As a part of the Sister-to-Sister Mentorship Program, we took part in a speaking tour in Regina, Winnipeg and Ottawa last week, sharing our activism experiences with diverse audiences there. The speaking tour took place in universities such as University of Regina, University of Winnipeg, the First Nations University, and University of Ottawa.
It was a great experience for me, as I had the chance to talk about my country and my people’s situation under the occupation, which is part of my duty toward my country – informing the people around the world about the fact that Palestinian people live and face daily under the Israeli occupation. I had the chance also to talk about activism as an inevitable result of those who live in conflict zones, as a responsibility they hold in order to get their rights.
It is worth mentioning that it was important also to meet the students in those universities, with different backgrounds and knowledge about the situation and conflicts that happen in the other part of the world. We met those who are interested and active already, and others who don’t know but want to enrich their knowledge and want to take actions, and there are others who know but maybe don’t care. In this case you feel how it is important and needed to have such activities to inform the people, and remind them of their responsibility toward this world, starting with their countries, by taking actions to achieve justice for every one. Also it is important to connect the people from different backgrounds and different countries to gather in order to point at the reason behind the violations against the human rights, and take action to end the repressions by fighting oppressors by the means we believe in to achieve justice and freedom for humanity.
I am really thankful to the Nobel Women Initiative and MATCH International, who gave us the opportunity to travel to different places, meet different people, and share our stories with them. We had many conversations with active groups, which enabled us to build a network and connections between us all.
For more photos from the tour, see the Sister-to-Sister Mentorship Program photo gallery.