Hotline to help battered women in Syria

In its issue of May 31, Al Akhbar daily brought to light the ‘phone of trust’ hotline started on November 25, 2007 by the Good Shepherd Sisters in Baba Touma to help women victims of domestic violence. The newspaper wrote, that the hotline launched on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, serves as a link connecting women victims of domestic violence with the Good Shepherd. It is accessible through a public number on the following page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrustLine.GSS/. According to Al Akhbar, first thing, the caller contacts the ‘administrator of the case’, followed by a petition or form prepared for each case separately. The form is referred to a social or psychological worker, who shall take the proper decision accordingly. This can be done through over-phone counselling or personal consultation at the center. The legal advisor of the ‘phone of trust’, lawyer Saniya Yousef, told the newspaper that the monastery is an oasis for women exposed to violence or homelessness reaching the center from the different Syrian governorates or from outside Syria. The monastery, Yousef explained, provides them with shelter and social as well as psychological support, and helps solve their problems through empowerment by teaching them certain professions. (Al Akhbar, May 31, 2019)