Her voice mattered. Hevrin Khalaf existed loudly on behalf of all women and fought for women’s rights in Syria. “It was not just Hevrin her killers were targeting, it was everything she stood for as well; the strength, dignity, and equality of women.”

A post-mortem examination showed that the politician was dragged from her car and brutally assaulted before being shot more than 20 times.

Hevrin Khalaf only got to be 34 years old. I find it hard to grasp, the brave life of this woman who only became 34, four years younger than what I am myself at this writing moment. I think to understand her, we must also try to understand the country she was from, Syria, and the time she lived in, and what was before her, that coloured her choices in life.

We hear so much these days about the word privilege, privilege in fortune, white privilege, privileges in terms of gender. I consider myself a woman of great privilege. Not just because I am white, I recognise that is a privilege in itself, but also because of the demographics and geographics I was born into. Hevrin Khalaf was born into the opposite; a part of the world that was opaquely painted with conflict, terror, injustice, war, fear, inequality and a country that was torn by hate and greed within its own people. What makes a young woman fight so hard for injustice and inequality that she sacrifices her life?

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We believe that we must meet all learners where they are and we all have different ways of learning. Listen to this episode where Lisen read the story of Hevrin Khalaf. The story was first published as an article on our website in the Knowledge Center.

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