Before she joined Sindyanna, Shireen was a typical Arab housewife in her 40’s with 3 daughters. Her story resembles that of over 200,000 Arab women in Israel who are of working age but do not have a profession. Sindyanna seeks to empower these women, helping them to acquire skills that suit the requirements of the Israeli labor market, like using computer and learning Hebrew and English.

“Sindyanna made a huge difference in my life. Since I married I used to spend my days at home, doing house chores. I hardly got to see people outside of my family, and I felt quite isolated. But since I began working at Sindyanna many aspects of my life have changed. First, my family now has two salaries, and that makes an enormous difference in the choices we now have. Secondly, going out to work has forced me to organize myself better and to be more efficient. In Sindyanna I work side by side with Arab and Jewish women. I also get to meet people who come to our visitor’s center from all over the world. I feel that my horizons have expanded. We tell them about the work we are doing. I feel that Sindyanna’s success, is our success too.”

“I know that my work in Sindyanna has impacted not just myself, but my daughters’ lives as well. Their lives will be completely different, because my experience shows them that they can achieve great things. They will have more opportunities to study, to see the world, and to develop. I will never agree for my daughters to get married at eighteen as I did. I will make sure that they live their lives as independent women.”