First Lady Melania Trump yesterday gave 13 women the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage award. The honor, inaugurated in 2007, recognizes women who have “demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk.” Each U.S. embassy can nominate one woman for the award. Over the past decade, more than 100 women from more than 60 countries have won the prize.
This year’s recipients, as my colleague Linda Kinstler reports, have made herculean commitments to protecting women and children around the world, but one in particular stood out to me.
Syria’s Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh, of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, was honored for her dedication to the women and children of Damascus. She has remained in the city throughout the Syrian conflict to run a nursery school and a tailoring workshop for Syrian women. According to the State Department, the school provides a safe environment for more than 200 Muslim and Christian children, many of whom have suffered unspeakable trauma because of the war. The tailoring workshop, meanwhile, gives internally displaced women income, job prospects, and much-needed day-to-day support. In its inaugural year, it trained 14 women; now it’s helping over 100 Muslim and Christian women—many of whom have fled violence in other parts of Syria—develop skills.
In an interview last year during a ceasefire, Sister Carol described living in “constant fear of clashes resuming and missiles being launched.” In the nursery, she and other nuns and teachers try to combat the chaos by “creat[ing] a peaceful and joyous environment, paying a great deal of attention to the needs of each child,” many of whom show obvious signs of trauma. One little girl, she said, had seen her grandfather murdered by ISIS fighters. “At the moment we are still trying to work out the best way to help her,” she said.
In addition to running the nursery and tailoring program, Sister Carol and her colleagues distribute food and medicine packs to those in need and end up spending “a great deal of time listening to all those who seek words of comfort and encouragement.”
Fleeing the violence is not an option in her eyes. “We have not once thought of leaving Syria, not even when the fighting was intense,” she said. “We are here to stay and will continue taking care of people who have been sorely tested.”