2022 Visionary of the Year Muna Luqman | Call Notes
When considering this year’s visionary nomination we asked what we feel are vital questions right now: What is true leadership and who is modeling it? What role does community play in enabling humanity to navigate the world’s troubled waters? How do we practice peace personally, and together, to end violence in all its forms? As we further explored these questions, we were introduced to peace activist, advocate, and leader Muna Luqman who actualizes inclusive, women-led, holistic, and grounded leadership. Hailing from South Yemen, Muna centers community in a way that enables their own wisdom, relationships, and resources to guide and create the social change they desire.
Understanding the critical role of women in peacebuilding, Muna works with grassroots organizations and with the Yemeni diaspora to demand women have a seat at the peace negotiations table. Practicing an interconnected, holistic approach to transforming conflict, Muna sees possibility, emergence, and generative solutions for communities where others see despair. The ability to see the possibilities and her efforts to achieve them is what makes Muna Luqman our 2022 Visionary of the Year.
On December 7th, we sat down with Muna to further explore her story, glean her wisdom, and deepen our understanding of her vision. Here is a link to the full 90 minute call.
The following are excerpts from this conversation Euphrates Executive Director Katy Lunardelli and 2022 Visionary Muna Luqman, including questions from attendees.
[00:10:26]
Katy - I invite you to tell us a little bit about yourself. We’ll start with an introduction.
Muna - I’m so grateful for this recognition and honor. I am a bit emotional. I think it's really astonishing how things go around. You just have to continue to believe. For so many years I worked without any recognition, so many tough times where I didn't have any funding, I didn't know where to go. I needed support. I needed funding, but not just funding, moral support, guidance. I knew inside me that something is going to turn out because dark times never never never continue. They always end, it's just how can we hang in there, believe in ourselves, in our higher selves, in whatever you believe in, to continue to listen to that inner voice. I think that really helps me keep going.
This award is so special to me because it recognizes people for their visions, their beliefs. People need to dig in and really do some research and analyze to understand their vision and strategies. And this is something that this beautiful team [Euphrates] has done so well. I think they have helped explain the pattern, the model, the modality that I was trying to explain to other people. I was always either attacked or marginalized for my views, or for my thoughts, or for my thinking.
[pause to attend to her singing birds :)]
Katy - Maybe you could share a little bit about the context of what's happening in Yemen and also [say more about] that inner voice and how you knew that it was time to go from somebody who was witnessing what was happening to somebody who felt really like it was to step into your role, as a peacebuilder and an activist.
[00:15:56]
Muna - It's such a complex, multi-layered conflict even though there is only one narrative coming to the people outside in the media, especially in international media, especially in the US. That narrative is about the Saudi invasion and the Houthis…the Iran backed armed groups and the Saudis. That's the only thing that's coming into social media and media in general. And I think that that in itself is an issue.
In Yemen in 2011, we had an uprising. It was the Arab Spring, and they ousted the previous president who had been in his presidency for more than 33 years. It was very corrupt and there was much inequality. We had this one family who was controlling all the resources for Yemen, oil, everything. We're a very rich country. There was somebody who wrote this book, and he said that it's a beautiful jewel in the hands of a minor who doesn't understand the value of this tool. And that really sums it all up: corruption is really terrible, and it led to the uprising.
Then we had a transition in the government, a new president and then we had the best time, I believe, in Yemen in which we had a national dialogue. We have so many different factions in Yemen and political parties. The national dialogue was the best thing. For nine months, they were all having dialogues together under the auspices of the international community in the UN. They reached a consensus in having a new constitution, a new state building; we'll have human rights. It was the golden era, as I call it. We had one of the Houthi groups and they are unfortunately Iran-backed and they were fighting the government for more than six years. They brought them to this national dialogue and suddenly decided to take up arms, do a coup, and take over by force.
Since then we've had all of these armed groups trying to fight them, and to restore the state. The Saudis came in by a request from our previous president and tried to push out the armed groups, the Houthis. That didn't work very well because the the Saudis and the Arab Coalition were also bombing Yemen, to try to push them out. We have a border with Saudi Arabia and they were worried. We had air strikes, bombings, and then we had armed groups on the ground. So we had street fighting and lucky me I was trapped in the city where all of the fighting was, Taiz.
