She Stands: Gaza

  Between Silence and Words: Baraa Qandeel “I’ve always found this strong belonging to words and language in me,” she begins softly, her voice carrying both fragility and conviction. “I chose to be a writer since high school. Writing became my most loyal friend and my favorite outlet.” Bara'a is not just attached to one role. She is a writer, a poet, a translator, and a professional in digital marketing and business development. Yet, at her core, she says,  “I am someone who chose words as my home.” She started by writing personal reflections and short stories, before moving to poetry three years ago. Today, she also translates literature, including her own work. But the war reshaped her relationship with writing.  “There were months when I felt so helpless and speechless that I couldn’t write even one word,”  she admits.  “And other times where I would pour words onto paper and ‘aggressively’ write poems.” Writing in War Writing in Gaza is no ordinary act. It i...

Baraa Alawoor grew up surrounded by stories and images, with drawing as her only language of expression. Her childhood world was filled with paper dolls, stitched fabrics, and tiny handmade sketchbooks where she scribbled the fairytales she longed to live.  “I never had bedtime stories,”  Baraa recalls.  “So I used to draw one before going to sleep, and then continue it in my dreams.” With time, she discovered that children’s books were the magical space where art and storytelling intertwined. She began sketching scenes from her daily life, coloring them with her imagination, and sharing them on Facebook. What began as intimate drawings soon reached publishers’ eyes. Offers started arriving, and her childhood dreams took shape in real books. Today, Baraa is both an illustrator and an author of children’s literature, with more than forty children’s books published, several international awards, and works that have traveled across languages and cultures.  “I see my wor...

 Her name is Leen; a name that means softness, gentleness. And she has spent her life trying to live up to it, even in Gaza, where life rarely offers softness. She chose a path where her tenderness could become strength: working as a Protection and Women’s Empowerment Officer with the International Rescue Committee.  “I try to live up to my name,”  she says.  “That’s why I choose spaces where I can help people, be gentle with them, and give them hope.” In the crowded camps, where women rise each morning to endless chores, fetching water, kneading dough, tending fires, Leen builds spaces that breathe hope. She recruits and trains women to be community facilitators, turning pain into purpose, displacement into leadership. Her pride lies in the fifteen women she has mentored, who now sustain their families while serving their own communities.  “Every one of them is a story of resilience,”  she explains.  “Each one gives, even in the hardest times.” But Le...