Join us at the Virtual book launch event : Baby in the Bag by Hafza Girdap

Moderated by Prof . Lopita Nath, Chair of the History Department and the Director of the Asian Studies Program at the University of the Incarnate Word

“The Baby in the Bag” is a compilation of four riveting first-hand accounts of refugees from modern-day Turkey. Their homelands rapidly turned into open-air prisons that persecuted them for crimes that they had not committed. They stood strong in the face of employment termination, harassment, persecution, incarceration, smuggling, and death in order to defy all odds and find freedom in faraway lands. Their narratives sound more like movies than lived experiences, yet they are the stories of thousands of innocent people.

The title refers to the book's flagship story of the same name, an intense story of a mother's requirement to hide her newborn in a duffel bag in order to safely escape Turkey. Join our heroes on their journeys as they search desperately for some of life's most important treasures; family, freedom, liberty, and happiness.

About Hafza Girdap

Hafza Girdap is the Executive Director and Spokesperson of Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST). AST is a non-profit organization based in the United States committed to bring to public attention human rights violations in Turkey. A founding member of Set Them Free platform, which covers crimes against women particularly in Turkey, Girdap is also a volunteer for Amnesty International. Girdap is active on social media where she runs global book clubs and conducts live interviews on women and youth empowerment.

Mrs. Girdap conducts her PhD studies in Women’s and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University, New York and her research area is human and women’s rights in Muslim contexts, integration and adaptation of Muslim immigrant women along with the issue of redefinition of their cultural identities.

Mrs. Girdap has given “Sufism” and “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” courses at Emory University Continuous Education. She has also given speeches at several conferences such as UNGA, UN CSW and World Affairs Council Peace Conference about ongoing human rights violations in Turkey mostly focusing on women’s experiences and enforced migration.

As having a personal motto in her life which is “Let Dreams Lead You!” she has a dream of running towards her ideal wherever and whenever possible. Another aspect of her is the love of meeting new people from different parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds. Hafza, with her two daughters (17 and 12 years) and her husband, is living on Long Island, New York.

You can buy the book from ANT Stores or Amazon