We have just finished running workshops on social entrepreneurship in Oman for the Muscat Youth Summit. Using Maslaha as an example of how to set up and develop a social enterprise, we worked with 34 young people from a number of different countries including Holland, Yemen, Lebanon, Oman, the UK, the US, Pakistan, Italy, France, and India. Areas we covered included on how to deliver a good pitch- being passionate, concise, and persuasive enough to convince people to follow you in putting your vision into action. We also looked at developing a certain attitude of mind which would enable you to address social issues through practical and creative means. These young people were not only hungry to learn new skills that would allow them to be more entrepreneurial but they were also deeply committed to tackling certain social issues including drug addiction, projects that empowered women, and creating a greater understanding between the generations. Any good entrepreneur should always be open to new forms of learning and these young people were certainly willing to take on board new ideas and new ways of thinking. There were no complaints and in fact a good deal of enthusiasm when we asked the class to run through some kung fu techniques as a way of beginning to understand how you tackle social issues. There is immense support from Brand Oman to ensure that the potential of these young people is recognised. The organisation is actively looking to introduce new ideas that can help to develop a more entrepreneurial and creative ecosystem in Oman.
We work with artists, historians, scientists, young people, community leaders, religious scholars, ethnographers, dynamic local charities, teachers, doctors, film makers, and plenty of unashamedly proud geeks to bring interesting things to life!
Maslaha is an exciting new organisation which connects technology with the community to create inventive and effective resources to tackle issues around health and education, with a particular focus on Muslim communities and their service providers.
We also use a range of media to break down barriers and increase understanding of Islam and its contribution to society in a broader context.
Follow our daily progress here and visit www.maslaha.org for more information.
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Friday afternoon was the much anticipated Careers Fair at Mulberry 6th form, organised by The Kiran Project.
It was an inspiring event with a range of strong, independent role models demonstrating the different career capacities for young women today. From an Occupational Therapist to a Producer at the Islam Channel, the professional women represented the paths one could pursue and recounted stories of their own experiences to try to inspire and guide the students in making the choices that were best for them.
“Follow your heart” is great advice but does not really help much when faced with A-levels and a world of possibilities you know nothing about. This careers fair, therefore, while still encouraging the girls to explore and follow their passions, also aimed to inform them on their options and to give them a balanced overview of what the future could hold if they applied themselves.
A policewoman noted that when she was younger, she did not realise there were so many choices and, especially coming from an Asian background, where there is a predominant trend of going into law, accountancy or medicine, sometimes the more creative or social industries are overlooked and even frowned upon.
The solicitor that Maslaha was stationed next to asserted how important it was that young women today realised all the opportunities ahead of them and that they embraced them. She mentioned how nothing like this was available when she was younger, as an ex pupil of Mulberry herself.
Maslaha fought the corner of social enterprise and charity work explaining in our brief encounters with the girls who approached us that essentially what we try to do is to make the world a better place.
“Everyone loves a good empowerment project” said one of the exemplary models of professional success. Indeed they do but Maslaha is so much more than that, I explained and then related our experience in health work – www.caringforyourheart.org - and education – www.bookoftravels.org - to those who initially thought our work was irrelevant to their ambitions. As a comprehensive resource that tackles immediate social issues, we highlighted to the girls the different facets of charity work.
Those who clearly weren’t interested in social entrepreneurship, we directed to our I Can Be She website to watch the variety of interviews we had filmed. We hope this provides inspiration and support – check out www.icanbeshe.org to find out more.
KORAN BY HEART was greeted by standing ovations at all of its recent Tribeca Film Festival screenings. It is an engaging and inspiring film about three 10-year-old kids – two boys and a girl – who come from all over the Islamic world to compete in Cairo’s prestigious Koran-recitation contest during Ramadan. The recitation of the Koran is a revered and deeply religious tradition, and this “Olympics of Koranic recitation” draws Muslim children from over 70 countries around the world.
For more, listen to this NPR story about the film.
OpenDemocracy want your postcards from the future!
Please help us set our editorial agenda for the next 10 years – send us a postcard responding to the following commission:
“Imagine that it is the year 2050, and against the odds, open and pluralist forms of democracy prevail over vast swathes of the earth’s surface. What is the single most welcome shift, expected or unexpected but transformative, that made this happen in the intervening years? What did that change have to overcome? Talk about the world, or your own neighbourhood, or anything in between.”
We’ve been lucky enough to attend an open air screening of Faisal Abdu’Allah’s new film “Double Pendulum”, this month, at ViewTube, overlooking the Olympic Stadium at sunset.
An Invisible Dust project as part of the Create festival this summer, his collaboration with scientists and sports professionals focuses on the art of breathing, lung development and problems that arise as a result of poor air quality.
His 9 minute 58 second film is in accordance with the 2009 sprint world record held by Usain Bolt of 9.58 seconds and particularly attention was paid to athletes who are at higher risk of contracting asthma because of their intense lung function in a polluted environment. London’s air quality has now fallen to below that of Beijing’s and although it has improved over the last year, it is still significantly harmful to those who do high levels of exercise outside.
A short but emphatic piece, which then went on to examine the effects of pollution in deprived areas of London, Abdu’Allah interestingly highlighted how ethnicity and economics play a role in the susceptibility of people to asthma. This is because those who live in underprivileged areas, notably Tower Hamlets and Hackney, are most likely to suffer as it is in those areas that pollution is highest. Professionals noted that there is a tendency for the white population to move to suburban areas where pollution tends to not be so bad whereas black, Bangladeshi and Asian communities are most at risk due to where they live.
