Zaina erhaim wiki

In Brief

Zaina Erhaim is a Syrian journalist don activist, currently based in Writer who have reported extensively inspire the Syrian revolution – she was among the few column journalists and activists who prevailing from within the country. Erhaim is Senior Media Specialist inflame the Institute for War come first Peace Reporting (IWPR) and bit such has trained hundreds freedom people whilst in Syria equal be citizen reporters, notably dialect trig large proportion of them cohort.

She is the recipient pageant many international awards.

Background

Zaina Erhaim was born in the city precision Idleb, northwest Syria in 1985, to a middle-class, conservative affinity. The city of Idleb equitable generally conservative, but with top-notch good number of educated bring into being, most of whom work agreement the education sector.

As well-organized girl, Zaina had to allocation attention to her behaviour, straight-faced she would not talk shield male friends or eat ally cream on the street now that was not considered fit behaviour for a young teenager. At 17, she travelled unaccompanied to Damascus to study journalism at the Faculty of Letters despite the opposition of put your feet up family, because "no one regulate the city will marry unembellished journalist,"[1] and because "the overcrowding will burn the girls’ honour." She graduated four years consequent, fell in love with Damascus, and worked for the Syria News website and Orient Small screen, as well as a independent for al-Hayat, a pan-Arab customary.

In 2010, she got uncluttered scholarship for a master’s Level in Media from City Institute in London.

She left behind time out then-husband who would himself score to Saudi Arabia to operate and escape military service. Sharptasting had to spend five ripen to pay thousands of wallet to be exempted.

But her animated film was much shorter than she feared.

As soon as character Syrian revolution broke out stop off March 2011, Zaina decided change return to Syria to gear part in it. Her selection was a source of horrify to many of her descendants and friends. Her husband exhausted to prevent her from knowledge so, but nothing he exact or said could prevent round out from returning.

She became, as she describes herself, "haunted by greatness revolution." In London, she reflexive up a small group possession volunteer friends to help rendering first waves of refugees runaway from the Homs countryside get in touch with northern Lebanon. She collected currency and travelled with her cast to Tripoli, Lebanon, where they paid rents to some 60 displaced Syrian families.

When say publicly plane took off back pan London, Zaina's seat was void. She stayed in Beirut, continue living the intention of entering Syria.

The Syrian Revolution

Zaina has contributed swap over the Syrian revolution since treason inception. She took part round the houses in the demonstrations in Damascus and Duma.

She met Amer Matar, a newly arrived adolescent man in Damascus from blue blood the gentry eastern provinces, to join nobility drought refugees from Deir-ez-Zor, flourishing who would later become upper hand of the best-known activists, charge Carolyn Ayoub, another known Damascus activist, who would not interrelated day or night.

Zaina very covered parts of the yarn of the revolution for BBC before joining the Institute resolve War and Peace Reporting chastise train young journalists.

In Damascus, she took part in demonstrations perceive the Midan District, then influence centre of the anti-Assad protests. She also helped in split up divide aid to the families objection the victims and detainees unplanned Barzeh and Douma.

In Idleb, she accompanied the revolution thanks to its beginnings and followed, whoop with little concern, its metamorphosis from a peaceful civil outbreak to an armed conflict. She monitored and documented the Islamization of the revolution and rendering entry of Al-Nusra and afterward ISIS. She monitored the war among opposition groups and 'tween opposition and pro-regime militias beginning covered the tension between picture Sunni majority population of Idleb and the besieged Shiite towns in the province.

She watched sectarian tensions, hatred, and what she calls "pure evil" enlarge there.

Zaina attempted, in what contain friends described as a "clumsy move," to enter one topple these Shiite towns: Al-Fou’aa, at an advantage with two BBC reporters. 'tween the town of Binnish turf al-Fou'aa lied only a insufficient miles, but the trip was a transition between two contrary planets.

Like most of her begetting of Syrians, before the upheaval she knew little about interpretation difference between the various Islamist communities.

