Organization for Women\u2019s Freedom in Iraq<\/a>. Over the following two decades, she built a network of safehouses, rescuing women from violence and supporting their education.<\/p>\n\u201cAt the end of her life, she probably had, I don\u2019t know how many safe homes because she kept them a secret. She didn\u2019t want anybody to know about them. These women\u2019s lives were in her hands. She fed the hungry and she clothed the ones who were discarded,\u201d her relative said.<\/p>\n
Mohammed received death threats throughout her work. When family members raised concerns, her relative said Mohammed pointed to the women she had helped.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019d say, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s nothing. You know, just come and see my organization and see all the women and their smiles on their faces. And how happy they are in this place. Because they have a community, they have a future,\u2019\u201d her relative said.<\/p>\n
Mohammed\u2019s Lubbock relative, who asked not to be identified by name due to family still living in Iraq, said she has received support from both her college and artist communities since Mohammed\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I do that sort of stuff? There\u2019s no way. I\u2019m just an artist looking for a simple life. I paint my paintings and I garden and I go teach at the university. But to do what she does when she knows that she\u2019s threatening the culture, that they\u2019re going to come after her because she\u2019s saving all these women that they don\u2019t want. That\u2019s the brave thing that she did. And she did it up to the last moment of her life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said she has shifted her mourning to a focus on remembrance.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a martyr now. And she\u2019s perceived as a martyr. Yesterday, I cried all day. Today, I thought, I\u2019m going to take my black clothes off. That\u2019s a symbol of my mourning. And I\u2019m going to put white clothes on. Because we have to remember her with joy. We have to remember her with courage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She hopes Mohammed\u2019s courage inspires men and women around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife has to have a reason. If you go about life sleeping, waking up, eating, drinking, then you repeat all of that again the next day, there is no point. But if you have some sort of destination, then life becomes so beautiful,\u201d her relative said.<\/p>\n
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