Good day ladies and gentlemen, I am Nada.
Allow me to share my story with you today.
February 2011, I joined thousands of Bahrainis
at the Pearl Roundabout in the heart of Manama,
where the protests for democracy began,
volunteering at a medical tent to treat people who needed medical attention.
Soon, the government turned on the protesters and on us,
the doctors, the medics who’ve treated them.
March 19th, 2011
Fully armed, masked security forces
broke into my home and took me away
right after midnight.
I was the first woman arrested after the crackdown.
They kept me in a solitary confinement.
In the first 22 days, I was subjected to torture, including electrocution.
I was verbally abused.
In all, I was held for two months.
I was forced to sign statements confessing toppling the regime,
possessing weapons, forming terrorist cells,
criminally supporting protesters, and many other trumped up charges.
Along with 49 other doctors and medics who were also tortured into confessing,
I was convicted in a sham military trial and sentenced for 15 years in prison.
I’m not here today to talk about the ongoing human rights abuses in my country since 2011 til today.
I’m not here to talk about how I was tortured.
I’m not even here today to talk about torture at all.
I’m here today to tell you what happens afterwards.
But first, let me tell you something about Bahrain.
Bahrain is a small country ruled by a monarch.
The king’s uncle remained the unelected prime minister for the past 42 years.
Unfortunately, our uprising did not receive as much attention in the West as those in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria.
But in terms of percentage of people participating, it is among the largest.
Bahrainis, just like other people in the Arab Spring countries,
they wanted their basic rights and to be treated like human beings.
And just like other regimes in other Arab Spring countries, the government responded with violence,
shot indiscriminately at peaceful protesters, killing many, detaining thousands.
Torturing hundreds.
Several people have died in custody.
I’m a doctor so I wanted a better understanding of torture, how it works, how it affects people.
I wanted to get better tools to address trauma.
It’s no secret that torture is a massive issue. But that only captures part of the problem.
You see, in Arab world, it’s not acceptable.
No one, absolutely no one, wants to talk about torture.
It involves a great deal of stigma.
It’s shameful to ask for help.
Especially if the mental illness and the trauma is due to torture.
They put themselves at risk of social assassination,
social and economic assassination.
No one wants to give them jobs, especially if they are ex-political detainees.
In BRAVO, the anti-violence rehabilitation center that I founded right after my release,
we received evidence of sexual violence, in many cases.
More than 50% of male victims interviewed by our team, they confirmed that they have been subjected to sexual violence.
Several workshop, rehabilitation, counseling sessions provided to address this problem,
but guess the number of people who stepped forward to receive that care:
Zero.
Nobody.
It is because of the social stigma back there, where the victim becomes the criminal.
Where the innocent becomes the guilty.
Which reminds us of certain societies when women get raped, it’s their fault.
We have another problem: there’s a difference between men and women engaging in rehabilitation programs.
Women are more willing and they engage better in rehabilitation,
and men are very resistant, which it feels like we are addressing only half of the problem.
Torture is bad.
All of us, we know torture is bad.
But if we, as a society, do not understand how it works, it is difficult to move forward.
Unfortunately, very few resources are committed to helping those who have experienced it.
Rehabilitation is an essential part for victims to be able to rejoin our world,
to be socially reintegrated.
But we have to do it in a very culturally sensitive manner.
Of course, due to the social and cultural taboos,
we cannot recreate or replicate what works in the West.
We have to come up with a local solution - what works in Rome doesn’t necessarily work in Cairo.
Coming from a scientific background, I give people tools to heal and recover.
To become stable, autonomous human beings and stop seeing themselves in the role of victims.
I’ll share with you two stories today of fantastic women that I've worked with.
The first lady coming from a classy, posh, wealthy family
who, her husband was arrested five years ago.
The husband was sentenced for ten years in prison.
They had normal, reliable income.
The woman became broke, with two children at private schools.
She thought of killing herself and her children.
Several attempts of committing suicide.
All that woman needed was awareness,
to be mentally empowered,
to be able to stand up for herself and her children.
She got that, she received that, and she received it very well.
Today, she owns a company worth three million dollars.
Another story of a woman who lost two of her children,
19 and 20 years old.
Both died at the protest.
She never left home for three years.
She suffered severe PTSD, starting to lose her memory, showing early signs of Alzheimer’s.
It was a severe trauma.
A year ago, two of her daughters attended my healing sessions.
They convinced the mother to do the same.
And she did.
Soon, she was able to leave the house, come to the healing sessions by herself,
and six months later, she was happier, more stable.
She even became an ambassador of the project.
I’m no different than these women.
You are no different than these women.
We all want the same things:
security, safety, and a peace of mind. Isn’t it?
Unfortunately, and it’s really hard to say this,
but it may come to a point where I have to stop doing this work, as the danger is becoming too great.
I need to put myself, my family, and my children first.
This was taken in front of a police station after I was deported from Kuwait,
interrogated for long hours, in front of my two girls.
On an individual level, as well as on a societal level, there is such thing called breaking point.
I hope I don’t get to there, because there is so much work to do.
Through BRAVO, through the rehabilitation, healing programs and sessions.
I give people tools to heal themselves.
It is important for them to know how to do it for themselves.
The first step in healing ourselves, and our communities, is awareness.
Awareness is that the change is possible.
And I’m here today as a living proof, I am a living witness that the change is not only possible,
it is actually happening in Bahrain and all over the world.
Before I end my talk, perhaps many of you here know the meaning of my name, Nada, in Español.
Yeah? So Nada in Spanish means – you’re right – nothing. Nothing.
In Arabic, Nada means the morning dew, that gentle water that comes at sunrise,
falling on the rose petals, on the leaves of the trees and the grass,
awakening them to their full potential.
And that’s my thesis, that’s how I see it, and that’s how I believe it.
Nothing from outside is required, nothing.
Everything comes from within.
The change happens from within each one of us.
Though, it might require some gentle awakening touch, sometimes.
In Arabic we say shukran, shukran.
In English, it's thank you.