Motherhood in difficult times: brave mothers

We are all brave mothers. In some way, each family has had and still has to face various difficulties. Sometimes our children are born with some deficiency, or we may later have to do our best to respond to multiple needs at the most unexpected moment, our children may demand. And what to say without a doubt about this complex socioeconomic context where sometimes it is not so difficult to move on and make it to the end of the month giving all the best to our small or large families.

There is very little left before we can celebrate Mother's Day. Many of us will do it in the tranquility of our homes, receiving those wonderful gifts that children give us with all their enthusiasm. It is something formidable, there is no doubt, but today in our space We want to go a little further and pay our tribute to all those brave mothers who have left their homes, their countries and everything that was known to them. for giving their children a new chance. The war in Syria or the harsh situation in a large part of the Middle East countries have put thousands of mothers in a very harsh situation that we wish to speak about today in our space.

Brave mothers who have crossed miles of land and oceans for their children

Many people have become accustomed to turning on the television to be momentary witnesses to the refugee situation on our European borders. Pain infuriates us and fills us with terror and sadness for a few minutes. Until the announcements arrive or we are told of a new last minute on politics. Our awareness is sometimes fleeting, momentary, but the life of these people does not last "a newscast." His feat, his journey takes months of suffering, tears and despair.

Organisms such as the «International Medical Corps»They carried out a series of psychological tests on more than 8.000 refugees on the borders of Greece, obtaining the following data that invite us to a serious reflection.

• More than 30% of the adults were "paralyzed", unable to know how to react or what to do.  Everything seen, everything lived and the self-projection of a future without solution or with few expectations had plunged them into a state of emotional paralysis from which they did not quite know how to get out.
• 25% of the adults declared "not wanting to go on living."
• The rest stated that all the strength that they had was obtained from their own children. If they had left a context of war behind, it was to save their children from terror and to fight, to want to give them a better future.

Now, a fact that made the International Medical Corps in evidence as a complaint, is that cthus 80% of those children were traumatized. Their mothers, for their part, do not know how to deal with this situation. One can feed them, alleviate their cold, tell them that everything is going to be fine, but the mind of a child that has seen all the darkness that human beings are capable of, hardly recovers from this drama.

Being a mother in difficult times

You never really know what you are capable of until the time comes. A large part of the families that have left their homes of origin because of the attacks and the shadow of DAESH are women. Many of them have lost their husbands and family in the war, and they have not hesitated for a moment to take all their children with them, cross a sea with poor quality vests and subject to the mafias that organize these journeys, to find themselves in Sometimes, the same "obscurities" as in their countries of origin.

• According to a report by «Amnesty Internationall »A large part of refugee women are victims of sexual assaults and assaults on European soil. 
• Single-parent families (a mother with her children) are the ones most at risk when it comes to suffering discrimination, attacks and blackmail. Even humanitarian organizations have denounced how police and border guards blackmail women by offering them money and clothes in exchange for other favors.
• Refugee facilities like the one in Aleppo are settings where there is no privacy and where women feel constantly besieged, watched and blackmailed ...

Our tribute to brave mothers looking for a new opportunity

It gives all of us chills to think how in an apparently advanced Europe, we are allowing situations that According to humanitarian organizations, it was not seen even in the Second World War. The refugee population has historically always been well received. Many countries were sensitive to the needs of the past to give new opportunities to all who needed it.

Today, the political spheres are reacting in the opposite way: closing borders and stigmatizing people who, after fleeing the war, have found something worse. Rejection, humiliation, forgetfulness.

We only hope that in the coming months this whole geopolitical scenario changes and we can give a better response to these people who are suffering a situation that any of us can live.

• It is necessary that these mothers with their children manage to settle in a stable and safe social context. Only when you have peace of mind, security, and support can you begin to provide all the care your children need.
• We are also clear that the traumas these children have experienced will never disappear. All this leaves a mark, however, the simple act of "feeling safe again" can allow you to build confidence so that these nightmares will stop, to wake up the world again and trust.
• Being able to go to school again and normalize their lives with routines and habits in the company of their mothers and families will make them smile again sooner or later.

In conclusion. There is very little left for us to celebrate the Mother's Day, a special moment in which to reflect on that strength that motherhood offers us, showing us all that we are capable of doing. Being a mother does not understand races, cultures or historical moments, it is a constant struggle that we must support.

Our tribute today goes to all those women who carry their children in their arms day and night, who endure tears, humiliations and attacks, and who  Still, they try to smile for their children by telling them about a better world, while the world - at least part of it - seems to have forgotten about them. Let's hope that soon this whole situation will be resolved in the best way, because we all fit, we all deserve to fight for the future of some children who have done nothing to suffer in this way.