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my dream in 2011 was for my children to
live a better life
than the life we were living before we
were trying to create opportunities for
ourselves
the situation in yemen had become
unbearable
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a lot of young people would go out on
protests demanding change
especially after the president announced
that the constitution would be amended
in favor of his re-election
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what made me participate in the
revolution of change in 2011
was the political social and economic
situation that was sweeping the country
i felt inside that i wanted to go out
onto the street i felt that as hosni
mubarak had fallen
there was a chance now that the yemeni
president could fall too
i remember it was around 7 30 p.m and i
took my two young daughters
i still remember my older daughter on
the shoulders of a protester
she was excited by the slogans they were
chanting the people want the downfall of
the regime
i kept thinking i'll go now but with the
excitement we stayed until 2 30 am
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for me the biggest incident that i'll
never forget is the burning of the
sit-in camp in thais
and the other is the 11th of november
2011
when the women's prayer area was
targeted three women who we used to go
out on the marches with
were martyred it increased our anger
towards the regime
there was no going back after this
innocent blood was shed
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for us as women in yemen our
participation in the youth and change
revolution meant a lot to us
because it paved the way for women to
participate in the dialogue
about the country's future in fact it
was a rebellion against many of
society's norms and restrictions
it was a major women's revolution
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the day he announced that he was
standing down it was a turning point and
we were happy but it wasn't a complete
happiness
there had been the expectation that what
would happen was the same as what
happened in tunisia and other places
that there would be a complete removal
of the political regime
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oh
yemeni women and i'm one of them are
proud that we participated in this
revolution
which demanded rights that were
legitimate and logical
even if it didn't achieve our dreams in
the way we had wished for