Israel: Women's Center


Eritrean Women's Center
Proposed Outreach Activities 2012-2013

Introduction

The newly established center for Eritrean women in Tel Aviv is a new initiative designed and run independently by a group of Eritrean women. Set up in July 2012, the center aims to provide Eritrean women with a safe space as well as access to important services. This center is the first and only one of its kind; utilizing a grass roots approach to support Eritrean women in a fundamental way. The center is directed by Zebib Sultan, an Eritrean refugee who has experience working with women and developing curricula in Eritrea and who has undergone extensive training by Amnesty International Israel.

The center has already come to symbolize a center of support and belonging. The center offers a child care service during the day, enabling refugee women to maintain jobs and to view the women's center as a place with practical implications on their lives. In the evenings, the center functions as a community center offering training and workshops, English and Hebrew classes, as well as open hours where women can come to watch movies, drink coffee, and relax.

Beginning in January 2013, the center plans to dramatically expand its outreach activities within the Eritrean women's community. During the next project period, the center will expand its current projects to include three new programs: 1) Domestic abuse 2) Prostitution and 3) Family planning.

About Eritrean Women in Israel

35,000 Eritrean asylum seekers currently live in Israel. Labeled infiltrators and migrant workers rather than recognized as refugees, Eritreans, and particularly the isolated population of Eritrean women, are unable to access education, employment, healthcare and social services. It is estimated that the number of Eritrean women living in Israel is around 7,000.

Eritrean women in Israel traveled through the Sinai desert in Egypt in order to reach the border with Israel. This journey is notoriously dangerous as many refugees are held hostage by smugglers for extended periods of time until they are released in exchange for large sums of money. Many women are raped and the majority of individuals experience violence, torture, and a severe lack of basic needs along the way. Therefore, individuals arriving in Israel are dealing with trauma, injury, a break down of family structure as well as severe emotional issues. The trauma experienced in the Sinai has collectively influenced the Eritrean community in Israel and especially the community of Eritrean women.

Worldwide, refugee movements impose tremendous psychological and physical trauma on survivors, making refugees a high-risk group for psychopathology and psycho-social adjustment problems. Even more than the average, Eritrean refugees living in Israel are incredibly isolated as well as neglected. Both Eritrean families and individuals experience high levels of stress, trauma as well as a breakdown in their own sense of identity.

Ongoing Activities at the Women's Center

Since opening in July 2012, the women’s center has developed a number of programs and activities. At the moment, through a number of programs and activities, about100 women are able to make use of the center on a weekly basis. With the implementation of these programs we hope to reach about 200 women a week and about 1,000 different women per year.

The center runs a nursery that is open every day from 6:00am to 19:00pm. This nursery is held to high standards, as a flagship project that other nurseries can later be modeled upon. Refugee nurseries are notoriously under-staffed and over-crowded, with horror stories of babies being seriously neglected. Running a nursery at a high standard creates trust among Eritrean mothers, who can then trust the center as a place worth investing time and energy. Such trust is essential before embarking on more sensitive issues such as family planning, prostitution, and domestic abuse.

Every Saturday afternoon, Dr Habtemariam, an Eritrean doctor and widely-respected member of the community, visits the center for a questions and answers session on health issues concerning the women. This program has been incredibly successful in that the women visiting the center feel comfortable and confident in seeking health advice from Dr Habte. We hope that the use of the center as a source of information and guidance concerning women’s health issues will evolve and develop over time.

Additionally, the center is a venue for the 8 week-long Human Rights courses that are facilitated by Amnesty International Israel. These courses train refugees from the community to become more active in the struggle to be recognized as refugees in Israel.

As well as hosting the Human Rights course facilitated by Amensty International , the center co-ordinates English and Hebrew classes for women. Language skills are incredibly important for the refugee community and play a huge role in cultivating a sense of empowerment.

In support of developing a communal space and sense of security, there is a weekly movie night and coffee evening. Eritrean women frequently "drop-by" the center, even if there is no formal programming, in order to learn about the place, ask questions and receive information, and get assistance in emergency situations.