Taiz is the cultural capital of Yemen and it's the third largest city. This city refused to have the Houthi armed groups. The fighting and clashes became even worse. To sum it up, we have more than nine factions, all armed groups. Yemen has always had a proliferation of arms, but we never really used them against each other. We were living in peace. I think it was the inequality that led to people fighting over resources. Even before the war we had at least 4,000 deaths / year just from water disputes, and we had land disputes on top of all of that. I think the drivers of the conflict were the economy, the corruption, the people living in poverty, they didn't feel equal. All the major jobs were all taken by all the big boys. We already had a war economy before the war.
The UN came in. They started mediating with them. But these people believe in an ideological, theocratic strategy or system that they are trying to enforce on all the others. And then on the other side we have a government, which is backed by the Saudis and the Arab coalition that's not doing a good job. All sides are contributing to what's going on in Yemen. As a result, people are living in fear, in poverty. And now this year, we've had a ceasefire which was really a breakthrough in my own thinking. For nearly eight years we didn't make any progress and then suddenly to have a ceasefire was a big thing and it was kind of unilateral. Quiet in the battlefields, the airstrikes stopped, they opened the airport, etc.
[00:23:05]
Katy - Thank you for laying that landscape out so we can all understand the context in which you're working. With the corruption and the economic collapse and all of these things that you've laid out, how did you decide that it was time for you to step forward as a peacebuilder amidst a really difficult situation?
Muna - When the war began I was living and working in Taiz. It's not only a cultural city, but it was also an industrial city and at that time I really felt that I needed to do something. I was already in charitable work and so people really trusted me. I was proud to have this reputation, lucky to have this reputation. I was working in the private sector and in one of the families that I was working with he moved on to become the governor of the city and he took me with him.
At the time there was a lot of tension and I got to know many of the armed groups, the security, the police. This was a really good opportunity for me because when the actual outbreak of the war happened, I was in the city where all the tension was. All the men left, the governor himself left. I was left with some of the other women but we were trapped. Those who were lucky enough to have some safe areas were supporting the other ones. And this is how it all started.My friends who relied on me would send me some money and I would go and help people. It was really dangerous. I'm lucky like I said, that all groups knew me very well, knew that I was a charitable person. I think that's really important. I’ve seen many people around the world start in humanitarian work and become peacebuilders.
I think we all have this value inside us where we feel humanity, and we feel that we need to do something, and we need to help others.
It was so difficult because each group was trying to mobilize the media and activists to their own benefit. I was very well spoken on Facebook. I would write stories of those who were trapped. I was actually a writer, and poet. I think we all have this value inside us where we feel humanity, and we feel that we need to do something, and we need to help others. Each one of us around the world is helping people in their own way.
It's all inside us. So I can't really say that it was just like something unique to me; it wasn't, but I always knew from a very young age that I would be a peacebuilder. I was brought up in the UK. I remember going to church one day for this inter-generational and interreligious kind of gathering. It was a really nice event. I remember each one of us was given an assignment to speak about something and I chose peace. I was 8 years old, and I wasn't even in Yemen yet.
I remember speaking about it that day and I remember somebody told me that one day you're going to be really famous. That stayed with me - kindness is so important. I think she just wanted to calm me down because I was really nervous. She was telling me one day the whole world's gonna know about you and I lived with that inside me. It's so important that we be kind to each other and try to support each other even with just supporting words, especially at a young age.
I think this grew with me even when I was with the private sector. I always wanted to give back to the community. Once I came to Yemen, I didn't want to go back to the UK. I wanted to stay. I wanted to help people. I felt that I had a voice even at this young age of 14 or 15. I should have gone back, finished my studies, been able to obtain my own passport, and everything, but I left all of that. I just wanted to help the people. I felt that I'd seen the modern world and was intrigued by the history of this country, and I felt I could do something. I think that really kept me going.
When I had my accident, it added more to that feeling inside me. I've always thought that whatever happens to us, it’s always there for some sort of wisdom or message that's coming to us if we just listen to it. I think that has always kept me going and I'm glad it did.
[00:29:10]
Katy - I am glad it did too. Thank you Muna. As you know this award honors peacebuilders because of their vision and their visionary work, for people who see possibility where others may see despair. Can you tell us about your vision for peace and for Yemen and an example of when you saw peacebuilding and possibility and opportunity where others may have seen despair?
