We want to teach women to sew and weave in order to learn the skills to earn a living one-day to support themselves and their families.The Lotus Flower will be working with Yazidi women in Kurdistan region of Iraq. The atrocities Yazidi women have faced hit the headlines in August 2014, and are still doing so today.
As one of our newest projects, Peace Sisters provides women and girls with training so that they can lead peace processes and take a more active role in rebuilding their fractured communities. Although there are other projects on the ground that foster peacebuilding and social cohesion, we believe Peace Sisters is one of the first to train women to become mediators, peace defenders and active community leaders.
The Lotus Flower operates a women’s center that provides a safe and welcoming space for women while offering various activities and training programs. One of the aims of the center was to provide indirect psycho-social support for women who had experienced violence and/or sexual trauma at the hands of ISIS foot soldiers. Coming together to attend these classes has enabled the women to reconnect and create a network of support and friendship.
The Lotus Flower provides ad hoc support to survivors of genocide inside and outside of Kurdistan. The programming can include awareness training sessions, such as legal issues and women’s rights, as well as professional psychological support. The Survivor Support program creates custom responses to individual cases based on the situation.
