Iman Al-Omari

Teacher/ Oleander Initiative of the University of the Middle East Project
No Nukes! Women’s Forum 2017

Hello
It is a great honour to be here today in this distinguished Forum.

In our culture it is said that, women are twin halves of men. A female is the fundamental unit in family, community and the whole world. Through her compassion as a daughter, a wife, a sister and a mother, who is the first teacher of their children, a woman keeps, builds and spreads peace. Simple; Hibakushas have been and will always be the key persons!
One chief story that inspired me is “A hope more powerful than the sea”, which is a real story of a young Syrian refugee, Doaa AlZamel, who was in search of a better life. The story was shared by Melissa Fleming, Chief spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The young woman left her country, Syria, with her family to Egypt. She met and fell in love with a young Syrian refugee, and together they decided to immigrate to Europe, joining the ranks of thousands of refugees who made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean on overcrowded small hunting boats seeking routes in overseas, to begin a new life. Their boat, full of 500 refugees, was left to sink in the sea.

Doaa remained in the sea for four days, wearing a child’s inflatable water ring with two baby girls clinging to her neck. During these days she kept on singing to the two girls in order to keep them awake and conscious.

Finally, she was rescued, but one of the girls couldn’t make it and died, the other baby girl was sent with Doaa to Greece.

This story shows how this young woman was able to survive and achieve the triumph of the human spirit through determination and hope.

I’m coming from a region which is unfortunately facing many difficulties due to internal wars. This makes me identify with the wars all over the world, and in this case, the two world wars. Definitely, these wars and their consequences cannot not be compared to the calamitous consequences of the Atomic Bombs that were dropped in 1945.

It is really a brain-paralyzing process, how would humans victimise others? Many have become homeless, passed away and those who lived, are seeking for food, water and shelter; basic needs. Do you think that they re-opened schools and colleges? Education is lost!

Educators build minds. Education is the most important standard in the progress of any nation.

That’s why the case was different in Japan. The formula which they followed consisted of determination, hope, hard work and most importantly, belief in the spirit of peace. This formula is related to the Holy Quran verse: “God does not change the situation of people until they change it by themselves”.

The Japanese struggle towards peace has been impressive and unique. They resurrected to life shortly after annihilation.

Let me now reach the essence of our grand meeting; peace!

Peace is an essential life requirement. In my country, it is a blessing. At my work, in school, it is an action and a practice. In a math class, it is a necessity. In Languages, it is enjoying poetic beauty of poetry. In sciences, it is concentration. In Social Studies, it is a status-quo and the future. In Music, it is playing a symphony. In P.E., it is an accomplishment, In IT, it is to be connected with others. In Business, it is achieving profits, In Economics, it is growth. In drama, it is creativity. In Religious studies, it is an attitude, positive conduct and a greeting.

I was deeply moved by Hibakusha testimonies which required tremendous courage to tell their stories about the hardest pain they have ever had in their minds and bodies.

Their testimonies emphasized the need to create a world without nuclear weapons and to cooperate with the people around the world to build lasting peace; again, the role of mother persists.

Our and your loss is huge, but hope for peace is a huger mission; however, we will never lose hope or effort.

Now, I would like to pray for the people who were killed by the Atomic bombs and those who lost their lives because of wars all over the world.

Kindly, let’s hold our hands together and say: We will strive for peace.

Thank you.