Muna - This award is an amazing award because it goes in depth to understand the strategies which are sometimes very unique that peacebuilders and local women actually use on the ground.
One of the saddest moments that I had in my life was when I saw the youth who were poets, who were artists, who were in the university suddenly mobilized to abandon all their ambitions, recruited to kill each other. These are young boys who I knew personally. It was just shocking to see young doctors, young dentists convinced that this was the right thing to do, that it was an honor to fight and to kill the other side. I think that was the worst time in my life, seeing this really broke my heart. I knew I had to do something. I knew I was crazy because it was very dangerous.
I mean, here are all these tribal leaders and politicians and media. There was all of this money coming in, billions to mobilize armed groups. Whatever side they were, it was all the same thing, all of them were fighting for the honor of reinstating their state, but they were losing their lives.
I remember once one of them was shot and I was just devastated. This was a guy who was on my team, a graphic designer. This boy was so talented and for him to suddenly lose his life like that…I think that was a turning point for me. I said okay, what are my talents? Well, I'm known for my charities. I'm known for humanity. I've always been known for this, and being with the poor people. So how can I use this? Right now I'm analyzing, but at that time I just acted. I acted out of an inner force that really pushed me. I started with a small group of youth, 15 or 16, some even younger. I told them I need you to carry some of the flour and we need to take this flour and oil and sugar to the other side. This is how it all started. I realized that not everybody wanted to fight. I realized that there were some voices, but they were very weak and they were scared and they needed somebody like me to support them, and to motivate them. It started growing and thankfully, I was actually there to set up the system.
I have one of my right hand supporters, my best friend here on the call. His name is Abdulrahman, and he's the financial manager, executive manager on the ground. He was really like another angel in my life. I was supporting people and then I had angels in my life, people who believed in what I wanted to do, people who were financially supporting me. I had a great team. We set up a group of volunteers. In the beginning it was an initiative and then it grew into becoming a foundation.
In Taiz there were about one million displaced people, families. I would go and visit them in the mountains and other places and see how they were living in such difficult situations. We had institutions and hospitals that were collapsing and these armed groups would go on the tops of the hospitals or institutions and there would start firing. That's when I started using my connections. When I think of it now, I really was crazy. I had my fluorescent green car. It was the only car at that time with that color. This was 2015. That car was known, they used to call it the Governor's Car because I was called the Governor because I was always solving issues.
[00:35:47]
Katy - It seems like it was so innate. You really worked in so many different sectors. Your work crosses all these different paths, from water, women, youth, human rights, equity. You see the connections between all of these different sectors. Where others may see them as separate entities, you really see the connections, and I think that's what has made you so successful and accomplish so much as a peacebuilder.
Can you just talk a little bit more about your holistic approach to peacebuilding? How do you hold it all? How do you ensure that you're able to keep moving things forward with so many different pieces?
Muna - It's an important question for us to all think about not just in this event, but ongoing. I do think that it's holistic peacebuilding. I think it's like a code for the computer and every time they have another version of it, it's still the same code. The changes are built upon that, and then you just build upon it and build upon it. I think this is the approach that I took. I realized very early on that community-based solutions were the solution for development for ending violence, for climate change, etc. All of these locally led community-based solutions are the hearts of sustainability, of peace. I think that is why I had this vision after seeing it. That's why I'm really glad that others have also noticed it.
Ending violence cannot happen without understanding the causes and the drivers of conflict. And that could be at home, even if you have a conflict at home. Going back and understanding what exactly are the root causes of this. You'll always see the symptoms but if you don't go in and really try to understand and diagnose what's going on inside, you will never really know what the solution is, and what the medicine is. As community healers this is something I must say, that I learned from Africa. I had been reading a lot over the years about the peacebuilding and locally led approaches there. I really hold a special place for these people in Somalia, Uganda, Cameroon, and so many different countries.
I admire people all over the world, but I think that I learned a lot from that, and it was intriguing for me to understand it, To summarize, we need to understand the conflict drivers which are most of the time a pattern in many complex issues - human rights, inequality, poverty, war economies, the lack of women in leading roles. I think that all of this is mainly the base of conflict around the world. I think people are not able to overcome these injustices through the UN peace processes, with all due respect. This is not a solution. How many governments have we seen fail and collapse immediately after they sign a peace agreement? We've had 40 agreements in the past few years.
