Zainab Salbi is anIraqi American Writer, Activist and Social Entrepreneur who is co-founder and president for Women for Women International.
Salbi was born in Baghad, Iraq, and came to the United States at the age of 19, her experience with the Iran-Iraq War sensitized her to the plight of women in war worldwide. She has written and spoken extensively on the use of rape and other forms of violence against women during war. Her work has been featured in major media outlets including The Oprah winfrey Show and the Washington Post. In 1995, President Bill Clinton honored Salbi at the White House for her humanitarian work in Bosnia.
In the early 1990s, newlyweds Zainab Salbi and Amjad Atallah, a Palestinian-American, were deeply moved by the plight of the women of the former Yugoslavia, many forced into the now infamous rape and concentration camps. They wanted to volunteer to help, but were unable to locate an organization that addressed these injustices and egregious wrongs.
In lieu of a honeymoon, Salbi and Atallah, launched an organization that created “sister-to-sister” connections between sponsors in the United States and women survivors of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were greeted with an overwhelming response; a woman survivor of the rape camps who had lost her husband and children during the war said, "I thought the world had forgotten us…."
They returned to the United States with a mission. With the continued support of other concerned individuals, they started Women for Women International with a shoestring budget and a small team of dedicated volunteers. Since 1993, Women for Women International has supported women survivors of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Kosovo, Nigeria, Colombia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan It has assisted more than 120,000 women, distributed more than $33 million in direct aid and microcredit loans, trained thousands of women in rights awareness, and helped thousands more to start their own small businesses.
In 2005, Zainab Salbi published her memoir Between Two Worlds. It describes her life growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's Baathist Regime. Publishers Weekly calls Between Two Worlds "the most honest account of life within Saddam's circle so far. It's an enlightening revelation of how, by barely perceptible stages, decent people make accommodations in a horrific regime." Only 11 years old when her father was chosen to serve as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot, Zainab and her family were often forced to spend weekends with Saddam where he watched their every move. Her mother eventually sent Zainab to America for an arranged marriage, but the marriage that was intended to save her turned out to be another world of tyranny and abuse. Zainab started over. She forged a new identity as a champion of women survivors of war and founded Women for Women International.
In 2006, Zainab Salbi wrote The Other Side of War: Womens Stories of Survival and Hope. Published by National Geographic, Zainab Salbi takes readers into the heart of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Sudan to hear the stories of women who daily reclaim the lives of their families and communities from the ashes of conflict.
"War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Women survivors of war are not the single image portrayed on the television screen, but the glue that holds families and countries together. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war...we will have more humility in our discussions of wars...perhaps it is time to listen to women's side of history."
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