We would like to honor Cherien Dabis, a Palestinian-Jordanian-American filmmaker, producer and actor as June's Empowered Arab Woman of the month. Dabis was born in Nebraska to Palestinian and Jordanian parents. She obtained her Bachelors in creative writing and communications from the University of Cincinnati and her Masters in Fine Arts from Columbia University. Through her own experience as an Arab woman living in the United States, Dabis has been able to share stories of Arab women and the ways in which stereotypes and traditions affect their everyday lives through her films. Her film, Amreeka, shares the story of an Arab immigrant family living in the states exposed to the post 9/11 culture and how the negative stereotypes imprinted on Arabs as a result affects their daily lives. The film went on to win numerous awards and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. In 2009, she was named one of Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch.”

“May in the Summer,” one of her more recent films, shares the story of a Christian Arab-American woman who travels back to her family’s home in the Middle East in preparation for her wedding. The film explores the dynamics of family relationships and the influence of religion and culture in relation to the distraught state of the character’s mother towards the idea of an inter-religious marriage. In an interview with GOOD magazine, Dabis stated that she, “wanted to portray strong Arab women. It’s very much a movie about four Arab women who are speaking their own inner truths, struggling to be who they are in a family, in a culture, and in a society that has so many expectations of who they should be.”  
       ΕΑΣ admires Dabis' power and ability to share our stories depicting the ways in which social, religious and political terms impact the identities and relationships of Arabs living in the Middle East and in the United States. Her ability to relate our common struggle to art is not only comforting but an inspiration and we await her future works. 

       This month's Empowered Arab Woman is Michigan native and pediatrician, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha. A daughter to immigrant Iraqi parents, she discovered that the blood lead levels were rising in children in the city of Flint. Upon researching the increase in cases of lead poisoning, she discovered  something was not right. She contacted Flint's government and was turned away for her "false accusations," stating that her facts were fabricated. She almost single-handedly brought this major issue to light.
       Mona is the director of the pediatric residency program at Hurley Children’s Hospital in Flint and acts as assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan State University. She is married with two little children who she says are her "best pediatric teachers."
       The lead poisoning began in April of 2014 when the city of Flint changed its water source to the Flint River in an effort to cut costs. Although the residents complained about the quality of the water, officials kept assuring that the water was safe to drink. Upon hearing reports from a Virginia Tech group, Mona discovered the relationship between the government's decision and the rising number of lead-poisoning cases of children in her city. She did the research and found that the number of cases doubled and even tripled in some neighborhoods over the past couple of years. Although she made an ethical decision in warning people of the situation, Mona received a lot of backlash. It was only until she contacted a state health official that she was able to receive some momentum on her search for justice.

          In the month of September, Epsilon Alpha Sigma is recognizing and honoring one of our own Empowered Arab mothers, Shaheera Owaynat, for being both a strong and supportive local role model. Shaheera is mother of Alpha Chapter, Epsilon Class Dove, Lulu Alramahi. Born in Jordan to Palestinian parents, Owaynat moved to the United States with her family at the age of one. 
          At the mere age of 19, Owaynat took on the responsibility of raising a child as a single mother. That decision went against the strict religious and cultural norms practiced in her respective community. Her circumstances forced her to leave her family, with her young daughter in tow and a mere 500 dollars to her name, to start a new life on their own. For the next two years, the whereabouts of Owaynat and her daughter were unknown. Her transition to independence was littered with struggle; during her humble beginnings, she worked at a mall and as a waitress. After years of hard work, Owaynat established herself as an interior designer and built her own contracting business from home. She persevered in the face of adversity and disproved those that undermined her abilities as a single mother. By establishing a strong support system of friends and by empowering herself and those around her, she rose to be a strong and independent woman. 
          Lulu Alramahi says, "Leaving her family in that time and at her age was culturally unacceptable but she knew she wanted to give me a better life and wanted to be an example for young arab women that shared her struggles. The choices she's made in her life were extremely difficult but through always doing what she believes is right, she leads by example. The best way I can say it is that anytime she is around young Arab women, there is something about her that they look up to. I think it's the fact that she does not hold back at all, plus they are inspired by her story which she never hesitates to share. She refused to allow stereotypes that come with being not only a woman, but being an Arab woman, define her.”
          Owaynat broke boundaries and refused to accept the standards imposed on Arab women at the time. Her determination demonstrates that one can persevere even through the most brutal conditions. For the Alpha chapter, she was a key figure in securing and finalizing many aspects of the 2015 annual charity banquet, Remembering the Refugees. The Empowered Arab Sisterhood is grateful to have an EAΣ mother who supports them in all their endeavors and takes every opportunity to help empower young Arab women. 

