Where has change ever been clean and nice? It has always been messy and painful.

I firmly believe today that the only way to stop violence against women is to speak out and refused to be silenced.

Women are not just victims; they are survivors and leaders on the community-level backlines of peace and stability.

Stronger women build stronger nations.

Long-term trauma for women who have survived armed conflict is a haunting reminder that health issues and depression can follow decades after the end of war, but women who hope for healing can and do move forward.

Since war often enters homes through the "kitchen door," we need to understand women's attempts to keep life going in the face of shortage of food, closing of schools and reduced freedoms.

Living in war is a co- existence with death.