Proposed Project 1: Domestic Violence

Objective:

This program aims to function from within the Eritrean Women’s Center to support the large number of women who are experiencing domestic abuse. Currently, these women are most often isolated and unable to access critical social support. Additionally, as refugees, they lack the traditional means of resolving conflict through their priest and family networks, as they are used to in Eritrea. We propose a training course teaching women who will then act as ambassadors within their communities, allowing more and more women to connect with advice and support concerning domestic abuse issues.

Context:

The lack of legal rights, limited basic services, and a dramatic shift in household power dynamics are factors influencing a rise in domestic abuse among refugees. The rise in domestic abuse is a result, in part, of the breakdown of community and family structure as well as the high levels of stress and anxiety associated with living as a refugee in Israel. It has been found in many countries that forms of domestic violence often escalate in direct proportion to the pressures of refugee life.

As refugees, some women tend to find work more easily within domestic roles than men. If a woman is working and her husband is unemployed, the reversal of traditional family roles often creates tension. Despite working in the public sphere, women are still expected to be solely responsible for the home, including cleaning, cooking, and child-rearing. These disruptions in power relations between the husband and wife tend to feed a sense of inadequacy among refugee men. Therefore, dramatic changes in the structure of the family come together making women far more vulnerable to domestic abuse.

Additionally, due to a lack of community structure, the true scale of violence among refugees remains unknown as a great number of incidents are never reported. Furthermore, without the community and extended family structure that would exist in their home country, these families are far less likely to resolve or deal with these issues.

It is clear that individuals within the community must gain an insight into domestic abuse, especially within the context of Israeli law and policy, in order to support others in the community. Additionally, it is essential that individuals, especially women, have a base upon which they can rely in event that they experience or fear experiencing domestic abuse. Therefore, the women’s center hopes to be this base from which preventative measures can be taken against domestic abuse within the Eritrean refugee community.

Activities:

The vision of a domestic abuse program within the Eritrean women’s center is based on three important services or aspects of raising awareness and facilitating prevention: 1) A Course for Women 2) Open Advice Sessions in the Women's Center and in the Community and 3) Prevention and Awareness Meetings on Domestic Abuse.



1. A Course for Women

The project would involve an organized course in partnership with ASSAF (Aid Organization for Refugees in Israel http://www.assaf.org.il/en/) that would train volunteers from the community to effectively support individuals experiencing domestic abuse.

15 women trainees would enroll in the course that would take place once a week over a 10-week period, for a total of 30 hours of training. The women selected for the course would be those who are identified as most likely to have a positive impact on the community. Therefore, trainees would be those women with a large number of connections to different women within the community as well as having the capacity to influence and lead this community of women when it comes to domestic abuse issues. Graduates from the course would offer advocacy regarding the psychosocial or mental health needs of refugees experiencing or at risk of experiencing domestic abuse. This would involve effective referral to professional psychological or mental health and other social support services within Israel.

As part of the course, the women would develop educational materials in Tigrinya on the subject of domestic abuse. These materials would aid the women in their outreach work in the community and would remain continuously available at the women's center.

2. Open Advice Sessions in the Women's Center and in the Community

The graduates from this course would volunteer in the center and in the community as sources of direct support for women experiencing domestic abuse. The center would come to offer psychosocial support and problem solving counseling for individuals and families as well as conflict resolution with families or community members to prevent and mediate problems. We hope that this structure of trained volunteers could come, in a way to imitate the function of the extended family, as exists in Eritrea. This imitation would offer a network of support based on a culturally specific understanding of domestic abuse.

As explained above, the women chosen to participate in the course are already active women who come from a variety of backgrounds (religious denomination, zone of origin within Eritrea, neighborhood of living within Tel Aviv, etc). This means that as women are active in their communities they would reach a wide audience of women from different backgrounds.

3. Prevention and  Awareness Meetings on Domestic Abuse

The center will host a variety of prevention and awareness activities on the subject of domestic abuse. Working with Assaf organization and the graduates of our course, we will host at least one activity per month aimed at both women and men on the issue of domestic abuse.

