Name: Stella Martani
Title: Project Coordinator and Acting Project Manager-Safe Return Project
Favorite color: Purple in all its shades
Favorite food: My mother’s Dolma
What is your secret talent or favorite thing about yourself? I have been known as the only independent female fixer in Iraq and I have worked with over 200 different international media agencies and freelance journalists, researchers and NGOs as a fixer since 2016; the links below for your reference about my role as a fixer: Vice News – Inside the Dangerous Life of a Female ‘Fixer’ in Iraq
How did you get into this work? As soon as I graduated from university and received my bachelor’s degree in 2016, I was interviewed and offered a job by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and that is when my journey with humanitarian work started and continues to this day. Later I became the ACT Alliance Iraq Coordinator until I joined Heartland Alliance International in July 2019. I liked my work since the beginning because it provided me the opportunity to meet and work with victims of conflict and human rights violations that were forgotten and abandoned by the government. It makes me happy to see them have access to MHPSS, legal and primary healthcare services as well as livelihoods’ opportunities in the return locations where they had to start over from scratch.
Why is this work important to the community and those we serve? I have witnessed the conflict and people from affected areas since the beginning of ISIL attacks, and followed them from the time of their displacement and during return. After ISIL war and the series of conflicts in Iraq for decades, people, and especially those from the conflict areas, were left with different levels of trauma and in great need for MHPSS services. Some of the IDPs and Syrian refugees who started living in the camps over six years ago, remain displaced and live under the same tent to this day. Our work focuses on survivors of severe human rights violations from the minority community and reintegrating them in their home communities, which is highly significant upon return. The reintegration of these communities into their places of origin helps their healing process and willingness to stay as a result of availability of services and support. Witnessing the heavy war, displacement and loss these victims of severe human rights violations have witnessed and suffered from, such as, mass rapes, forced marriages, extreme acts of ethnic cleansing, mass murder, genocides, children recruitment as solders, slavery and abduction, to other common crimes of ISIL made me learn about and understand the significance of NGO’s presence in the region: especially with the absence of government response and increasing corruption in supporting and rebuilding these communities. To this day, their only hope is in the NGOs and other nongovernmental actors while the reconstruction and healing process still remains very slow. Moreover, I cannot forget that I and my family have also grown under the gunfire, which makes me completely understand and feel communities affected by war and conflicts.
Was there a moment where you knew you were in the right job? I know I am in the right job because I feel passionate towards the work and the communities we work with. I feel it every time I note a positive impact in one of the project participants’ lives. I am glad to be able to help rebuild small parts of their lives, because doing little is better than inability to do anything and I enjoy it. Moreover, working with a humanitarian organization like HAI teaches the one to learn about and value his/her own rights even before informing others about them, which helps us do it correctly.
How can others get involved in your work? We involve as many people as we can reach in our project activities through awareness sessions, outreach activities and advocacy campaigns. For example, we involve religious leaders and influential community leaders to represent their communities in advocacy campaigns for security risks concerning the return of these minority communities to their places of origin. We involve the community leaders and representatives for better response from the concerned authorities. We also involve other people from these communities through awareness sessions on different aspects such as (know your rights, domestic violence and gender-based violence prevention).
What is your favorite part of your job? My favorite part of this job is being in the program department, which puts me and my team in a position to monitor and control the quality of services delivered to the survivors of severe human rights violations. Working in the programs department also allows me to access the project locations, meet project participants, and learn about their level of satisfaction, as well as their other needs. In other words, my favorite part of this job is my ability and access to ensure successful delivery of services, as well as directly witnessing the impact of project activities on participants’ lives.
How will you practice self-care or preserve your mental health during the pandemic? Any tips for our readers? While it becomes more challenging and stressful to work during the pandemic, we all need to adapt new ways that help in preventing these circumstances from affecting our mental health and job performance. First thing that I advise everyone to keep in mind is self-protection and hygiene to minimize the risks of being infected with COVID-19, because physical illness can affect mental health significantly and cause increasing anxiety while one is unable to perform their job normally. Additionally, while working from home is not ideal for everyone, I suggest to explore and identify your best and most productive working atmosphere. I go to the office when I am not able to work from home; if I do not feel productive or motivated at the office, I work from a coffee shop, always putting into consideration social distancing and use of PPE. I am optimistic in my nature and I believe that we humans should change our ways of reacting to things while we have no control over them. Another tip would be, always stay positive and do your best to spread good vibes because the world needs them nowadays as much as you do.
