Reporting and Supporting: Women in war and peace



From the front line

Our lives are punctuated by daily reports from news correspondents risking their lives to show the barbarity of war.  The words and images come now from Ukraine, reminiscent of the 1940s and countless other wars, the nightmares of Bosnia, Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan. They are horrible, visceral and powerful. At times we can’t bear to look.

Many of the correspondents are women. Lise Doucet, Lindsey Hilsum, Orla Guerin, Alex Crawford and others, following the footsteps of Lee Miller, Martha Gellhorn, Kate Adie and Marie Colvin. Some, like Marie Colvin, died, others have been injured and traumatised. They report back faithfully and they speak with compassion and coherence. Never too emotional, they cut through to the brutality and senselessness of conflict. They are crucial witnesses, unflinching in their reports, urgent, but calm and focused. Doing their job and earning our admiration.

Resilience and defiance

Today’s haunting images show lines and lines of women and children. They wear their winter boots, woolly hats and bright puffer coats. They are pushing grandparents, carrying family pets, pulling suitcases, not knowing their final destination, but determinedly moving onwards.

How can they bear it? How would we feel if it was happening to us?

There are poignant moments. We remember the baby being passed through the wire fence in Afghanistan. In Ukraine, an elegantly dressed elderly woman stands defiantly in front of the ruins of her apartment block. Children with special needs are huddled into a basement shelter, cared for by the women who will stay with them, whatever the outcome.

In Russia itself, Marina Osnyannikova runs into the TV news studio with a handwritten placard saying ‘Don’t believe the propaganda. They are lying to you’. Another young woman is arrested for holding up a blank sheet of paper. Brave women who didn’t expect their lives to be like this.

How can we help? What can we do?

The world is witnessing mass displacement of people. Those of us living in relative peace are having agonised discussions about the human suffering. Money is donated, provisions are driven to the borders, charities are on high alert and accommodation is offered. Some of the tiniest compassionate actions can reduce us to tears or even smiles, like the bowls of food and water put out for all the pets coming into Berlin station with their desperate owners. Or the Syrian refugee overcome with astonishment when his hosts set fire to the Christmas pudding.

Our Fawcett group in Milton Keynes, like thousands of other groups and organisations, has been talking about all this and thinking about effective ways of supporting. Several members of the group have welcomed Syrians and Afghans to MK and are well aware of the complexities and difficulties facing refugees. Chaotic and bureaucratic government schemes have often been frustrating and baffling.

We hope that ways in which we can help will become clearer. We can share our plans and ideas, and we must take advice from those who have the skills, knowledge and experience. We can lobby politicians to develop strategies and put viable plans together. We can challenge slow and inhumane practices.

We don’t need gestures and self-aggrandising speeches. It’s not about being competitive or world-beating. It’s about compassion, common humanity and doing whatever we can to help, for this is a huge watershed moment. 

Ukraine - three ways to help

MK Council gears up for 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme

Welcome MK - Giving refugees and migrants a brighter hope for tomorrow

Location: Milton Keynes, UK

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