Epsilon Alpha Sigma would like to honor Laura Boushnak, a photographer, as our July’s Empowered Arab women of the month. Boushnak is a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian who obtained her Bachelors of Arts in Sociology at the Lebanese University.  She is currently an independent photographer but has previously worked for the Associated Press in Lebanon and for Agence France-Presse. Through her work, Boushnak showcases various sectors of the Arab world, including social and cultural issues that affect the everyday lives of those living in the region. One of her projects, entitled “I Read I Write,” examines the significant role that education and literacy plays in the lives of Arab women across Egypt, Yemen, Tunis, Jordan and Kuwait. She was named a 2014 TED Global Fellow, an honor that acknowledges social advocates, artists and other global leaders. 

 In her TED talk, Boushnak spoke about her “I Read, I Write” project and stated, "The Arab states are going through tremendous change, and the struggles women face are overwhelming. Just like the women I photographed, I had to overcome many barriers to becoming the photographer I am today, many people along the way telling me what I can and cannot do. Umm El-Saad, Asma and Fayza (some of the women she has photographed), and many women across the Arab world, show that it is possible to overcome barriers to education, which they know is the best means to a better future."
       Her work also received an honorable mention at the 2013 UNICEF photo of the year and her photography has been showcased at numerous exhibitions across North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Boushnak has further expanded her artistic impact in a collaboration with other female Arab photographers through Rawiya - a photography collective composed that seeks to show the Middle East from a different view. 
       Epsilon Alpha Sigma admires Boushnak’s ability and creativity in capturing the Arab world from an insider’s perspective and using photography as tool to shed light on gender and social issues in the Arab states. 

You can view her “I Read I Write” project, along with her other projects here.

Epsilon Alpha Sigma is proud to honor Zainab Salbi, an Iraqi-American activist, author and former CEO of Women for Women International, as March’s Empowered Arab Woman of the month. Born in Baghdad in 1969, Salbi came to the United States in 1990. She received BA in Sociology and Women’s Studies from George Mason University then continued her education and received a master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.
       At the mere age of 23, she founded Women for Women International, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women from war-torn countries rebuild their lives through educational and economic advancement. When Salbi learned of the violence and the rape camps in Bosnia and Croatia, she decided to create her non-profit and build a better world for female victims of war. 
       Furthermore, Salbi’s personal experience of living during war times in Iraq greatly impacted her life. Her father was the personal pilot to Saddam Hussein and living in close proximity to Hussein greatly influenced her daily life. In "Little House in the War Zone," her 2009 op-ed for The New York Times, Salbi shared her perspective on her life in Iraq and the influence of war. She is the author of three books, including a memoir titled Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam. 
      Salbi has continuously worked and continues to work to empower women and fight for ways to improve access to resources and basic human rights worldwide. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has been named “Time” magazine’s Innovator of the Month, the World Economics Forum’s Young Global Leader, and won the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2005 as the founder of Women for Women International. 
       The women of Epsilon Alpha Sigma thank you Zainab for all your work and dedication to improving women’s rights and creating a space for women who are victims of war. The Empowered Arab Sisterhood greatly appreciates all that you do.

       This month, Epsilon Alpha Sigma recognizes Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh, a prominent writer in contemporary Arabic literature, for challenging the standard, societal norms placed on women.
       Al-Shaykh was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1945 where she lived and studied before moving to Egypt's American College for Girls in Cairo. Al-Shaykh moved back to Beirut and worked as a journalist for Al-Hasna, a women’s magazine and later for an-Nahar, an Arabic newspaper, from 1966 to 1975.
       In 1975, Al-Shaykh left Beirut at the onset of the Lebanese Civil War, a tragic period of Lebanon’s history that influenced Al-Shaykh’s writings. In a 2011 interview with “The Daily Star,” Al-Shaykh said that the war lead to a shift in her way of thinking of life. “Instead of thinking, ‘What am I going to wear today,’ ‘Is it going to rain,’ or  ‘Is it not going to rain,’ you start asking yourself questions like ‘Am I going to live or am I going to die,’ ‘Am I going to drop dead this second,’ or ‘am I going to celebrate life?” she said. 
       Al-Shaykh is known for her writings exploring the role of women in society, gender roles, love, sexuality and patriarchal structures that act as obstacles for women. In “The Story of Zahra,” Al-Shaykh tells the story of a Lebanese women struggling to live through war-torn Beirut while dealing with love, marriage and abortion, among other things. Al-Shaykh independently published the book because publishers in Lebanon did not agree to print the novel and several Arab countries banned the book due to it's discussion of traditionally taboo topics. In one of her more recent novels, “The Locust and the Bird: My Mother’s Story,”Al-Shaykh shares the personal story of her mother, who fell in love with a man and continued to love him, despite an arranged marriage. The novel explores the themes of love, marriage, divorce and family. 
      The Empowered Arab Sisterhood respects Al-Shaykh’s talent in sharing both non-fiction and fiction stories that encounter the genuine difficulties and triumphs that women face when maneuvering through daily life in war-torn regions. We are honored to acknowledge Al-Shaykh as our February Empowered Arab Woman of the month and admire her work in helping empower women of all walks of life.

