Visit to the NLMCC

Some of our women participants from Palestine and the UK attended a women's meeting at the North London Muslim Community Centre one evening.  This followed a visit there by the CADFA youth visitors in October.  Here is a report sent to us by the NLMCC .

NLMCC: Imaan Girls Youth  – Palestinian Youth Visit 2014. (Report)

The plight of the Palestinian people has had an emotional impact on our youth for many years, however in the summer of 2014 social media has erupted with news of horrific details of thousands of people being murdered.

The power and impact of social media has made it easier for our youth to see the reality of what was happening long before it was reported by the main stream media. This has made it even more difficult for them to ignore the suffering of so many.

“The conflict in Gaza broke out in the middle of Ramadan, a time of the year that is usually full of blessings and joy, but this year the mood was one of helplessness and despair. The heart-breaking images and videos that swamped our Twitter and Facebook timelines really changed the atmosphere of Ramadan for us and we knew we had to act”-Zainab Dawood

“It opened our eyes to the plight of so many innocent people facing injustice and mass casualties. This is why when we were approached to raise funds for the Gaza hospital, we seized the opportunity and decided to run an emergency appeal charity dinner” Safa Zina

“We were a bit apprehensive at first, our youth team wanted to act quickly to help in any way we can, we hoped funds raised from the dinner would help the emergency doctors deal with the mass casualties, we were unsure about the success of the dinner as it was during Ramadan and organised in a very short time frame of just two weeks. Alhamdulilah with the grace and guidance of Allah our community stood behind us and we received monumental support, we managed to raise an amount that exceeded our target” Humayrah Gajia

The success of our first ever appeal dinner gave us an incredible confidence boast and made us even more determined to answer the plight of our brothers and sisters in Palestine as even after.

We found out about the work of CADFA (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association) from our Youth Manager who forwarded us a poster about a group of brothers coming from Palestine to visit the UK. The opportunity to hear the testimony of a young person our age who has lived through the horror was something that deeply appealed to us. 

On Thursday 9^th of October Our whole community centre from Youth, Children Centre and senior managers joined forces to host the visitors and welcome them into our community with the focus of raising awareness and understanding about the human suffering of the individuals affected by the conflict.

 “Some of the stories the boys shared were incredibly moving. Brother Adam’s story will always remain with me, at such a young age he had a promising football career which was taken away when he was shot in the leg by an Israeli snipper. The mst disturbing and part of this testimony which made me so angry was the way he was treated after, HE was shot but he was treated like a criminal and had to endure so much pain and blackmail before he could get medication. This made me even more determined to always speak about the situation in Palestine”. – Safah Balesaria

The first visit was formal and we invited a guest speaker Meral Hussein-Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece, (pictured below) a member of the House of Lords. Who spoke passionately about her support for the Palestinian people and highlighted the significance of never forgetting the suffering they endured as well as the hardships they are currently facing. Two of our girls also spoke at the event and the Baroness also highlighted the importance of young Muslims taking leadership roles, using their voices in places of power and making a difference she encouraged our girls to "go in to politics. We need more women!"

On the night we did an emergency appeal on the spot with younger members of our youth collecting donations, again our community showed us great support and we raised funds for Cadfa.

Sisters Visit:

The first visit was formal and we were unable to interact with the young people due to strict timings and religious practices, so when we found out Cadfa was bringing a second group this time consisting of females we were beyond ecstatic.

The second visit was informal and we set out to host our new friends for a few hours longer in order to get to know them not just as victims of conflict but sisters our age, we wanted to understand their daily lives, their likes and dislikes as well as hopes and dreams for the future.

We organised a public event where we invited women of all backgrounds and faiths/non faith from the community as well as a private session with just our youth where we got to know the sisters.

The session was very informative and we learnt a lot about the beauty of Palestine, the culture and some of the unique ways they celebrate weddings with lots of dancing and big dresses. We also had the opportunity to hear personal stories from the sisters, their stories of living under occupation and their frustrations at censorship and checkpoints, amongst other things. One visitor expressing her sadness at not being able to visit Masjid Al Aqsa, which is just 10 minutes from her home.

Overall these visits have been incredibly motivating, educational and our Youth have an amazing support from their community. Meeting the girls has inspired them to continue spreading awareness about the situation in Palestine. The war may be over but the oppression still continues. 

The CADFA visits helped me understand and connect better with the stories of the Palestinians. Hearing it firsthand made it seem more real than reading about it on the news. On the other hand, I enjoyed hearing about their daily lives and jobs. The sisters who came to visit us were inspirational women not war victims. They wanted change, they wanted their voices heard, and they were leaders in their own right. University students and Journalists! They were not what we expected and that was one of my highlights of the visit, hearing about the success stories of power females whose dreams and spirit was not diminished by the horror that surrounded them.

More of these visits should happen because the community needs to be more engaged and active in supporting the Palestinians. – Maariyah Dawood (Imaan Youth of the Year)

When asked what advice they would give us for next steps action one of the sisters said:

"Your fundraising dinner was amazing, so many Muslims around the world are also raising money for Gaza but money will only do so much, we can make our own, what we need more than anything is for things to change. For the oppression to end, all of our natural resources are being stolen or forcefully taken, we don’t want to depend on others for money, what we need is the freedom and the basic rights that a human being deserves in their own country."