As part of Mendy’s initiative to offer creative workshops, a workshop on biography writing started on the 9th of January from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Two participants read the chapter they wrote about their biographies in diaspora/exile. The two experiences have a lot in common and there was a very rich discussion from the rest of the participants, who are surprisingly knowledgeable and cultured. The workshop will continue until the end of January, as we have dedicated every Saturday to discuss the contributions that are first sent to the WhatsApp group.

Many concepts and visions emerged this day, and Dr. Ishraga wrote them down as an indicator of extended horizons between the Arts of Banat Mendy and the Kurdish Feminist Voices Platform, at the suggestion of writer Maria Abbas. Dr. Ishraga wanted it to be in collaboration with Arts of Banat Mendy, although her project of presenting and managing this workshop is much earlier than Arts of Banat Mendy.

“I came out of the workshop with a different awareness of women who have a lot in common.” Dr. Ishraga Mustafa Hamid comments, “I left the workshop with a different consciousness of women who have a lot in common. I came away with Zainab’s tears as she choked back tears as she read a passage describing mass death in the Syrian war; tears that melted a stubborn grain of salt in my heart.”

Maryam’s statement was especially profound, in our need to reflect our journey, “we are not just numbers. Numbers in migration books. We are human beings with great dreams and hopes.”

Only We Can Write Our Stories has already 12 activists participating, and is helping to turn the numbers on the books of immigration offices into actions that will balance the world’s imbalance. Two Sudanese women, Shadia Abdelmoneim and Dr Maryam M. Abdalla Wagialla, are participating in this workshop.

Mendy is very happy to have found them and their deep insights and am happy that what we have in common with them is a big dream that we share with Kurdish feminist voices. The results of this workshop will be published in a book as part of the Sidra Project, which is the fulfilment of our dream.