I Still Rise

Project Summary

Health is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”. When people are forcibly leaving their country in seek of asylum, from the beginning of their journey they face deprivation of all aspects of health services and basic human rights. However, in refugee communities, women are more prone to specific challenges affecting their overall health, self-confidence, and well-being. Turkey is one the largest countries hosting refugees and migrants, with half of them being women and girls. In the context of the I Still Rise project our main focus is refugee women’s health and raising awareness about their potential and rights. In order to bring solutions and strategies to the main problems facing refugee women, we categorized our activities and plans into three main parts.
In the first session of our project, “My Health Is My Capital”, as young medical students, we are focusing on activities to raise awareness about common health problems and the importance of self-hygiene and examination in women. We are going to organize sessions and activities about menstrual hygiene, breast cancer self-examination, contraception use and family planning, health services in the local community, and HPV virus vaccination importance. Although it's going to be a short time session of training, in long term it will have a huge positive impact on women understanding of the importance of their bodies’ health and access to medical services.
Considering that most of the refugee community are coming from the war zone and have dramatic backgrounds and post-traumatic disorders, hugely affecting their mental health, in the second part, “A Reminder To Ourselves: We Are Strong Enough”, we are aiming to organize activities like, traditional art therapies, emotion map activity, socializing activities and sessions about the importance of mental wellbeing. In the context of these activities, women will have the chance to redefine terms like strength, and support dream happiness and well-being again, thus a tiny reminder that they are stronger than they perceive.
In the third part of the project, “The caged bird sings: I Have A Story To Tell”, by inviting activist entrepreneur women within the refugee community who share the same background and experiences and are aware of their potential, we are planning to elaborate that refugee women are not alone, and they can use their potential and capacity to rebuild the life and identity they want. In addition, we are aiming to bring together the host and refugee community together to emphasize the importance of harmony and support of adaptation in new members of the Society. Also, during tea hours activities women will have the opportunity to share their own stories and share their experiences, which consequently help them to boost their self-confidence and awareness.
The aim of the I Still Rise project is to alleviate the negative impact of migration on women and increase awareness about the importance of health in the context of physical, mental, and social well-being in addition to raising awareness about health services in the local community.

With all the conflicts going on worldwide, many people have been forcibly displaced, consequently affecting every aspect of their lives. Women and girls make up around half of the refugees and migrants population. Due to sex-based discrimination, they are more prone to specific challenges such as protection risks in transit, including family separation, psychosocial stress, and trauma, health complications, particularly for pregnant women, high risk of infection due to lack of hygiene infrastructure, physical harm and injury, risks of exploitation, gender-based violence, and child marriages, which increase the risk of infections such as HIV, risky pregnancies, lifelong birth-related complications, and sexual and reproductive health complications. Another important outcome of forced displacement is learning poverty - in addition to language barriers- women remain uninformed about primary health services and policies. This comes with a lack of knowledge about common diseases among women (e.g. breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), menstrual hygiene-related infections). Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge about family planning and contraception methods; antenatal and postnatal care facilities; and vaginal infection prevention methods. The main objectives of the I Still Rise project is raising awareness about women’s health, especially among refugee women since displacement’s impact on women’s health both mentally and physically and sufficient access to health services are among the main issues in refugee communities. We are planning to organize informative sessions and activities to address the listed issues to raise awareness and avoid easily preventable health issues. Within the framework of the project, sessions about common health problems and the ways of prevention, women will be able to better understand their body's needs, improve their hygiene and thus decrease the risk of infections and other common related complications. In the framework of the I STILL RISE project, we are aiming to arrange activities that emphasize the importance of each woman's story and experiences, thus helping them to rehabilitate their self-confidence, strengthen their social and soft skills, and mitigate their adaptation process within the host society. Bringing a difference in one woman's life is extensive enough to enhance the lives of people around her. Furthermore, we plan to increase interaction between different cultures, especially European identities and culture, in collaboration with youths working in Europe-based NGOs in Türkiye. 

Activities
We categorized the main purposes of the project into three main sub-purposes.
My body’s health matters:
Main slogan: My health is my capital

Planned activities:
•Providing menstrual hygiene lessons to women
•Teaching conscious use of health services
•Raising awareness about family planning and contraception use.
•Raising awareness about antenatal and postnatal care facilities.
•Raising awareness about breast cancer
•Raising awareness about vaginal infection and ways of prevention
•HPV vaccination and its importance

My mental health and self-improvement matter:
Main slogan: A Reminder to ourselves: we are strong enough
Planned activities:
•Providing activities for rehabilitation
•Art therapy (EBRU Art)
•Bringing refugees and host communities for strengthening harmony in the society
•Socializing activities
• Activities in nature, promoting green areas

The caged bird sings:
Main slogan: I have a story to tell
Planned activities:
•Bring together activist entrepreneur women with local refugee women with similar backgrounds and experiences.
•Every woman has a story to tell the platform
•Different European cultural information

Impacts
During the project, women will be informed about their bodies, the importance of health, and methods to improve their well-being. Considering the fact that early marriage is common among refugee societies and in addition to consecutive pregnancies, the teaching of family planning and women's rights would also help women to understand social services and their rights or at least learn to manage their life in a better way. Within the framework of the project, sessions about common health problems and the ways of prevention, women will be able to understand their body's needs better, improve their hygiene and thus decrease the risk of infections and other common related complications. Another important impact is raising awareness about breast cancer, which both during the project and in the long term will help women to understand the importance of self-examination and early diagnosis of diseases. Understanding your body, and appreciating your body’s needs have a significant positive outcome and impact on overall well-being and boost of self-confidence. In the long term, this improves the overall well-being of women, their families, children, and society.  Moreover, increasing awareness about antenatal and postnatal care services will essentially alleviate the problems, stresses, and traumas related to poor antenatal postnatal care. Young women will be able to consciously use services and improve their communication skills in addition to knowing where to seek help and treatment. Within the context of the project, the HPV vaccination procedure will also increase awareness about uterus cervix cancer and the importance of prevention methods. 
With planned activities, we want refugee women to be self-conscious about their mental health, emotions, and needs. Considering that displacement and migration have significant impacts on mental well-being, many women have lost their self-confidence and forgotten about their potential. Interaction with people from the same backgrounds and sharing stories will assist refugee women in comprehending their capacities and potentials, managing them, and regenerating the energy and self-confidence they have lost beforehand. 
I STILL RISE project also offers many opportunities to both organizations and partners. During the project, the organizing committee will get a chance to share their knowledge with people in need, experience volunteering, and learn how to work with partners from abroad by using digital tools and face-to-face interactions. Also, young participants of this project will work with people from different cultures, which will increase their appreciation for intercultural interactions and understanding of diversity. As a result of these interactions, young people will establish connections with people having the same ambitions and passion, thus in the long-term, learning from this communication, experiences, and friendships, will benefit them to create new projects and consciously use their potential and work with people having the same passion. Keeping in mind that young people will be in charge of this project, they get a great opportunity to improve their soft skills. As well as, in the process of this project, participants will need to make multiple decisions at the same time, which will improve their capability of managing, having clear communication skills, decision-making, and coping with stress and emotions. Having such an experience as a young volunteer, helping out people in need, and improving soft skills will be a great boost in the carrier of all participants.