We're only trying to tackle symptoms, but not diving into the causes and I think that because of this we need to start changing the approach, the approach which is a top down approach which doesn't look at it doesn't look at the needs of the people. It doesn't look at the inequalities in the community, and what's really going on. I mean, we're spending billions on arms when just a portion of that money could help the people who are unemployed, could help the people who are facing poverty. They are fighting to have income. So instead of supporting the armed groups, I'm going to support the people to relieve them from the economic burden, and try to mobilize them into sustainable projects, into livelihoods because this is what will really bring lasting peace. The old school way of doing things has failed. It's not appropriate, especially for the conflicts that we are seeing right now.
I'm very grateful to have a very dear friend and colleague and supporter from Madre organization [on the call]. They have supported me all the way and I'm really grateful for them. They never tried to impose any projects on us. They gave us the ability to work as a grassroots organization with quite low amounts. When you put the right amounts in the right hands, it goes a long way. We had so much impact. This week we just did a new water project which is serving another 18,000 families. It's not just giving people water, it's also pulling them out of the suffering, pulling them out of an intense conflict between them.
These host communities in Yemen (we don't really have IDP camps in Yemen.) All what you're seeing in the media is just a small portion of the suffering of the people. The people are fleeing to host communities, because we have thousands of villages in Yemen. So people don't usually go to camps, they go to their families in the villages. This puts a lot of pressure on the host communities. So with the little resources they have, they end up fighting. And these are people who have arms. So when you support them with livelihoods, when you support them with water, you are supporting peace and you're also supporting them to engage in dialogue to accept each other, to feel the humanity, to revive the community togetherness within them and that in my view, is lasting peace.
[00:44:44]
Katy - That's really powerful. I mean, there's so much in your response about the role of community, inviting women into leadership, roles, all of that. Could you maybe share an example of how you have mobilized the community or where you've seen sort of a grassroots movement be successful in you know peacebuilding in Yemen even if it's in a small way, whether it be with water or with women's groups, or with youth?
Muna - Yes, I think we have lots of examples. I think that water has been really one of the most successful as I call it a catalyst for peace. I was always thinking of what can we do next, how can we help? I think there are certain people who have this mentality in them. And these people look for the next steps. We were seeing these communities, seeing people with really swollen stomachs, with diseases, waterborne diseases. I asked the doctors and they told me this is because of the water; these are mainly waterborne diseases. These are people who are drinking from the wells directly or from unsafe wells because they're moving around in the mountains to try to find a place, running away from the fighting.
I started thinking that water has to be my top priority. I think that it was a common shared interest for all the parties. In Yemen we have areas which are controlled by the Houthi armed group and areas which are controlled by the government forces. So you have to go through all of them. When you find a common interest it helps. Water was a common interest.
We heard about this area a little ways from Taiz. People had been fighting for the past two years. Young girls need to travel at least 8 hours to get water. These young girls were losing their lives and they would be harassed on the way, maybe sexually. Some of them were killed. We had many who were actually falling inside the wells. It just broke my heart, and it keeps breaking my heart. Just recently we had 3 young sisters who fell in a well just because they were trying to catch water. These people spend billions in my country on arms and fighting each other and it makes me so frustrated and angry. I wanted to set an example that it could be done and I wanted to show the UN organizations that with a little money we could do so many other projects. They're spending billions each year in all due respect. There are things which are so important for the Yemenis more than just delivering food aid. People need water, they need gas, they need wood, fire, they need all of these things. I didn't have any money to help, but I knew I was going to help them.
I asked what the problem was and they told me that there was a water station which feeds into nine villages, but was broken down. We sent down two engineers and set up a committee of sixteen and we told them we're going to fundraise. They had to write an agreement that they're not gonna fight because I don't want to bring in the water and they fight over the water. And we have this crop that I call the devil crop called green leaf. It costs a lot of money, and it's depleting the water. People fight over this because they sell the crop for a big sum. I didn't want to get into that and cause another conflict, so I made them sign the agreement and that was a breakthrough for me to get these tribal leaders who are armed. I did this mainly remotely and that shows you how the reputation was resonating so strongly that even remotely I was able to do that. It can be done. People need a third mediator who does not have any interest except for helping people. They will hand themselves to you if you really work on the trust.