          To kick off the fall season, Epsilon Alpha Sigma would like to honor Randa Markos as October’s Empowered Arab Woman of the month. As a born fighter, her story proves to be both an inspiration and a prime example for our Empowered Arab Sisters. Similar to most of the Arab world’s refugees, Markos didn’t have much of a childhood by being forced to experience war at a very young age. The Iran-Iraq war of the late 1980s left her family struggling to regain any sense of normalcy. Markos was only 3 years old when her father decided he had to get the family out of Iraq. “In Iraq, all the males are required to join the army, but they were so poorly equipped and trained, he felt like it was an instant death sentence,” Markos said. “My father watched so many of his friends die in the war, so he began the process of getting us out of Iraq. He knew if he stayed and didn't join the army, they would kill him." And so the family set out for the Iraq-Turkey border. They walked for days until finally arriving at the border greeted by hundreds of refugees who found themselves in the same predicament. For the next year, they would wait at a refugee camp in Istanbul for visas into any country that would open its borders. As a refugee, Markos’ father was not permitted to work in the region, toughening things for the family. When the visas never came, they were detained at gunpoint by the Turkish government, and waited to be deportated in jail. "My father talked to a United Nations official and asked for his help," Markos said. "Somehow, they didn't send us back. Shortly after, our visas to Canada came through." Moving from city to city, country to country, riding on donkeys and in cabs, Markos and her family eventually ended up in Canada.          

        Here is where the real fighting began. The change proved to be difficult for Markos’ family but she managed to find light at the end of the tunnel. Markos found solace in wrestling, joining her high school team. There, she discovered an outlet that she was passionate about, and good at. "I loved wrestling because when all that stuff was going on in my house, I never talked about it," she said. "So I'd go to the gym and I'd get all my frustration out. And it was like another family to me. I would do well and my coaches would give me great feedback. I was starved to get that approval from them. I never got that approval at home." As a Chaldean (Iraqi Christian) family, Markos' upbringing remained traditional and strict. So she told her family she played volleyball instead, then went off every day and grappled with the boys. Following high school, Markos obtained a degree in Astrophysics at the University of Windsor. Throughout her academic career, she missed wrestling and through her relationship with MMA fighter, Jeff Thomas, she found her true passion. Once she completed University, she would begin training as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. Eventually her dream would become a reality: she is now one of the 16 female athletes competing in season 20 of UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter.” This deems her one of the 16 best 115-pound female fighters in the world. 
      Markos' life journey is a tremendous inspiration for the sisters in Epsilon Alpha Sigma. We applaud the strength she possesses beyond her MMA fighting to follow her heart and passion despite her life circumstances. Markos did not let stereotypes, gender norms, or any of her struggles get in the way of pursuing her dreams. Her story should encourage the young women of our sisterhood and young women everywhere to embrace their passions and stand strong  in the face of adversity.  

      This month, Epsilon Alpha Sigma is honored to recognize the work of two incredibly talented and intelligent sisters. Emily Jacir and Annemarie Jacir have been using art as a medium to express many important topics and issues connected to their Palestinian-American identities. Their works reflect the struggles and experiences of Palestinians and Arab women and these sisters embrace the responsibility they know their art has in sharing the story of Palestine and of Palestinians. 
      Annemarie Jacir was born in Bethlehem, Palestine but spent a majority of her childhood in Saudi Arabia before moving to America at sixteen. Annemarie majored in Politics and Literature at the Claremont colleges and received her masters in Film. Annemarie is now an accomplished producer and writer. She has been working in independent cinema since 1988 and she believes that her art should not be separate from politics or ignore societal issues that necessitate the art. She has made numerous films, including Until When, The Satellite Shooters, Two Hundred Years of American Ideology, Post Oslo History, and A Few Crumbs for the Birds. She directed the first Palestinian short film, like twenty impossibles, which was the first Arab short film to ever be an official selection of the Cannes International Film Festival. This film went on to win 15 awards at festivals around the world. Annemarie Jacir is also a recipient of the Zaki Gordan Award for Excellence in Screenwriting and was selected for the Sundance Screenwriter's Lab. In 2004, she was named one of the "25 new faces of independent filmmaking" by Filmmaker Magazine. In 2007, Jacir shot the first feature film by a Palestinian woman director, Salt of this Sea, the story of an American woman whose parents were Palestinian refugees, making her first visit to her family's homeland. The film, released in 2008, is Palestine's submission to the 81st Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.. Her 2012 film When I Saw You won the NETPAC Critics Award for Best Asian Film at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival and was selected as the Palestinian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.