We will target especially relevant groups of individuals including priests and deacons as well as other influential individuals including business owners and university graduates. Depending on those in the meeting, these groups will focus on the definition and types of domestic violence, the legal structures concerning such abuse especially in Israel, how to prevent domestic abuse, and what to do if someone close to you is experiencing such abuse.

Proposed Project 2: Eliminating Prostitution in the Eritrean Community in Israel

Objective:

This program aims to seek out and support women already involved in prostitution, finding ways to develop a viable exit strategy for each of these women. This program also aims to develop and spread preventative measures aimed at the most vulnerable women in the community. 

Context:

A number of women within the Eritrean community in Israel have fallen into prostitution in attempt to support themselves while living in Tel Aviv. These women are at high risk of experiencing physical, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as high risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) like HIV/AIDs. Additionally, these women are experiencing profound isolation and require immediate support. This program aims to assist such women and ensure that other women do not fall victim to becoming prostitutes.

Activities:

In order to address to pressing issue of prostitution within the Eritrean women's community, we propose the following two activities: 1) Identifying and supporting women already involved in prostitution and 2) Preventing vulnerable women from falling into prostitution.

1. Identifying and supporting women already involved in prostitution

By advising and advocating for the women within the cycle of prostitution, we would hope to provide emotional support, access to a wider social network, alternative employment options and access to information concerning vocational training.

With continual support with partner Israeli organizations such as the Hotline for Migrant Workers, the staff of the center will go into the community to identify Eritrean women involved in prostitution. The staff will map the likely places prostitution takes place including in local bars as well as backrooms in stores in order to reach the widest group of people. In addition, the staff will spread word and the relevant phone number associated with this program so affected women (or those close with affected women) can call for help.

Additionally, the center, as an already-existing structure, would allow the women to access advocacy support as well as facilitating collaboration with already-existing Israeli organizations that identify and support the individuals involved in prostitution. The Director of the Center will conduct an initial mapping of available services for Israeli citizens in prostitution and discuss options of expanding and tailoring these services to Eritrean women.

Using language classes, which are already set up at the center, as well as access to vocational advice and connections, these women would be made aware of the ways in which they might leave the cycle of prostitution.

2. Preventing vulnerable women from falling into prostitution

This aspect of the project will support the young women within the Eritrean community in attempt to prevent prostitution. Taking advantage of the women’s center as a safe and supportive space, the program would provide information and insight into the ways in which young women can avoid falling into prostitution.

This program will include at least 15 seminars and workshops over the next year concerning employment options, the significance of the body, women’s rights and sexual health and responsibility. It is hoped therefore that the program might empower young women, reducing these women’s vulnerability to the cycle of prostitution.

Proposed Project 3: Family Planning

Objective:

This program aims to empower Eritrean women living in Israel by providing information, support and access to family planning. This program will enable the presence of qualified workers allowing for the availability of family planning and advice on different methods of family planning to the refugee community. Women would therefore have access to enough information in order to make important decisions regarding family planning.

Context:

Discussion between women visiting the centre has made obvious the necessity of and demand for access to information and practical support concerning family planning. A large number of women expressed an interest in maintaining a discussion forum regarding various methods of family planning. The average age of the women visiting the center ranges between 20 and 30, many of them married. These women are often struggling with social and economic instability within the family and feel a strong need to plan effectively with regard to children. The legal status of these women means that they are unable to access national health insurance. Due to a lack of available social services, as well as being under intense economic pressure, these women are in desperate need of both guidance and support in adopting a family plan. Within the year the service would aim to target 800 women.

Activities:

Firstly, this program will enable the presence of trained workers allowing for the availability of family planning and advice on different types of family planning to the refugee community. Women would therefore have access to enough information in order to make important decisions regarding family planning. Secondly, the family planning program would facilitate coordinated advice and from the organizations in Tel Aviv dealing with the issue. Research into and cooperation with the various organizations in Tel Aviv would allow for a coordinated and streamlined approach to family planning and reproductive healthcare.

