Volunteers from displaced communities themselves are helping support the women recently pushed into homelessness. Some have lost their family.
By Melissa Hemingway in Ukraine and Micheal John
Ninety Percent of the 8 millions of displaced persons sent outside Ukraine by men’s WAR are women and children according to researchers within the RINJ Women organization.
Six million Ukrainians are displaced inside Ukraine. Women make up fifty-nine percent of the six million people displaced within Ukraine, not counting those in Donbass.
Eight million Ukrainians are displaced outside Ukraine. Ninety percent of the eight million who have sought refuge in France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,and United Kingdom, are women and children.
Photo Art by Micheal John and Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective-Magazine
War in Ukraine is hardest on women and children. Her family was killed and the soldier who raped her was infected with HIV. Now a widow she needs a lot of care, like many thousands of other women and children who have survived thus far.
The picture and its story. This image is not a real person but a representative artwork bundling the trauma of seven specific women who remain anonymous but live within secretive women’s shelters in the war zone of Ukraine, waiting to leave the country to Poland, if that is what they wish.
“The seven women cried and sobbed when they saw the representative pictures our team in Japan and USA, Melissa Hemingway, Micheal John and Rosa Yamamoto, created for our hearts,” said Alona Adamovich who is the team lead for the RINJ Women effort in Ukraine and in Poland. “Believe in yourself, we tell these widows,” said Alona on an encrypted messaging app. The identity and location of women survivors is not only confidential but a never exposed guarded secret.
“We need to use stronger messaging about this proxy war that evil men of the West are fighting in our country. We need to explain who is being hurt and what this is all about. We have tolerated these greedy Americans and angry Russians and corrupted Ukrainians for over a decade. Now they are killing us all. My neighbours, my country my family. Every day another dozen women and children around us are slaughtered. And those are just the ones we know about,” protested Alona.
Consoling widowed Women who have lost their husband and some, even their children, to a missile, bomb or armed men is difficult to say the least.
“Have faith in your own abilities. Believe in yourself. We did not come and get you, you found us by word of mouth and got yourself to safety. That is your ability to survive showing up when you did not expect anything good. Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy, so instead of thinking about your misery, I ask you to think about your powers which are your abilities, and then use those abilities to start your new life. Your loved ones, your sweethearts will be looking upon you so proudly from heaven. Those new abilities you think you need, ask us, and we will start your training. You must stay busy because there is much work to be done and we are all here together, working together, your new family, getting the work of survival done,” Alona explained what she and her coworkers have been telling the recent widows in Ukraine as they wait for their chance to leave the country to Poland, if that is what they want. Some don’t. They cling as close to their home as possible. This is difficult. I can’t say ‘no’ but I must advise of the danger and pray their reasoning is not all about hopelessness and more about hope and rational thinking.”
How do we dodge the bans when we call this a proxy war?
How to talk to your children about the war between USA, Australia, Canada, Europe in Ukraine against Russia
‘No-bombing-here’ map. It is in the actual war zone where women and children are most often hurt. Real humanitarian NGOs are in the actual war zone since 2014. RINJ Women‘s shelters, birthing clinics, rape clinics and health centers are also discretely scattered across the Middle East, South America and in South Asia. The channels of communication are through a global Helpline and access control is through faith-based groups and communities as well as medical infrastructure and local trusted law enforcement where such a thing (rare) is available.
“We have done our work for many years now, in the hardest places where every day is another man-made disaster. Men must stop their wars, because I and my medical team are worn to the bone,” explains Dr. Nassima al Amouri from Idlib, Syria, who has been discussing and providing the nurse practitioners and nursing team in Ukraine with a new series of medical directives over the past two months.
“We must seek to end violence against women and children like that caused by these American cluster bombs killing randomly. We are leveraging the rule of law, winning gender parity, energizing our tolerant kindness, caring, & sharing. And that is our moto, one that is motivating survivors to join us and help millions of others like themselves. I am so proud of the Ukrainian women and children volunteers,” explains NP Alona Adamovich who is in constant satellite contact with nurse practitioners and her co-directors around the world.
“RINJ Women must radiate these values in all our collective tasks. Women are half the world’s community members. Our duty to step up to build better communities is compelling us every day,” says Katie Alsop, executive director of The RINJ Foundation (Global).
“RINJ Women as a Civil Society Organization (CSO) seek sustainable human development from a position of perceived feminine helplessness rudely imposed on women by a patriarchy to which women traditionally acquiesced. So yes, we rise up above the misconception of weakness to love & support women and children, especially the most vulnerable. While we strive for all our rights we encourage others to join us. Volunteer.
“Convincing patriarchs that women deserve equality in economics, opportunity, education, power-sharing and society has been a violent war. Violent men feel threatened by women who riseup. Don’t. Come stand with us and refugees. Evil men perceive women as the chattel property of other men and hurt us to allegedly hurt their enemies.
“Evil men hijack religion and our other institutions to oppress ordinary women. Immoral lust for power & control leads men to rape, to other violence. For their persecution; for their wrongful imprisonment of females; for their rape & molestation of women & children; evil men belong in prison. RINJ is mindful of that aim. Join us in defiance of extremist men & the malicious & hateful ideologies that fuel their violence around the globe. Join us to improve ourselves and become rich in gender parity, tolerance, kindness, caring, and sharing. Let love win over hate.” -Katie Alsop RINJ
