Workshop in NablusTaller en Nablus

By Cristina Millán

The last day of the year, when in Europe everybody (and a part of me) was thinking in the dinner and the party of that night; in a small village near Nablus, a Women Committee, helped by the Palestinian Health Work Committees, had organized a workshop about the important topic: Breast Cancer. This workshop is defined inside the work of Solidaridad Internacional in Palestine, so I attended it.

I was delighted with discovering how interested these Palestinian women are in the topic: some women came with their children and all of them were really attentive and active. In fact, I was very attentive too, because it is a topic everyone, especially everywoman, should be interested in. I thought that there should be more awareness session like this in Spain because women can learn how to auto-examine their breasts, can share doubts, fears or knowledge, but the most important they can create a group to fight for their Rights, their independence, their empowerment and the strengthening of their capacities.

I know that in Europe women have other situation and we also have other tools to spend time together such as drinking a beer/coffee in a pub, going to the gym or having dinner or a “girl-night”, for instance; but I also think most of us usually have such a stressful and busy life to think in spending (someone could say wasting) time in a workshop about breast cancer, and less the last day of the year!

However, these women are conscious of their difficult situation in terms of Rights, freedom or autonomy and, for this reason, they prefer spending the last morning of the year sharing problems and helping each other, because, otherwise their situation will be the same the next year.

At the end of the session, I was glad to discover this kind of social movements and supportive social nets but I was also a bit sad because in Europe, we have lost this grassroots movement created to help and support our community and, maybe a day, to help us. I think we could learn the good things of other cultures and countries!