1. Increasing Access to Family Planning Methods

This program will organize and streamline the services regarding family planning currently available to refugee women living in Tel Aviv. There are many organizations that deal with issues regarding pregnancy, abortion and family planning. These organizations tend to function independently and do not address the necessity of co-operation between the various organizations responding to the various needs of Eritrean women.

Below is a list of the relevant organization that work on the issue of family planning, to some degree.

  1. ASSAF is an organizations providing assistance to asylum seekers living in Israel. This organization works with a large number of refugees but has no formal program on family planning.
  2. The ARDC women’s shelter works to support women in desperate need following serious trauma in the Sinai, for example. The women’s shelter functions efficiently with regard to the provision of guidance and follow up on pregnancy, abortion and family planning for the women within the shelter. Their services only extend outside the women in the shelter on an ad hoc basis.
  3. Hagar & Miriam is an organization focusing on pregnancy, abortion and family planning for the refugee community. Offering access to a gynaecologist as well as a class on family planning, this organization aims to deal practically with an important issue. However, due to a lack of resources, organization and culturally appropriate outreach is a challenge.
  4. The Refugee Clinic at the central bus station is currently being redeveloped in attempt to offer important services regarding pregnancy, abortion and family planning. We predict that this clinic might soon serve as an important center regarding the provision of family planning and reproductive health services.
  5. The Rape Crisis Center in Tel Aviv is a hotline used mainly by Israeli women that have experienced some kind of sexual abuse. They have teamed up with the Hotline for Migrant Workers and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel in a High Court of Justice case regarding access to gynecologists for newly arriving refugee women in the Israeli prison system under the Anti-Infiltration Law. Besides this important step, the organization has yet to become involved on the issue of family planning.
  6. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is an organization providing important health-related services to refugees living in Israel. Working out of a clinic based in Jaffa, this organization offers access to a gynecologist. However, this service struggles in providing effective follow up regarding pregnancy, abortion and family planning.
  7. Levinsky STD Clinic offers free STD testing for anyone who enters their doors regardless of legal and financial status. Their staff gives ad hoc advice on family planning as questions arise.

As a first step to this activity, we plan to conduct a mapping to research and understand the role of each of the organizations in providing access to family planning and reproductive health care. The mapping of these organizations will include a two-way approach. One the one hand, we will understand what services each of these organizations currently offers and can offer to refugee women. On the other hand, we will map what Eritrean women know and think of each of these organizations, specifically trying to understand how culturally accessible the services are. An organized understanding of each of these organizations would allow us to develop a program that would streamline these services, providing useful and effective support to women in need of family planning and reproductive healthcare.

Connecting each phase of the program, the trained community workers would offer essential, culturally appropriate advice to women using both the training from the course as well as knowledge of a streamlined process of referral.

2. Training Family Planning Ambassadors from the Eritrean Women's Community

This project is in collaboration with “Open Door” which is a national network of information centers, counseling and treatment for young people and their parents on issues relating to adolescence, relationships, sexuality, healthy sexual behavior, responsibility and the prevention of violence. The service providers working with “Open Door” are professionals, most of them volunteers, who receive special training and professional guidance. More information on Open Door can be accessed here: http://www.opendoor.org.il/English.aspx

This activity proposes a training program would take place where a number of women in the community would become community health workers. The course would take place over a 10-week period, consisting of 30 hours of training. The course would be team taught by the women's center director and a volunteer from Open Door.

As part of the course, the trained health workers would develop educational materials in Tigrinya on the subject of family planning. These materials would assist the health workers in their outreach activities within the community.

The community health workers graduating from this course would work within the community in attempt to support and guide Eritrean women with regard to family planning. This program would focus on the empowerment of Eritrean women through information and responsibility for sexual health and family planning. Specifically, these health workers would hold at least 12 seminars in the first year of the project period on family planning. They would also offer individual services to at least 250 women on this issue.

Conclusion

The Eritrean Women's Center would appreciate your generous support on one or more of these proposed activities. For additional information, please be in touch with the Center director, Zebib Sultan, at +972-54-2317006 or by email at eritreanwomenscenter@gmail.com

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