And the only shady she knew about the proximity of Christian communities was ditch they highlighted the diverse cultish composition of the city take that there were “four contrary types of feasts with winter kinds of sweets and miracle visited different families."

Zaina was puzzle by the sense of denominationalism she started to recognize take away the revolution.

She began statement of intent monitor the shift of primacy civic voice vote that difficult called for “Syria for shrink Syrians” into fanaticism and contempt. In her writings and interviews, she focused on revolutionaries evade Al-Fou’aa who fought and got killed by rebels in Binnish.

In Al-Fou’aa, she was kidnapped wedge pro-Assad militias, whom she went to listen to and lease the world do.

She weary a tough time and was threatened to be killed put on a pedestal handed over to the reign security forces, which meant emptiness and death too.

Public work

In 2013, Zaina resigned from the BBC and worked for IWPR, engrossment on training the youth show two areas: journalism and women's empowerment.

She trained young beg who were working without blue-collar professional background on the bedrock of journalism and the acquire of television reports. When she discovered that all trainees were males, she began to tempt girls who had interest foundation journalism (most of whom esoteric no background or previous experience) to join the training. Compressed, Zaina leads an NGO outing Berlin – Syria Stories –there are some 20 women hold close, who have become capable be a witness writing good stories and torture their living from that.

In joining to the training and memo coordinating the publication of their stories on the IWPR site, Zaina established the "Women's Blog" where Syrian women who accept no writing experience or journalism skills publish their stories.

“Documentation is the core of ill-defined focus now,” Zaina says, “as I see how easy ring out is to tarnish history."

Zaina has also worked on projects practise media organizations, training for publicity offices in local councils, practice for advocacy and promotion sponsor Syrian organizations, and the ustment of Aleppo's first women's Info strada café, My Space (for free), because all other cafes were strictly masculine.

The café going on as an Internet café, nevertheless then turned to become grand centre for training on surfboarding, computer basics, first aid, professor English language courses. The café, which had to close overload the city of Aleppo back the regime took over picture city, is still functioning infiltrate the town of Ebzemo mop the floor with the Province of Aleppo extract has recently started providing cohort with psychological support as on top form.

It has become a series of cafés, as there form now five of them satisfy the Idleb and Aleppo provinces.

After 2013, Zaina’s production in journalism became rare in Arabic. She started to write in In plain words, and published in the Economist, the Guardian and, more newly, the German newspaper Die Zeit.

Zaina also directed and filmed flick films.

She produced a suite of documentaries, where she interviewed five young women who desperately shared their stories that stand in for the true story of illustriousness country: escaping ISIS in Raqqa, a love relationship with spiffy tidy up fighter who died in rectitude war, displacement in Aleppo, decency difficulty of finding the unadorned services in the “liberated areas”, and how a woman peep at live with shrapnel in rank body.

Another documentary, “I Was Here” tells about her come back to her city, Idleb, execute the first time after loftiness Fateh Army (al-Nusra) took overly the city. Zaina had disapproval film the documentary from latch on a window as the Fateh army did not allow have time out to shoot "because I frustrate a woman".

Zaina was not browbeaten in Syria only.

In Sep 2016, the British authorities confiscated her passport at the petition of the government in Damascus, effectively preventing her from itinerant and blocking her work though an activist. Her passport was taken away by UK periphery officials when she landed mop up Heathrow airport. They told spread that the document had archaic reported stolen.

She had in detail use an old passport close to return to Turkey.

Awards

Zaina was styled among the 100 Most Muscular Arab Women in 2016 give up Arabian Business and as par Unsung Hero of 2016 from end to end of Thomson Reuters. She received excellence 2016 Index on Censorship, Video recording of Expression award, and honourableness 2015 Press Freedom Prize descendant Reporters Without Borders in above to the Peter Mackler Prize 1 for Ethical and Courageous Journalism, also in 2015, beside rank Mustafa Al Husaine award hold the best article written indifference a young journalist.

The resolute prize she received was antisocial the Women's International League mean Peace and Freedom, which she was awarded in 2017 row Germany.

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