Our Story

Dr. Kawkab Alwadeai was the National Stress Counsellor for some 4,000 United Nations staff and their families in Yemen from 2013 to 2015.

Originally from Yemen, Dr. Kawkab Alwadeai, lost her great aunt’s family (4 children and 2 adults) by Saudi airstrikes missiles on the first day of Saudi airstrikes in Yemen. She escaped the death with her family three times. As a child, Dr. Kawkab Alwadeai suffered from rickets but was misdiagnosed in Yemen, causing her to spend 10 years indoors. After this ordeal, she was given the opportunity to receive the appropriate treatment in Jordan. However, she still experiences consequences from delayed treatment to this day. She also lost her father due to kidney failure that was left untreated. Such traumatic experiences have fueled her passion to help others in Yemen receive necessary, and often, life-saving treatment.

Even though she left Yemen in 2017, she continues to provide mental health support online for Yemenis. She works tirelessly to recruit mental health experts and organizations in Europe and North America to help BPS provide mental health support and training courses to war victims and mental health workers in Yemen.

In 2019 Dr. Kawkab gave a lecture at the University of Ottawa, hosted by the Department of International Development and Globalization. During the lecture, she referred to her initiative to help war victims, and facilitate peacebuilding strategies back home in Yemen. This sparked the interest of six graduate students, dedicated to providing assistance in establishing the Bridges to Peace and Solidarity initiative. In 2021, this initiative was registered as a Canadian non-profit organization.

Our Approach

The tragic 8-year war in Yemen, still ongoing has resulted in severe human rights violations, including torture, rape, and forced disappearance. These tragedies result in lifelong and multigenerational trauma and other impacts on health, eroding individual, family, and community resilience. There is a strong link between surviving violence, and its impact on mental health, and overall peace. We believe that rebuilding a healthy Yemeni society requires not only comprehensive medical care but also—critically—psychosocial education and social connection. Bridges to Peace and Solidarity nimbly leverages the power and goodwill of experts and volunteers around the world to accomplish what powerful institutions have not been able to. Our methodology is to draw on our unique network to make and maintain connections between people in need in Yemen and elsewhere, and people around the world who can make a positive difference.

Goals

To facilitate training programs, psycho-education lectures, and discussions between Yemenis and other countries and cultures to foster mutual understanding and solidarity with each other.
To support health practitioners and other community service providers to enhance their capacity and capability to provide mental health services and medical treatment in Yemen.
To provide assistance to the most extreme medical cases via telemedicine
To build a tele-mental health platform
To build a tele-medicine platform
To provide direct mental health support to the vulnerable groups in Yemen and beyond:
- Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and torture
- Former child soldiers
- Peacebuilders
- Human rights defenders
- Journalists
To engage Canadian youth through discussions of social issues impacting Yemen and the surrounding areas

Our Approach

Goals

Subscribe