Letter from the Editor
In 2006, a handful of enthusiastic editors began a collaboration that would ultimately become The WIP. On our first day online, March 7, 2007, I posted my first editorial outlining our vision for The WIP. I imagined “a news website where women were the experts, the public intellectuals, the writers.” I shared with our new community “I am fascinated by the internet and by its potential ... by humanity and our potential,” and my thoughts on the media as force for social change. I value news because it is a source of education. I concluded, as purveyors of news, knowledge and insight, “We can do better.”FROM THE SYRIA ARCHIVES
Syria, Forced Migration, and Humanitarian Aid
by The WIP
Dr. Dawn Chatty is a University Professor in Anthropology and Forced Migration and the Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. She is a social anthropologist with long experience in the Middle East as a university teacher, development practitioner, and advocate for indigenous rights. In advance of Dr. Chatty's visit to Monterey, California, The WIP connected with her to discuss Syria, forced migration, and humanitarian aid.
Syrian Mothers "We Are All the Same"
by Riham Alkousaa
Fadia Al-Khatib, a mother of five, came to Germany by herself. The 44-year-old Syrian woman and her husband decided that she would seek asylum first and then apply to bring her family over. Hundreds of Syrian women are making similar decisions, risking their lives for a chance at a new life. According to an Amnesty International report issued in December 2014, Germany and Sweden together have received 96,500 new Syrian asylum applications in the last three years.
