REPORT
Marie-Claire Chappet meets Zainab Salbi, the activist committed to amplifying the global female voice
THERE IS AN AFRICAN FOLK TALE THAT THE humanitarian Zainab Salbi keeps close to her heart. During a forest fire, a little hummingbird tries to temper the blaze by flying back and forth, bringing a droplet of water each time. ‘The other animals all laugh at the bird,’ Salbi tells me. ‘They say, “What can you do with those tiny drops?” She replies, “I’m doing everything I can do to help; why don’t you join me?” And they put the fire out together, inspired by her efforts, however small.’
This is one of Salbi’s guiding principles. It forms the backbone of her latest endeavour, Daughters for Earth, which she founded in 2022. Its latest campaign, ‘The Hummingbird Effect’, spotlights women across the globe – from those saving the mangroves in Brazil to a group in Bosnia protecting the local river from waste dumps – who are fighting to put out the ‘forest fire’ of climate change. More than £1.1 million was raised for 50 female-led projects across two dozen countries in its first year alone.
The notion of the cumulative effect of individual actions having global consequences was also the central tenet of Women for Women International (Wf WI), the notfor-profit organisation Salbi created in 1993 when she was just 22, and from which she stepped down as CEO in 2013. It offers microcredit and on-the-ground support to women in war zones and, since its founding, has provided practical aid for over half-a-million survivors of war across 17 conflict zones.
Both organisations are rooted in the belief that not only supporting women but operating like them is the key to social progress. ‘I don’t want to stereotype, but I think there is something about our emotional intelligence that is different,’ she says. ‘I’ve seen it in how women keep life going in war zones; how we respond to trauma with resilience and care for our communities instead of violence.’
She tells me about a couple she met in Gaza in 2009. ‘The husband would not stop screaming and being aggressive and the wife was just stoically rebuilding their life and family,’ she recounts. ‘I asked her if she was OK, and she just said, “Oh, ignore him, he’s been like this since our house was destroyed.” The difference in their responses was remarkable. But I’ve seen it over and over again. I think we can learn a lot from these women and actually start leading with these feminine values. It does not, and should not, exclude men; rather, it invites those who don’t operate in this way to take on these ideals instead.’
Salbi’s faith in the future is remarkable when one considers the countless atrocities she has witnessed. She was born in Baghdad and lived through the Iran-Iraq war,