In addition to her filmmaking success, Annemarie Jacir’s poetry and stories have also been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. She is chief curator and founder of the groundbreaking Dreams of a Nation Palestinian cinema project, dedicated to the promotion of Palestinian cinema. In 2003, she organized and curated the largest traveling film festival in Palestine, which included the screening of archival Palestinian films from Revolution Cinema, screening for the first time on Palestinian soil. She has taught courses at Columbia University, Bethlehem University, Birzeit University and in refugee camps in Palestine and Lebanon. She works as a freelance editor and cinematographer as well as film curator. Annemarie is a board member of Alwan for the Arts, a cultural organization devoted to North African and Middle Eastern art. In addition to her many accomplishments, she is also a founding member of the Palestinian Filmmakers’ Collective, based in Palestine.      
      Emily Jacir was also born in Bethlehem, Palestine and grew up in Saudi Arabia. She went to high school in Rome, attended undergraduate and graduate school in the United States and has had artist’s residencies in Colorado, Paris, New York, and Linz. Emily, a political artist like her sister, connects Palestinian life under occupation, Palestinian experiences collectively, and her own life in exile within her work.  Emily works in a variety of media and has exhibited her work all around the world. Since 1999, Emily has been active in building Ramallah’s art scene and has worked with various organizations including the Oattan Foundation, al-Ma’mal Foundation and the Sakakini Cultural Center. She has been involved in creating numerous projects and events such as Birzeit's Virtual Art Gallery. She also founded and curated the first International Video Festival in Ramallah in 2002. She curated a selection of shorts; Palestinian Revolution Cinema (1968 – 1982) which went on tour in 2007. She works as a full-time professor at the vanguard International Academy of Art in Palestine since it opened its doors in 2006 and she also served on its Academic Board from 2006 through 2012. Emily Jacir led the first year of the Ashkal Alwan Home Workspace Program in Beirut (2011-2012) and created the curriculum and programming after serving on the founding year of the Curricular Committee from 2010 to 2011.
      From 2001-2003, Emily assembled “Where We Come From,” an exhibition compiled of responses from Palestinians answering: “If I could do anything for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?” Emily has received many awards and recognitions throughout her artistic journey including, the ‘Leone d’Oro a un artista under 40,’ Prince Claus Award, Hugo Boss Prize, and was the Visual Arts winner of the 2011 Alpert Award in the Arts.
      The Jacir sisters have contributed greatly to the artistic community within Palestine and around the world. Their pieces are testaments to the resilience of Palestinians and the creations they share with the world have evolved from a place of hope, that even as daughters of refugees, they will one day return to stay in their homeland. The women of EAS treasure and celebrate the inspiration, empowerment, and truth behind their art. We are in awe of their endless dedication to their homeland and their determination to share the beauty and suffering of Palestinians with the world. 

       Epsilon Alpha Sigma is excited to honor the beautiful and brilliant Amal Alamuddin. She has graced the Hollywood and worldwide media stage with her recent engagement to actor, George Clooney, but this accomplished lawyer and activist has now become an inspiration to many Arab women around the world. Amal Alamuddin was born in Beirut, Lebanon and moved to London with her family at a young age. Alamuddin attended the University of Oxford with a scholarship where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence. She later moved to New York to finish her studies, earing a Law Degree from New York University. While at NYU she received the Jack J. Katz memorial awardfor excellence in the field of Entertainment law and worked as a student law clerk for now-Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was then a judge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.                    
      After graduating from NYU, she joined the litigation department of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and practiced U.S. and international law there for three years. Alamuddin is an accomplished barrister who specializes in international law, human rights, extradition and criminal law for the Doughty Street Chambers firm in London. She has represented WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, in his fight against extradition by Sweden and Ukraine's ex-prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, in challenging her detention before the European Court of Human Rights. She also has been appointed to numerous U.N. commissions and is an advisor to former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Syria. She is trilingual, fluent in English, French, and Arabic and focuses much of her attention on the Middle East. Although Alamuddin has spent the majority of her life outside of her homeland, she has remained connected to her Arab roots and has worked hard to empower herself and others. Epsilon Alpha Sigma is captivated by all of Alamuddin’s achievements throughout her life and we are blessed to have Alamuddin as an example to the ladies of  EAΣ, some of which aspire to be human rights lawyers. We proudly support Amaluddin’s future professional endeavors and send her many positive wishes as she moves forward.
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