“There are myriad dreams, and they will remain ever-present.” With these words, Nadra Rabie described her journey that, as she added later, has not and will never end in the path of success as long as she is still alive. Syria embraces many successful women who must be talked about because they are a source of inspiration, hope, and confidence, for every diligent has a share of success, and borders are merely ideas created in our minds.
A Syrian woman from the city of Aleppo. She studied Sociology at the University of Aleppo (2006-2010) and in 2013 pursued a master’s degree. She worked as a social counselor in several schools affiliated with the Directorate of Education. She became a psychosocial support trainer within the local team of the Syrian Ministry of Education and a psychosocial counselor in several NGOs, including the Education Association and the Child Care Association between 2015-2017.
In 2017, she was a co-founder of the “Subul” team for development, with the participation of a group of active youth in Aleppo and with the aim of voluntary social responsibility. In 2018, she took over the supervision of the follow-up and evaluation of several projects in the field of community cohesion at the United Nations Development Office in Aleppo.
She is currently the director of the “Zakhraf” project which aims to empower women to work in the ‘Ajami (Damascus painting), and the general director of the “Methodologies” Initiative in Aleppo, which is concerned with empowering associations, individuals, and institutions to follow-up, evaluate, conduct community and quality research, and to know the real impact of projects.
It is one of the “Subul” development projects, it began in 2018 by conducting research on the most important professions that are threatened with extinction. ‘Ajami profession was chosen and women in Aleppo Governorate were trained in this profession from scratch.
This project was implemented in several stages. The first was embodied in sessions conducted with women and their husbands that would raise awareness of the law and the importance of women’s work for them and their families, in addition to holding exhibitions and selling their products.
The second phase began with opening places to sell and workshops for women within a safe environment in the old city of Aleppo. The project faces many challenges, such as the weak purchasing power of these types of products and the change in the prices of raw materials.
The importance of the Zakhraf project lies in contributing to the revival of the endangered intangible heritage (‘Ajami) in this ancient city, in addition to empowering women with a profession that provides them with an economic return and helps them support their families.
The Zakhraf project was able to bring modernity and innovation to this profession by introducing wooden and decorative designs and colors that fit the spirit of the age.
Every difficulty she went through constituted a crossing point for new development for Nadrah, when she graduated and got excited about starting and building herself, the war and its harsh and difficult conditions broke out in Aleppo. She was overwhelmed by intense anxiety and fear of stopping to achieve dreams, so she found work, continuous striving, always creating alternatives, and keenness to invest in all the opportunities around her as a way to survive.
In the experience of motherhood, and from scratch, she faced an environment that forced her to stop working and developing until her child reached a certain age. It was organizing the time and prioritizing, with indifference to the view of others and their denunciation for accompanying her daughter to work and attending courses or meetings.
Nadra says: “My experience is a message of support for the working and ambitious mother, and thank God for the golden period for the development of my work and my experiences is the period of motherhood.”
“Find and determine what is your passion in life, and if it is difficult to achieve it at the present time, make it always present in your thinking and work for it, and you will find yourself going towards achieving it somehow without realizing it.”
“A successful person does not differ from any ordinary person except that he possesses passion, determination, and honesty in work. As for the family aspect, it is the satisfaction of parents.”
“There are myriad dreams, and they will remain ever-present, God willing. My dream is to be a positive element and to leave a constructive imprint wherever I am.”
From the Uplifting Syrian Women family, we wish Nadra never to stop dreaming and to turn all those dreams into reality, and we wish her more success.
♀️ Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative aims at sustainable peace building in Syria through targeting women and providing them with free online courses, workshops, discussion sessions and trainings, with a view to achieving the goals of Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work and Economic Growth, which all fall into the interest of society as a whole and serve the purpose of rebuilding it.