“…indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Do you remember having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school? Upon becoming one of the few Arab American women in San Diego County practicing law, that Pledge holds more weight than ever before. To me, helping women advance in law and society has been a massive step towards liberty and justice for all. In that same spirit, I want everyone to experience what it is like to be supported and liberated.

During my travels this year, I met a female lawyer with two elementary aged daughters. She shared her experience -- advocating for women of domestic violence and leading workshops focused on preventing domestic violence. To her satisfaction, a lot of men attended her domestic violence workshops. She shared how thankful the men were and how excited she was going to work every day. She saw the positive impact emerging from her dedicated work on the issue of domestic violence. 

All of this came to a sudden end when overnight, she found herself fleeing from her home with her two daughters and husband. Her mortgage-free home flattened to rubble. She learned her law school was demolished; her workplace was destroyed. She felt scared, defeated, cold, angry, worried, and hungry as she fled one safe space for another. She and her daughters endured this for 95 consecutive days while bombs dropped around her. 

Every day she asked: Where is the global unity of women? Why isn’t she afforded the liberty to pick and choose where to work? When will justice prevail for all the losses that she has endured? Why do your American tax dollars fund her homelessness? Her hunger? Her unemployment? Her displacement? Her physical separation from her husband?

What would you do if you were her? She has no choice but to start from scratch. She wants to continue working as a lawyer. She wants to continue advocating for victims of domestic violence. She wants to educate women and men alike about domestic violence. 

I ask that you help me support our comrade. Help her realize her dreams again as a lawyer. Help her daughters go back to school. If you are interested in learning more and how you can help, please contact me at Jylan.Megahed@gmail.com.

Jylan Megahed of Megahed, Esquire, Inc., litigates family law fiercely while helping genocide survivors abroad.