Soraya Jamjuree

Country

Thailand

Known for

Violence agaisnt Women and children

Dates

Hijri Unknown-Present (AH); Common Era Unknown-Present (CE)

Soraya Jamjuree

Biography

Soraya Jamjuree is a Professor at Prince Songkhla University in the southern province of Pattani in Thailand. She is also the director of Friends of Victimized Families, a group of university students that travel to remote villages across southern Thailand to offer support to women and children who have lost husbands, brothers and sons to violence.1 Soraya’s main activity with Friends of Victimized Families is to produce a community radio program to empower women who have never been head of household and to build their confidence. Volunteers of the radio program learn to become reporters and share stories pertinent to their audience; child rearing, education, health and controversial issues such as financial compensation for widows or family members who lost their loved ones to violence. Soraya believes that Islam does not restrict women from being productive both inside and outside the home. Her family supported her desire for higher education. Now she is married and has a daughter who is also eager to have a career one day.2 In 2010, Soraya helped to organize Through Our Eyes – Windows into the Lives of Affected People from the Deep South, a photo exhibition at the Chulalongkom University’s Art Centre. She felt that the photos taken by amateur photographers portrayed a more authentic picture of people who live in the south, their sense of identity and place and not just the violence shown by mainstream media.3   [1] Frontline World: Thailand - Women for Peace.. [2] IPS: Muslim Women living in Southern Thailand want Peace. [3] Bangkok Post: Windows to the Deep South. [4] IPS: Muslim Women living in Southern Thailand want Peace.

Sources

Picture: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/08/thailand_women.html