“I fear survival.”
It is a phrase that should not exist. But for Eman Radwan, a mother living in a tent in Gaza, it captures the bitter paradox of life under genocide: the dread not of death, but of living through it.
In this edition of Women of Resistance, presenter Sakina Datoo introduces us to Eman—a woman whose daily life is marked by displacement, hunger, and fear. Since the Israeli bombardment began, she has lost her home, her stability, and the warmth her children once knew. Now, she fights not for comfort, but for basics: clean diapers, milk, blankets, safety.
“We told ourselves we would be gone a week. We left everything behind. We never imagined we wouldn’t return.”
Her son Ashraf was born during the war. She couldn’t even bring baby clothes from home. The nights are freezing. Prices for essentials are impossibly high. At one point, she couldn’t feed her baby for two days.
“It’s not about liking food anymore,” she says. “It’s about staying alive.”
And yet, even as she survives, she fears what survival may bring.
“I don’t want my children to lose limbs, to be burned, to become disabled. I just want them to grow up, study, get married. I want to die of old age—not from bombs.”
Studio guest and broadcaster Tet Kofi joins the discussion to unpack this chilling reality: that for mothers in Gaza, survival itself becomes a burden. He calls it a moment of “cognitive dissonance” for the world—a world that claims to uphold international law while watching families like Eman’s be erased.
“The global order told us justice mattered,” Kofi says. “Now we see—only for some.”
Eman’s voice is not asking for pity. She demands dignity. Equality. A return to normal life, however modest it once was.
“Even if they gave us palaces, it’s not home,” she says. “We want our homes back. Our schools. Our peace.”
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