syria, a region whose local government is the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). But I traveled there this past August, prepared for the soaring temperatures and the unrelenting sun. I spoke with a wide variety of officials and residents about the new realities in Syria. I also viewed with my own eyes the systems that people are living under, and the drumbeat of everyday life. After fifteen years of war, hostilities, and resource shortages, following decades of neglect by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, you would think that the region would be totally devastated.
The Free Women’s Foundation, through the plaster handicrafts trainings it organizes in Raqqa, aims both to provide young women with a profession and to revive the cultural heritage of the region.
The Women's Support Center opened in Raqqa consists of departments of education, communication, culture and arts, and sports.
Jinwar is home to many different women that have decided to join the community for a variety of different reasons. Something that unites all of them is their search for a free life in communality and the wish to learn, to strengthen and develop as women. Some of them have lost their husbands in the war, or others have freed themselves from domestic violence or forced marriage. There are also Yazidi women who have begun a new life here after they were liberated from the enslavement of ISIS.
Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, Assyrian, Armenian, and Turkmen women have achieved numerous legal, political, military, cultural, and social accomplishments in North and East Syria during the July 19 Revolution (Women's Revolution). Preparations are currently underway to draft a special social contract for women.
The Syrian Free Women’s Foundation aims to empower women by organizing vocational training courses and awareness-raising activities.
The Foundation of Free Women in Syria creates job opportunities for women in Dêrik (Al-Malikiyah).
In Sheba, a region where thousands of people who fled Afrin because of the Turkish occupation of Afrin in 2018 have been living for the last 6 years, a health center for natural medicine was opened by the Kongra Star Health Committee on January 15, the anniversary of their foundation. This center is intended to
Khalat joined a sewing training course organized by the Foundation of the Free Women in Syria in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, four years ago. She learned the profession and then landed a job within a sewing workshop affiliated with the Foundation. “I got a job opportunity in the workshop after mastering the profession,
The Syria Free Women Foundation is preparing to introduce new projects to support women and children in 2023.
Women working at the Arî Clinic, opened in Hasakah Canton three years ago, use herbs and plants as medicines in the treatment of various diseases.
The orphanage "Keskesora Alan" in Kobanê is a project implemented by the women's foundation WJAS. The medical centre has now been expanded - and named after internationalist Lorenzo Orsetti.
