Mahfoutha Sindiyanat El-Karama Award
The Sindiyanat El Karama is a yearly award discerned by Karama and AWF in appreciation of the role Arab women have played as guardians of dignity, and the great sacrifices they have made in the face of discrimination, danger, and violence.
Mahfoutha represents the woman who has struggled throughout her life, who has fought tirelessly against the world for a better life for herself, her family, her community, for women and for men in war, in revolution, in the struggle for liberation, in the constant battle simply to live with dignity from day to day and from year to year. She represents the woman who has had her dignity stripped from her without recognition or recompense, the woman whose heroism is witnessed but never acknowledged, the woman who has been crushed but will never be broken. It is to honor these formidable women that we have created this award a symbol of our gratitude to those who have stood up for their people, who have stood up for women. We want to celebrate their strength and their dignity, to offer them respect and encouragement where they have had little, and to show the world that the greatest resilience is in the least powerful among us.
4th Annual Mahfoutha Prize, December 2010
For the first time, Karama and the Arab Women’s Fund selected three individuals to receive the Mahfoutha award and honor. Each of these women demonstrates the importance of capacity-building, mentorship, education, and access.
1. Elham Sadek
Elham started as a worker in the crochet workshop affiliated to Bashayer, then was promoted to a trainer responsible for the women working in the same workshop. Through her work with the women, Elham proved to be a very gifted mentor and was therefore offered a position in the Listening and Counseling Unit in Bashayer. She later attended various trainings to develop her listening and counseling skills and is today a valuable member of the unit whose support to battered women is strongly appreciated by all.
2. Sahar Yehia
Sahar is an Egyptian woman who struggled very hard for her right to education and a decent life, and although she was illiterate for a substantial part of her life, she managed to overcome the difficulties she once faced. Sahar began her journey towards empowerment in the literacy classes organized through the adult education program at the Women and Society Association. She then enrolled in and completed her elementary and secondary education through that same program and is today very close to achieving her dreams – against all odds – of receiving a Bachelor degree in Law as she is in her fourth and final year at the Faculty of Law in Cairo University. Sahar said that her role model who affected her decisions and views in life is Ms. Tahany Al-Gebali, the first woman judge to be appointed to the Supreme Constitutional Court in Egypt.
3. Amina Agamy
Amina has long suffered from the violence, oppression and marginalization faced by a great number of women in Egypt. However, Amina did not stop there nor did she limit herself to self-pity but rather decided to face the challenges bequeathed from her upbringing and family and utilized these very challenges as a source of strength to improve not only her life but the lives of the people surrounding her. Amina, who is a mother of two, worked hard within the Shehab team to end violence against women and was among the initiators who decided to reach out to the individuals most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infections, through reaching out to them and raising their awareness. Amina Agamy started her work at Shehab as a field researcher and gradually reached her current position as a coordinator of the unit responsible of handling the cases of women victim of violence.
3rd Award Sindiyanat El Karama
Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein was honored by Karama and the Arab Women’s Fund with the 2009 ‘Mahfoutha’ Sindiyanat El-Karama Award for challenging a decency law in Sudan which forbids women from wearing pants. Standing trial in September 2009, Ms. Hussein faced a punishment of 40 lashes and one month in prison.
2nd Award Sindiyanat El Karama
On 27 December 2008, Karama and the Arab Women's Fund awarded the second Mahfoutha Sindiyanat El-Karama Award, to Zohor Mdaghri Alawi, of Fes, Morocco. A lifelong teacher, Alawi made formidable contributions to Morocco's women's movement as the founder of the country's first human rights organization, OMDH, in 1988, and as a founder of the first counselling centre for women victims of violence in 1994. She served on the editorial committee of the 8th of March newspaper, and wrote numerous feminist articles for more than 15 years. Alawi was honored by the Arab Women's Fund, the regional partners of the Karama movement, and her country peers as the second recipient of the award.
1st Award Sindiyanat El Karama
Mahfoutha Shtayyeh from Palestine was recipient of the prize in 2007
The Award was named after its first recipient: Mahfoutha Shtayyeh, from Salem village near Nublus. This seemingly frail 65-year-old woman inspired us with her strength, her passion, and the sheer force of her will. As Israeli soldiers and settlers uprooted hundreds of the olive trees in her village, Mahfoutha clung to the wreck of one of her trees in protest. In the face of the rape of her community’s lands, livelihoods, and dignity, Mahfoutha stood up to military with courage.
She embodies what the Sindiyanat (the oak tree) represents. This large, powerful and beautiful tree provides security for the vulnerable, shelter for a multitude, food and shade for the hungry and tired. It is the symbol of strength and resilience, of struggle and endurance, of loyalty and longevity.
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