Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Muslim Women's Summit

It was a hectic 3-day event at PWTC.I was asked to moderate a couple of sessions.Initially, IMAN members were just helping with the moderating sessions at the Muslim women NGOs' meet which ran concurrently with the peacebuilding conference (yah..a bit confusing there and you have to be smart to figure out just which room you need to be in).

But we all had fun, connecting and networking with women from all over.A beautiful meeting with lots of actions to do post Summit.The ladies from Uzbek bought me something from Tashkent (sweet) and I met new friends from Saudi, Tunisia, Kosovo, Australia, NZ and it was nice listening to presentations from the UK, Yemen, Mynmar, Kashmir, the Philippines, etc. We shed many tears.And laughed much as well.

Post Summit, Prof Aziz called me to sit in a short meeting with a DG from OIC.We discussed future plans and events. It's going to be a hectic period next year with my two international conferences and the gals plan another rombongan Cik Kiah somewhere.Doakan I sihat cos' I thought seriously of retiring early in recent days as one by one of friends and family members got sick, died etc.I feel that I need to do more "real" ibadah...working for the surau etc.

We had our research findings presentation at the prison semalam. Che Noraini belanja satay kajang after that.Alhamdulillah.


Some lasting concerns from the Summit:

1. A study on 3 countries bordering Turkey found that although educated, 80% of Muslim women do not know their rights in Islam.

2. A pakar sakit puan from Turkey working with Syrian refugees esp women  said they needed other forms of expertise to help (money is not an issue) - something I'd take up with colleagues in KOM, KOS and ICT.

3. Yemen is under seige and children are dying of malnutrition, infection, etc.And yet, aids are not allowed.We cried in this session as a video clip by BBC was shown.

4. Rohingnyas, Kashmiris, Afghans, it's really endless folks.Sign up with Mercy or whatever international relief agencies, folks.We are really in a rut but western media won't highlight this.













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