Shirin is one of our most wonderful and dedicated workers here at Sindyanna. She has three daughters and lives in the village where Sindyanna is based. She told us her fascinating life story, so you can get to know the faces of Sindyanna better.

“Sindyanna made a big difference in my life. I used to spend my days at home, being a housewife. Now my time is managed differently and it’s definitely not like before when I was always at home. Now I know more people, I meet new people, and I have more responsibilities than before. Working has helped a lot from the economic side – now we bring two salaries home!

We can buy school books for the children, and in general we have more freedom. Sindyanna also changed my social life – I barely used to get out of my house because I was so busy working at home. This is the first time I left to work outside my home, and I’ve been working here for almost 2 years. The social connections are different than what I’m used to, there’s Arab and Jewish relationships and I feel that people like and even love you here at Sindyanna.

I know that it has impacted 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, go out, see the world, and experience different things. I finished high school, got married and then stayed at home working. I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college or see other things. For them it’s different, it’s automatic, it’s clear for them that they will finish high school and go to study and have a profession and will live more of their lives. I have three girls but I will never agree for them to get married at 18 like I did. First I want them to go study at a university and, most importantly, live their lives as strong and independent women.”