Maya Angelou said: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And there is no better way to reach people’s feelings than telling a compelling story. We at KARAMAH believe that the power of story telling and personal narratives can change hearts, minds and societies. Therefore, we provide a platform every summer for Muslim women find the strength in their voices and share their stories with the world.
On the 10th anniversary of KARAMAH’s Law and Leadership Summer Program (LLSP), we decided to commemorate our flagship program by inviting the broader community to meet and learn from our amazing class. For the past three years, KARAMAH has hosted “Strong Voices, Strong Communities” at local café, Busboys and Poets. This program has become an invaluable part of LLSP. This year, a diverse, enthusiastic crowd of over 100 people were in attendance at Busboys and Poets where 8 women from the Class of 2015 shared their stories of struggle and perseverance and their vision for the future of their respective communities.
During the first week of LLSP 2015, the students participated in a public speaking workshop by Ms. Ieasha Prime, founder of Sisterhood in Action (SIA), where they developed skills to strongly present themselves and use their voice to unlock the goodness in the listeners’ hearts and, thus, affect social change.
Speakers at “Strong Voices, Strong Communities” moved the audience by the courage they exhibited standing on stage in front of a full room and sharing their personal stories. With strong voices, composure and poise, they captured the audience and kindled in them sparks of motivation to step out with steadfastness in pursuit of their rights and the betterment of their communities. With voices loud and clear they asserted: “we shall not be silenced.” They expressed how they derived strength from their faith to get over life’s ordeals be it intolerance, anti-Muslim sentiment, regressive ideologies, spousal abuse…etc. The following are a few excerpts of their powerful speeches the videos of which we will be sharing with you in our upcoming newsletters:
“For me, my purest conception of love could be summarized in one word: safety. The Qur’an mentions the word safety in many places, but for me the only path to real safety I suspect is through Allah. “Ambereen Shaffie (United States)
“My parents thought that because of my headscarf, they would be jailed as in Soviet times. They said I would lose everything. Religious people can’t go to University; they don’t have a career. They don’t count in society. Religious people have no future. The day I held in my hand my appointment as a judge- the day my government awarded me with a scholarship to study in Japan was a proof that it is a new future for religious women with strong faith.” Dilfuza Abdulkhasan (Uzbekistan)
Zakiya Shareef-Givens (United States) penned a poem at LLSP after being motivated by what she learned. She was the first to perform, and the audience gave her a standing ovation and demanded an encore of her performance. Watch it here.
We cannot overstate how proud we are of our LLSP alumnae. Their transformations give us hope and strength to keep on our work. We hope that they continue to share these stories and continue to use their voices to spread strength throughout their communities.
AR 
EN