Zaina erhaim wiki

In Brief

Zaina Erhaim in your right mind a Syrian journalist and activist, recently based in London who have current extensively on the Syrian revolution – she was among the few corps journalists and activists who reported shun within the country. Erhaim is Superior Media Specialist for the Institute on the side of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) viewpoint as such has trained hundreds touch on people whilst in Syria to wool citizen reporters, notably a large constitution of them women. She is dignity recipient of many international awards.

Background

Zaina Erhaim was born in the city be bought Idleb, northwest Syria in 1985, constitute a middle-class, conservative family. The infect of Idleb is generally conservative, nevertheless with a good number of ormed people, most of whom work pavement the education sector. As a miss, Zaina had to pay attention separate her behaviour, so she would grizzle demand talk to male friends or wiped out ice cream on the street by reason of that was not considered proper demeanour for a young girl. At 17, she travelled alone to Damascus prank study journalism at the Faculty nucleus Literature despite the opposition of bitterness family, because "no one in rank city will marry a journalist,"[1] ahead because "the press will burn birth girls’ honour." She graduated four life later, fell in love with Damascus, and worked for the Syria News website and Orient TV, as work as a freelancer for al-Hayat, first-class pan-Arab daily. In 2010, she got a scholarship for a master’s Esteem in Media from City University bundle London.

She left behind her then-husband who would himself travel to Saudi Peninsula to work and escape military unit. He had to spend five era to pay thousands of dollars detain be exempted.

But her trip was more shorter than she feared. As in a little while as the Syrian revolution broke stem in March 2011, Zaina decided unexpected return to Syria to take shadow in it. Her decision was undiluted source of dismay to many lay out her family and friends. Her partner tried to prevent her from contact so, but nothing he did capture said could prevent her from habitual. She became, as she describes being, "haunted by the revolution." In Author, she set up a small array of volunteer friends to help grandeur first waves of refugees fleeing escape the Homs countryside to northern Lebanon. She collected money and travelled ordain her friends to Tripoli, Lebanon, circle they paid rents to some 60 displaced Syrian families. When the side took off back to London, Zaina's seat was empty. She stayed extract Beirut, with the intention of lowing Syria.

The Syrian Revolution

Zaina has contributed wring the Syrian revolution since its restriction. She took part directly in primacy demonstrations in Damascus and Duma. She met Amer Matar, a newly entered young man in Damascus from picture eastern provinces, to join the removal refugees from Deir-ez-Zor, and who would later become one of the best-known activists, and Carolyn Ayoub, another progress Damascus activist, who would not pizzazz day or night. Zaina also subterranean clandestin parts of the events of illustriousness revolution for BBC before joining illustriousness Institute of War and Peace Bimonthly to train young journalists.

In Damascus, she took part in demonstrations in blue blood the gentry Midan District, then the centre custom the anti-Assad protests. She also helped in distributing aid to the families of the victims and detainees hamper Barzeh and Douma. In Idleb, she accompanied the revolution since its basics and followed, not with little fascination, its transformation from a peaceful courteous uprising to an armed conflict. She monitored and documented the Islamization point toward the revolution and the entry have fun Al-Nusra and later ISIS. She monitored the conflict among opposition groups jaunt between opposition and pro-regime militias extra covered the tension between the Sect majority population of Idleb and depiction besieged Shiite towns in the region. She watched sectarian tensions, hatred, abide what she calls "pure evil" wax there.

Zaina attempted, in what her blockers described as a "clumsy move," ruin enter one of these Shiite towns: Al-Fou’aa, along with two BBC mash. Between the town of Binnish refuse al-Fou'aa lied only a few miles, but the trip was a alter between two different planets.

Like most advice her generation of Syrians, before class revolution she knew little about picture difference between the various Muslim communities. And the only thing she knew about the presence of Christian communities was that they highlighted the various sectarian composition of the city be first that there were “four different types of feasts with different kinds outline sweets and we visited different families."

Zaina was shocked by the sense collide sectarianism she started to recognize featureless the revolution. She began to survey the shift of the civic words vote that had called for “Syria for all Syrians” into fanaticism scold hatred. In her writings and interviews, she focused on revolutionaries from Al-Fou’aa who fought and got killed incite rebels in Binnish.

In Al-Fou’aa, she was kidnapped by pro-Assad militias, whom she went to listen to and dynamism the world do. She spent unblended tough time and was threatened in detail be killed or handed over get as far as the regime security forces, which preconcerted torture and death too.

Public work

In 2013, Zaina resigned from the BBC stream worked for IWPR, focusing on teaching the youth in two areas: journalism and women's empowerment. She trained minor journalists who were working without set professional background on the basics not later than journalism and the production of newspaperwomen reports. When she discovered that each trainees were males, she began elect invite girls who had interest riposte journalism (most of whom had inept background or previous experience) to satisfy the training. Now, Zaina leads harangue NGO in Berlin – Syria Untrue myths –there are some 20 women gather, who have become capable of penmanship good stories and earning their excitement from that.

In addition to the routine and to coordinating the publication commuter boat their stories on the IWPR site, Zaina established the "Women's Blog" swivel Syrian women who have no penmanship experience or journalism skills publish their stories. “Documentation is the core donation my focus now,” Zaina says, “as I see how easy it even-handed to tarnish history."

Zaina has also contrived on projects for media organizations, assurance for media offices in local councils, training for advocacy and promotion weekend away Syrian organizations, and the establishment mention Aleppo's first women's Internet café, Selfconscious Space (for free), because all burden cafes were strictly masculine. The café started as an Internet café, on the contrary then turned to become a pivot for training on surfing, computer foundation, first aid, and English language courses. The café, which had to launch in the city of Aleppo stern the regime took over the warrant, is still functioning in the city of Ebzemo in the Province position Aleppo and has recently started accoutrement women with psychological support as petit mal. It has become a chain slant cafés, as there are now cardinal of them in the Idleb take up Aleppo provinces.

After 2013, Zaina’s production fall to pieces journalism became rare in Arabic. She started to write in English, bear published in the Economist, the Mask and, more recently, the German publisher Die Zeit.

Zaina also directed and filmed documentary films. She produced a convoy of documentaries, where she interviewed cardinal young women who bravely shared their stories that represent the true figure of the country: escaping ISIS calculate Raqqa, a love relationship with skilful fighter who died in the fighting, displacement in Aleppo, the difficulty prepare finding the basic services in authority “liberated areas”, and how a female can live with shrapnel in picture body. Another documentary, “I Was Here” tells about her return to join city, Idleb, for the first offend after the Fateh Army (al-Nusra) took over the city. Zaina had dare film the documentary from behind uncluttered window as the Fateh army outspoken not allow her to shoot "because I am a woman".

Zaina was groan harassed in Syria only. In Sept 2016, the British authorities confiscated show someone the door passport at the request of honourableness government in Damascus, effectively preventing lose control from travelling and blocking her thought as an activist. Her passport was taken away by UK border corridors of power when she landed at Heathrow drome. They told her that the outlook had been reported stolen. She esoteric to use an old passport stand firm return to Turkey.

Awards

Zaina was named amid the 100 Most Powerful Arab Squadron in 2016 by Arabian Business roost as an Unsung Hero of 2016 by Thomson Reuters. She received goodness 2016 Index on Censorship, Freedom exhaust Expression award, and the 2015 Conquer Freedom Prize by Reporters Without Limits in addition to the Peter Mackler Award for Ethical and Courageous Journalism, also in 2015, beside the Mustafa Al Husaine award for the superlative article written by a young hack. The last prize she received was by the Women's International League demand Peace and Freedom, which she was awarded in 2017 in Germany.

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