Then I saw this young girl. They sent me a picture of her. She had these beautiful green eyes; she was nearly seven. I said this girl needs to be in school. She can't be just you know with all of these men fetching water. Then I got the idea - let's put these girls back in school. Now we have a water station that feeds nine villages for 10,000 families, and this was one of the first ones that we did. Next to it we have a school where we have 400 young girls back in school. They've already been there for nearly three years now. Thanks to Madre, our partners, who believed in my vision and supported me, we were able to rehabilitate the school. Then the armed groups came in and threatened to take over the schools and then I had to mediate again and get them out. That was another big fight, but because we established this committee and because we had the young girls, we told them that they were in charge of this water station. They were such leaders. The young boys from the other school said, we need another school too. So we now have this community who is thinking of education for their own children and agriculture. The water is there, they feel abundance. They feel the community togetherness. So we replicated this model in so many other areas we now have 12 similar projects.
We still need schools. What I personally want to do is a water station in the school, agriculture at the same time, so we have these nice communities where they're working together and they have their livelihoods. We have helped more than 138,000 families up to today just with water. I always have my young girls’ pictures in front of me. To see their pictures is to show the community. They keep me going because I want them to have a better life and a better future.
[00:53:21]
Katy - That's incredible. We'd love to see the photos. We have peace leaders on this call today and a part of our community from all corners of the world, and so many of them are extremely stretched, whether it be financially or emotionally. I would just like to hear what advice or words of wisdom you might have for grassroots peace leaders that are feeling like they could use some motivation. How do you keep going when it can be so difficult or when you start one thing and you have to renegotiate, and kind of go back to the drawing board, how do you keep going?
Muna - I think we need to first of all, acknowledge all of you and acknowledge all of these people, around the world. I learned very late, and I wish I had learned this before. The caretakers, and healers, of the community usually don't take care of themselves, and so my advice would be 2 things.
First of all, believe in what you believe in. If you think that bread could be a catalyst for peace then it is. If you really think that this community center for sewing and embroidery could bring women together and could bring people together, then do it because it is true. Do not listen to those naysayers who say you can't do it and it's not gonna work. I used bread for the first time in Yemen and with the bread I did the bakery. I rented the bakery and we paid with money from my colleagues. We paid for the whole production of 1,000 pieces of bread per day. We would give it to the poor families and those who are in need. People would come to me and say, you're not supposed to give to that group because that group is with that armed group. And I said no I'm going to use the bread and it's going to be for the poor people. I do not care which party they're on because at the end of the day we want to help people. And because of that bakery, we have hundreds of bakeries in Yemen who remodeled the same thing. I would see waiting in line for the bread , the Houthi group, and the government group and they were forced to talk together.
I'm just saying this, because I know that I I have colleagues in my network which I'm so proud of from all walks of life from everywhere - Cameroon to Ukraine to Armenia to Pakistan, all of these countries. We have all of these similarities. These peacebuilders and healers are usually the ones who are attacked, the ones who are abandoned. They're not funded. Because of that you feel kind of unwanted. Many of them have pulled out because the pressure was too much for them, and they couldn't go on. And so I think that these caretakers need to take care of themselves first.
You cannot support others if you don't take care of yourself. I learned this the hard way. It took me a long time, many times of complete burnout to really put myself in the beginning. I was always thinking I have to share what I have first, but I learned the hard way that we cannot continue to support others if we don't support ourselves. So that would be my second advice.
When I say self-care, I’m saying mentally, spiritually, physically - all of this! Being hydrated, looking after yourself, putting yourself first, prioritizing your physical and mental health and emotional health, reaching out to others, saying no, putting up boundaries. These people are under pressure twenty-four / seven. After COVID-19 I saw peacebuilders around the world breaking down because the whole community was on their shoulders. International organizations left and it was only these people, the healers in the community. We need more of them, and we need them to take care of themselves! This is going to be my message now and my advocacy and I hope that we can all share this message and strengthen it even more around the world.
Q & A [00:59:09]
Ugo (from chat) - In your work as an activist was there a time in your life where your life was on the line. If yes, how did you come out?
Muna - Oh, many times especially after the UN Security Council briefing! I think that was a really difficult one because I was kind of threatened by more than one group, and locally and regionally and internationally. And definitely when I was taking the orphans. We had 70 young children trapped in this orphanage and it was near the prison. There was crossfire and I went in. One of the cars was shot, not mine, but another one. I managed after two days to get them out. We took them to another safer place in another city and then the airstrikes hit right by the orphanage.
