Sad death of an honoured member

Just after our return from the World Water Forum in Istanbul the Gender and Water Alliance was informed of the death of our very honoured member, Dr. Fadia Daibes Murad of Palestine, killed on her way home from work in a car crash, in which seven other people were injured. Fadia had just represented the GWA at the World Water Forum in Istanbul in the topic of water and conflict, contributing from a gender perspective.

Fadia was an important defender of the water rights of Palestine women and men, very intelligent, and full of energy. We will keep remembering her, and learning from her to keep hope and continue to fight even in the hardest of times.

We send condolences to her family, especially to her husband, the musician Said Murad, and her two sons of nine and sixteen. We wish them a lot of strength with this insurmountable loss.

Fadia was interviewed at the Water Forum and you can hear her talk for herself, by visiting the following link on You-tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZBzV3N8xc4

Typically, in this last public statement of her beliefs, she stood up for the water rights of Palestinians and described the positive role that women could play in adding a sensitive gender perspective. She described in courageous and honest terms the difference that this work can make and the difficulties in making progress when water is scarce and where “one party is weak and one party is strong”.

Fadia also speaks movingly about the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchal society. “The other challenge that I face personally, is that being a woman and a strong woman, I can say about myself, is actually not easy in a very patriarchal society where they consider women should do only very low profile traditional things like teaching, like nursing like secretarial work, but not as professionals, as women who can be leaders in the society. But I hope that I will continue and I am confident that I can do some change.”

Her work will live on after her.