From Ex young feminist, to FRIDA. with love

Life is beautiful, in the darkest moments. It will lend you a beam of light in the end of the tunnel, then you will be free to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

I am saying this because today is an important day for me. I am putting a full stop to my sentence as an advisor of FRIDA, the young feminist fund. I was in charge since November 2010. FRIDA for me is an answer for a prayer I prayed many times. As a young feminist, existence was a hell of struggle, seeking  acknowledgment was an endeavor and support was usually missed.

In 2007, when Mozn Hassan and 4 persons including me started Nazra for Feminist Studies, as an outlet for diverse feminist perspectives and as a platform for youth to discuss gender issues. changing these targets to reality was not an easy task. In every and each fund applicantion, the question of the previous experience and last year budget was a night mare that chased us vigorously. Even the most friendly feminist funds ask this question, and some of them use it only as an info, not as a criteria of accepting or rejecting. and our first support was from Global Fund for Women, with an institutional support to make the dream lively reality. 

That why FRIDA was a must, young feminists need a sensitive grant making body, that understands their needs and try to react positively and that what FRIDA did in a great manner, that it offered its community: knowledge, support and networking , FRIDA asserts that a donor is not that body which transfer money, it is way beyond this, it is about building the movement and supporting the young, diverse and passionate voices.

Through my trip with FRIDA, I discovered new facts about myself and my world. My world is wider that my African sisters, Iranian feminists that always inspire me. Being in FRIDA taught me that feminism is a fact with different manifestations, I related to many of the problems of my dear Mariam from Gerogia, although I might know information about Eastern Europe, but I never imagined the daily battles, and when I imagined through her stories, I felt that I feel the same about many issues, but in my own context. And that is the essence of sisterhood, that the pain is the same, but where in your body, that might change from a feminist to another.

I am not writing this post to say goodbye, I am saying welcome to a new phase of my relation to FRIDA community. FRIDA were I saw passion changing facts and support creating difference.

FRIDA will always be this name that puts a smile on my face and strength in my heart