I think the worst moment of my life was when there were seven airstrikes right next to my house. A part of my house was hit. Fortunately I wasn't there but I was very close to it. If I was there I would have been gone because the house right next to me, the whole family perished under the rubble, nearlyseven people. I think that was the fright of my life. I was nearly paralyzed because of the shock that I had and I've never stopped advocating since to stop the war. Military solutions are never a solution, it always has to come from the people. You will always miss with the airstrikes. You will always miss with the shooting, but you can never miss when it comes from the community itself; they own the solutions.
[01:02:00]
Jenny - This is myself and Zelda from South Africa And we really admire the work that you do and we love seeing your birds. We've just held a Caring for the Carers Retreat cause as you were just mentioning we need to take care of people in the community who are caring for others. One thing that struck me today, you spoke of the unseen factors that lead to war, the subtle ones. You spoke today of honor - the need to fight because of honor. You know that need to fight because of honor, and it's often not spoken about, but it's felt and I'm just so glad that you brought that into the conversation. Honor is one of those silent qualities that no one talks about. I have never heard of a war in the name of women, in their honor, for their honor. Maybe there is and I don't.
I don't want to make this more complex, but I think it's so important for us to really look at these subtle emotions. They are really unseen and are underlying a lot of the conflict. It is something that's usually not mentioned, and the silence is what causes the problem, because it remains in that silence. I wanted to just acknowledge how profound your assessment is.
Zelda - Thank you for speaking on water. I worked on a program called Raising Citizen Voices in water regulations in South Africa. We have a gray water plant and lots of people drown. I felt it my duty to take community children there to say why they shouldn't play in that area and we go the city of Cape Town to fence off that area. And sadly when Cape Town was taken over by the DA government, they pulled our program and we couldn't go on. You are so right - we should teach people how to address the water issues inside Africa and I can say to you the way it is where I have taken people. As a peace investigator, as a peace practice, we should go and tell the government to add this teaching, to teach people how to address the right to clean water. Thank you. You have touched my heart.
Muna - Thank you, thank you. Wow! This is so touching. We've been working with the water municipalities and it's been a disaster, really, but we are trying our best. When they saw we were serious, they started to collaborate with us. Can you imagine - the government is showing us where they need us to work. I'm trying to say no, no, this is your responsibility. I'm just gonna help in the areas where we are. It's also important to also look out for the experts in this and build the institutions themselves because it's not sustainable for me to do this for the government, for the institution. We also need to work on awareness. I'm really pushing hard to put climate change and water into the peace agreement. The warring parties and the UN think I'm crazy because they can’t see that water needs to be there. People are dying right now. We're having more casualties from water, than the war itself. So it is a priority.
[01:08:15]
Sally (from chat) - Is there a gift from your faith tradition, a teaching story, or a practice?
Muna - There was this really wise lady. When I was speaking to her about these projects and how I'm so overwhelmed because I start working with cancer patients, then we have another problem, and then I start bringing bread, then we have another problem, etc. She said evil starts really big, but then it gets narrowed down. At the beginning you see it and say oh, my goodness it is a big war, people are killing each other and it will never end. And then she said, goodness starts really small, but then it takes the snowball effect. And I believe in that and it was in my mindset all the time. It [evil] was growing big, big, big. Everybody was looking to flee out. But there were just a few of us who started, and then it just took the snowball effect, just like the bakery. We started with one there are hundreds now, and I think that was something that keeps me going.
Hollister - Yeah, it's about just planting that seed. And I think it starts with thought. And it looks like you have some great mentors and people around you who are sharing inspiration, like you are with us today.
[01:10:28]
Ronilia - I'm so happy to meet you today and learn from you. It's a very vast energy conversation. I want to ask what has been your strength in negotiating with am groups? And how has your mental state been in tough situations as a woman in society where women are being put at the back? I want to know what has been your strength and what has kept you going mentally focused.
