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Şînda Ekrem is a Kurdish journalist, producer and presenter with over a decade-long career as a writer. From the very start of the significant 2014 events in northeast Syria, which marked the rise of ISIS and the subsequent battle against it, she was at the forefront of reporting on the crises. As one of the founders of a female-led initiative of reporters and journalists in the Rojava region, Şînda significantly contributed to media reporting and storytelling. Upon her travels uncovering local truths and harsh realities, Şînda remembered meeting three extraordinary women in western Kurdistan, and their remarkable stories have stuck with her ever since her path crossed with theirs briefly.

Şînda Ekrem photographed with Dapîra Nafiya in Rojava, Western Kurdistan.

Dapîra Nafiya

On June 15, 2016, I found myself walking between the borders of Western and Northern Kurdistan. With the weight of my camera on my shoulders, I ventured out to monitor the situation of the local people in Qamişlo and to support the people of the North against the attacks from the Turkish State on Nisibunê.

From across the road, an older woman stood bold, looking into the distance, holding a stick in one hand and a child’s hand in the other. With my attention captured, I just knew I had to learn more about who this woman was and why she lingered between two borders. ‘Dapîra Nafiya’ (Grandmother Nafiya) was her name; upon greeting her, she introduced herself to me as a ‘daughter of Diyarbakir (Amed) from Bakur’, and she was waiting to take off for work as a labourer in the local residential areas of Qamişlo.

Despite the hardships, Dapîra Nafiya’s eyes still sparkled, a testament to her resilience. Her hands, however, were wrinkled from exhaustion. Every day, 90-year-old Nafiya stands on the street opposite the border of Nisibunê and prays to God that her family and people will be protected from the brutality and aggression of the Turkish state.

Dapîra Nafiya photographed by Şînda Ekrem.

Nafiya was born to Gül Mella and Hasen Dervish in the Kurdish city of Amed (Diyarbakır). Her early life was marked by pain and suffering due to her parents' constant conflict, which led to the end of their marriage.

Due to social pressures, including economic hardships and cultural norms, Nafiya's mother remarried and entrusted her one-year-old daughter to her aunt. Because of Turkish military actions, Nafiya's mother and her new spouse were forced to flee to Rojava and settle in the city of Qamishlo.

At the age of 15, Nafiya was compelled into a marriage with her cousin and experienced extreme poverty while raising nine children of her own.

Dapîra Nafiya (second left) in 1985 as a labourer, archive photo obtained by Şînda Ekrem. 

Nafiya has actively supported the Kurdish cause since the 1980s and faced various pressures and oppression from the Baath regime in Syria. She remained faithful and loyal to the Kurdish cause and her children, who were part of the Rojava revolution. Dapîra Nafiya unfortunately passed away in 2023.

Dapîra Nafiya at a local protest in her community in Rojava.

Dayika Kilê

A native of Efrîn, I met Kilê in the village of Kutilê in the Şahbaye region of Rojava. I referred to her as ‘Dayika Kilê’ (mother Kilê).

I did not expect to meet a remarkable 58-year-old Kurdish woman like Kilê Xan (Ms). The first time I saw her, she wore a distinctive necklace adorned with red bound stones.

When I asked her name, she smiled and said, “My name is Kila Çavane”. She opened her heart to me and told me the story of her unique name. She said that her father gave her the name she chose because she was the only one among five brothers, and her father believed that girls could provide the most incredible support to their parents.

He always said: "I know very well that girls can be heroes and warriors because in history, behind every man, there was a woman hero and warrior, and this history is alive today in Rojava." His unwavering belief in the strength of girls was not just a belief but a source of inspiration for Dayika Kilê.

A portrait of Kila Çavane taken by Şînda Ekrem in Rojava, 

Meryem Xan

 In the depths of the village of Birc Qas in the Şêrewa, a district of Afrin within Rojava sits an elderly lady named Meryem Weysi. Despite her age at 99 years old, Meryem vividly remembers her youth and attitude over the years as an outspokenly proud woman of the Ezidî faith who never folded to oppressors when the threats of conversion knocked at her door.

Born into the arms of Efrîn’s mountains in a village called Qitmê, Meryem’s childhood and youth were never short of trauma and crisis under Baathi rule in Syria. Meryem married in Birc Qase (part of the Shera district) and gave birth to eight children.

Growing up under the strain of the crises that Western Kurdistan was going through under the Ba’athi regime in Syria, Meryem recalls the hardship of those around her and the many from her own Ezidî faith who she witnessed fall victim to religious conversion – a price to pay for a better life under a brutal regime that discriminated against non-Sunni Muslims.

Meryem did not cave into fear; she stood firm in her faith like a rock in the face of a storm. Cruelty was not enough to break her from her faith; this deep-rooted Ezidî woman remained connected to her ancient culture and roots – led by prideful stubbornness that continues today within the hearts of simple people alike. The power of faith that does not recognise submission is the same power that will guarantee its survival.

Meryem Weysi photographed in her home in 2021 by Şînda Ekrem.

The original text has been translated into English by Raz Xaidan.