Unsung Hero: Rajwa

My name is Rajwa Mohamad Rahmoun. I’m from al-Qusayr in the Homs Governorate in Syria.

My children and I came to Lebanon and thankfully we are safe, but I have lost my husband. I do not know where he might be. I don’t know if he is dead or alive. I have no idea.

I suffer so much. As a woman, I cannot defend my rights or the rights of my children. Whatever happens to me I get told “You’re a woman, you cannot speak on this.” But I want to speak out and defend my family. I have to fight constantly.

I try to gather my courage and my strength. When I have something to say, I say it. I don’t want to keep silent; I want to stand up for my rights.

Looking at my children gives me that courage. Just one look at them and I find the patience and the strength to speak out. They make me feel so brave, which enables me to continue fighting for our rights.

Here in Lebanon, my son got into a moped accident and broke his arm and his leg. Everyone blamed me saying it was my fault that he was on the moped in the first place. He was taken to hospital and they charged me 2,000 dollars. I didn’t have 2,000 US dollars, so I had to ask my neighbors to help me pay for my son’s treatment.

On the way to the hospital, I was terrified he would die. But when he told me everything was fine, it gave me the strength to go on and do everything I could to find the the money for his operation.

As a single mother with no husband, I have to constantly raise my voice. I have to be heard so that nobody harms my children.

People say “She’s a woman. Why is she raising her voice? Women should keep quiet. She has sons, they can do the talking.” But it is my responsibility to defend my children. I have to be both the woman and the man. That’s what I keep telling them.

We are treated unjustly on every level here. We used to have our own home, which we lost, and now we have ended up in a refugee camp with nothing. We lost everything. But Praise God, we’re alive. We just have to wait, but this life is so different from the one we had in Syria.

I would like for us to return to Syria. To open my eyes and find myself back home, in our country, that would be my dream.

I dream of my children excelling at everything they do. I believe that they will always make the right choices and succeed in life. That’s what I wish for from the bottom of my heart.

I also wish that women had more rights in life so that they could defend themselves and not have to suffer in silence. Women represent half of society. Women should have more rights. It is women who give life, who raise children, and who keep families together. The woman is the foundation of everything in life.

Without women, there would be nothing.