Muna - I think it's a very good question. I know I am a bit crazy, but I think it was easier to work with the armed groups than the media. The social media attacks were so difficult to work with. The strength that I had was my charity, the strength that I had was that I was talking humanity. One very big strength that I have is [I don’t have a political background]. I'm happy to be who I am. That was really my strength. And the military and armed groups knew this. They know I am neutral, so I think my neutrality was a big strength. The military knew that I was speaking for others. I wasn't just speaking for myself. I had to do this for the people. I felt that God had given me this strength, this talent in English language, some experience on the ground - all of this and it had to have a mission. At that time I was just on a mission, and nothing could stop me.
When international organizations, the aid organizations actually started coming in, I thought that'd be like number one on their list. They would come and support my work. We were doing so much good. We had connections in the community, but they didn't. We applied. We tried thousands of times for funding. The only organization that helped me was Madre. They were working with billions of dollars and they are working locally, they should be working with local partners. They do some, but it's not efficient. If we work together, if I do this with others, I'm sure I would be able to bring even hundreds of thousands of families back to a more peaceful life with water, agriculture, and livelihoods. They all choose to work on their own separate islands, and I think that was my biggest challenge. And it still is. But I must say that I was glad that I did it on my own because we were able to bring in a model that shows how women implement projects, fund projects, strategize projects in the community and how they mobilize the youth. So this is a model that I'm proud of. I'm glad they didn't support me.
Hollister - That is perfect as it leads us to our next question.
[01:14:30]
Etyak (from chat) - I am of the view that peace agreements fail before they even start I'm assuming because most peace brokering committees were constituted and dominated by men. According to your opinion, to what extent would including more women in peace brokering committees enable full adherence and signing of meaningful implementable peace agreements.
Muna - I think that it was really important for me. When I came to Cairo I was really pushed out of Yemen. They had to push me to get here because I wouldn't leave. I just kept going from one city to the other, from one government to the other. But I had to go - there was no electricity, no water, no internet. It was really difficult, but they told me, you will be able to help people from the outside.
I realize this is not going to be enough. I need to take my role to a higher level. And that's because I saw the mainstream media not focusing on Yemen. You've seen how for Ukraine you saw in just one week the whole world learned about it. Mainstream media has played a negative role in the conflict in Yemen. With my colleagues, we set up the Women’s Solidarity Network. It's now the largest network in Yemen. Through that network, we were able to really raise our voices. We tried to support them to advocate around the world, UN security Council. We were able to prosecute one of the very famous prisoners who had harassed a lot of women in Yemen and we were able to take him up to the UN Security Council and to the international criminal court. That was because of our advocacy. It wasn't really easy. My colleagues and I started becoming more attacked because we started having the leverage of being consultants at the UN Security Council. I learned a lot from the women and the role of women can play in community peacebuilding. I'm just one of them, but we have like thousands who are even better than me, who have really released detainees, who have done a lot of work in Yemen and still are under really difficult circumstances.
[01:18:34]
Wazieh - Thank you, Muna for meeting me here and all you shared and all you do for humanity and my gender. From your sharing of your peacebuilding work with water conservation, to helping the girl child in school. I don't know if you have ever encountered a situation with institutions or structures. There are women who cannot break free from cultural or religious institutions they have grown up with. How have you been able to navigate around these structures with the women obtaining freedom?
Muna - We have a patriarchal society in Yemen. It's based on traditional tribal structures mainly and religious structures. For me, I think it’s the tribal structures even more than the religious structures in Yemen. Because of this society, we have many women who are not able to breakthrough, especially in the rural areas. But during the uprising in 2011 and the national dialogue, especially, we already broke a lot of this patriarchal society. We had already led a lot of initiatives that broke this cycle of violence and the cycle of keeping women out of politics, keeping women out of even just normal private sector jobs. In 2011-2012 we had broken the cycle. Unfortunately now they have taken us back 20 years backwards because of the war and the new government. We did have women leadership in the parliament, in the ministries, now we don't have anybody. We're trying our best right now. Our main challenge now is with the political parties. They won't let the women be at the negotiation tables, and when we ask the UN they say, the parties they don't want them. A few years back we had women at the negotiation tables. We try to work with the women who are political leaders. We ask them what the problem is. They say that they won't let them be in higher positions.
We're supporting them with training, capacity building, trying to advocate for them, working with the political parties. It's still really difficult because they don't want the women, they think we're the troublemakers. The women are seeing all of these injustices, and we cannot be silenced.
