Silvia Margia
Posted on | December 1, 2008 | No Comments
Program director with women’s intercultural organizations
There are voices inside myself. Some can be very ugly. In the last war, I found myself angry with the Jewish people. Will they wake up and see that security is not about the army? Peace is about economic security, not about an army. I was shocked. How I am thinking this way? How did I give myself even permission to say these things? I want to heal myself of this voice of the wounds of the little Arab girl inside. Sometimes you need to meet the other side and say, “Help me to heal myself and I will offer my help for you to do the same.’’
The wounds of the little Arab girl?
The little Arab girl in Jewish society, an Arab child in a Jewish school, the girl hugging her mother’s skirt with fear because another society doesn’t accept her.
Now, I feel blessed this is the story of my life. I know the Jewish-Israeli society as well as the Arab society. If I can have all these cultures and experiences living inside me together at the same time, then others can learn to live together as well.
How did you come to work on behalf of women?
My interest in women’s empowerment comes from my experiences as an Arab child in a Jewish school. Such a child goes to school afraid of a society that doesn’t accept her a whole person. Similarly, I think that all women around the world feel that as women, we are not really allowed to express ourselves. It is not only the Arab woman in Israel that is not allowed to express herself as a woman, but also women from diverse places and nations.
Is the place of a Christian Arab woman different in Israel than that of a Muslim woman?
In Israel it is not about whether you are a Muslim or Christian. It is the Arab culture that brings limitations. For me, as a divorced mother and speaking out as a courageous woman, living with fear is part of my life—to think that my brothers, my society, and my ex are looking at me. It is not a terrible thing; it is to take control of my feelings and my way of life to decide for myself who is the master and owner of Sylvia’s life.
A friend told me there was a suicide bomber who was a woman. I can’t see participation in suicide bombing as equality between women and men. For me, every woman must decide what is her empowerment and what is her voice. But to decide, she must have opportunities before her from which she can decide.
What is courage?
To allow yourself to leave your fears. I allow myself to give the fears living inside of me a life, allow them shapes so I can know them better and talk with them. I bring them to my living space to try to do something with them. I speak with my fears—and with my hopes and dreams. To accept myself is also to accept my ability to dream and my ability to make my hopes and dreams come true.
What are your hopes and dreams?
To see more women learning to work together in our center in Nazareth. And I would like to play the guitar, and to have more dancing in my life. I would like to see myself acting and singing, because I have a great voice.
What would you sing to the women of the world?
The most important thing is that we need each other to bring our true courage to this world that needs us. I need each woman in this world and I can help her.
Margia, a Christian Arab brought up in Jewish schools, is a bridge for transformational healing. She serves as Program Director of Beyond Words and Director for training young women leaders in Creativity Towards Peace, both committed to connecting young Palestinian and Israeli women. With a team of Arab and Jewish women, Margia helped found and direct Women in the Center, a women’s empowerment center in Nazareth.