Right now, in Houthi-controlled areas, we have women who have not even been allowed to go to restaurants, and they are controlling at least 75-80% of the population. Most of the population are in these areas where there's a theocratic party who are trying to control, especially the women. Even as students, young children are being mobilized to be child soldiers, and young girls are being pushed into child marriage.
I personally fear that this will prolong the conflicts even if we get a peace agreement, it's not a solution. We have all of these other problems.
Hollister - It's hard to control those troublemakers. With the work you're doing at the community level, interpersonal level, I think that's probably where you're going to have the greatest impact.
Janessa - We just welcome you to the Euphrates family so much and to honor, your incredible vision, and and especially as a woman, I'm just feeling such gratitude. As we've talked about all the barriers, and yet here, you are leading this amazing movement in one of the most brutal wartorn communities in the world, and as a woman. So, here we are, we're talking about this, and yet again evidence of your visionary status is that you've been able to transcend that and lead in that kind of environment. My question was kind of a follow-on to Etyak’s. Even when they open up the channels of peacebuilding. Oh yes, we include women, and women are always welcome. There are so many societal barriers that can hold women back. For example, when I was In Iraq, okay, they had a women's caucus to participate in the democratic process. But they said well, we can only come we would want to participate of course, we want to be part of this, but it has to be after this time, because we have to cook breakfast for our husbands and well then we have to be back at this time because we have to get dinner for our husbands and plus our husbands, shouldn't know that we're taking part in this. Even if there was the will and the desire to participate, there's so many demands just in the practical day-to-day on women in so many communities. How can we expect them to take all this time and come sit at the table and be able to be a part of these laborious processes? I just wonder how you've been able to include them or do we just need to fundamentally change the way the peacebuilding works and how we view it, as a system, or as a process? I’d love to hear your ideas on how to be inclusive of women because it’s so fundamental.
Muna - You are a hero, Janessa. You remind me, first of all, it's very similar to Iraq. I want to tell you something about the Women's Solidarity Network. In Yemen the warring parties have disagreed on everything, but they've agreed on one thing, to attack the women. They all agree the women are the problem. And so what we did is we said, okay, listen, we know they're going to attack us. They tried to make different networks, problems between us. They tried defaming campaigns on social media. And we said we come from different geographies, different political parties, different agendas, but at the end of the day we agree on one thing - to respect each other and to work and collaborate together to end this war and protect each other. Whatever happens, we will protect each other. So when anyone is attacked we issue statements, we support them. We are protesting. And over the years we've become stronger and they respect us but I think. The most respect came when we started doing the roadmap for peace for Yemen which I will share with the team and they can also share with this network.
To give you the summary, the roadmap for peace has the interest of all the parties. And the UN now is using a lot of our insights and ideas and thoughts and recommendations. The warring parties started seeing that there is a commonality. Their interests are reflected in the feminist, roadmap for peace. They started to trust us. I've been in security dialogues, military dialogues, now especially with my consultancy work and I think that has really helped me. At the beginning they refused me. They would not even attend with a woman. I think it's really important to open spaces. It's important for the media to reflect this. Once we hear each other, once we know that we're helping each other, we can't fight forever. Yes, that's it. So we can't fight forever.
[01:30:17]
Katy - Muna, thank you so much for your time today with us. We know you have so many demands on your time and we are just so grateful and honored that you would spend the last ninety minutes speaking with our community. As many have said in the chat and verbally, you are very much a part of this Euphrates family now and we are looking forward to more dialogue, and will continue following your work. Any final thoughts?
Muna - Thank you, I'm really speechless seeing all of these beautiful faces and listening to all of you and seeing so many people who have common values and interests in humanity, in peace. It's really given me a big big boost for my vision for my even just thinking how somebody around the world, who really didn't know you, now cares about you and cares about the causes that you are working on. That in itself is giving me so much support. I feel like I've been reborn again. I feel the time appreciated acknowledged that I can help more girls, more boys and keep them out of the battlefields and put them back in school. I really feel that I just want to go and have a gratitude moment or hour, and pray for all of you. Being here, for supporting me, for sharing your thoughts, sharing your feelings it really means a lot to me. I really want to learn from you and I would love to be in contact.
Links shared:
MADRE: https://www.madre.org/
Food4humanity: https://www.instagram.com/food4humanity/?hl=en
Women’s Solidarity Network: https://www.peacewomen.org/resource/womens-solidarity-networks-five-point-initiative-protect-civilians-hodeidah