And also featured in Asian Image!
‘I Can Be She’ aims to highlight inspiring women
A new campaign to capture the stories of Muslim women in Britain today is looking for stories of spirited individuals and inspiring lives.
Starting this month, ‘I Can Be She’ will run an exhibition series to captures the spirit of everyday activists, visionaries and pioneers – their passions, their experiences, and the paths which led them to dedicate their lives to their causes – with the aim of incorporating a shared dedication to women’s rights, empowerment and equality.
Muna Hassan, an activist and campaigner, has already been photographed and recorded talking about her campaign to raise awareness around drug addiction within the Somali community.
Photographs were taken by Liz Hingley, who was featured in the Guardian for her critically acclaimed exhibition ‘“Under Gods”: Stories from Soho Road’. Our aim is to explore techniques that portray people in a free and powerful way, as a celebration of their identity.
Maslaha’s “I Can Be She” project - www.icanbeshe.org explores the role Muslim women have played through history in parallel with the powerful achievement of Muslim female role models today.
In March 2012, Maslaha will organise a major exhibition to bring together the work of the established artists from the exhibition series with the work produced by young women in art and media workshops this Summer.
These films, photography, paintings and soundscapes will demonstrate a powerful statement of stories of vibrant lives told in enthralling ways.
For further information about Maslaha and ‘I Can Be She’ – www.maslaha.org and www.icanbeshe.org
I Can Be She featured in the BBC!
Muslim women role models sought for London art project
By Catrin Nye BBC Asian Network
An East London-based charity is seeking women to take part in an art exhibition showcasing the achievements of everyday Muslim women.
Participants will be photographed by award-winning photographer Liz Hingley, sit for portraits and record stories of their lives.
The idea came from conversations between young Muslim women and workers at the charity, Maslaha.
The charity, based in Bethnal Green, aims to improve understanding of Islam through the arts. Originally started as a Young Foundation project, Maslaha also looks at innovative ways to meet social needs such as access to health and education information, within the Muslim community.
The women said they do not hear enough about the contribution of Muslim women to life in the UK and that most portrayals they saw and heard of their faith were very negative.
Correcting the ‘distortion’
So far the exhibition has taken in one subject; 27-year-old Muna Hassan from Forest Gate in East London.
Muna was chosen for her work campaigning against the use of Khat, a stimulant drug traditionally popular within the East African community, and now being used by British youth.
“Looking around my community I felt like maybe I shouldn’t be so passive, I should take this issue up myself.
“I didn’t even feel like I was campaigning at first - it was just me trying to get opinions, rally support and get my head around the idea of campaigning,” says Muna.
She feels there is a real need to dismiss the ‘submissive’ stereotype of Muslim women.
“It’s a very distorted image. Every day when we see negative images in the media it doesn’t help.
“There are hundreds, millions of Muslim women doing great things every day but we don’t hear about them. Projects like this need to bring them forward.”
The images and sounds will form part of an exhibition called ‘Free to Be’, put together by Maslaha.
“It’s very much about empowering Muslim women, changing the way they are perceived, and raising awareness about the inequalities that are faced by Muslim communities,” says Raheel Mohammed, director of Maslaha.
“At GCSE level, the performance of Muslim girls as a group is better than the national average, but according to the Office for National Statistics, once they leave education, Muslim women are almost four times as likely to be unemployed as Christian women.”
‘Only white child’
The charity is looking for women from across the UK in order to get the best cross-section of stories possible. They will be the subject of Liz Hingley, whose photography has featured in publications like The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Le Monde.
An everyday image of hijab-wearing Muna Hassan sipping a drink from a can Muna wants to challenge the ‘distorted image’ of the ‘submissive’ Muslim woman
Photographer Hingley has a keen interest in religious communities. One of her most celebrated works is a collection of images documenting Birmingham’s diverse communities on the city’s Soho Road.
“I’m personally the daughter of two Anglican priests. I grew up in Birmingham and was the only white child in my nursery class.
“It was a very multi-faith background. Growing up with people for whom religion means everything to them gives you a sort of understanding,” she says.
“For me, photography is about social interaction and engagement. It’s not about pressing the button - it’s about meeting people and sharing a bit of their story.
“That’s what this project’s given me the opportunity to do, to meet young women like myself who are doing amazing things.”
She hopes the experience can be enjoyable for both subject and artist. Muna and Hingley got to know one another in advance of taking the photos and then spent a day “having a play”, as Hingley calls it.
“It was really fun having a photographer for a day,’ says Muna. “I felt like a model!”
The charity says it is not looking for the most influential or the most prominent Muslim women in the UK, but rather those whose stories are yet to be told. Anyone who wants to be involved or knows anyone they think should be involved can contact the charity.
You can hear more on Asian Network Reports on the BBC Asian Network at 12.30 BST and 18.00 BST Monday to Friday and after on BBC iPlayer
It has been almost a year since we set out, through our I Can Be She project, to provide a source for young women to go for information and inspiration, as well as a platform to challenge common misconceptions about women and Islam and empower more women to join us in vocalising this challenge.
Maslaha has always worked to harness the immense power of story-telling and sought to find new ways to tell these stories. We have met some amazing women along the I Can Be She journey, from the worlds of sport, business, art, health and more.
Free To Be is our next step.
We will be telling the stories of some of the most pioneering, most inspiring and most visionary Muslim women through the media of fine art, photography and soundscape. Through a series of workshops over the summer we will also be giving young women the skills and confidence to do the same for themselves.
The first woman we profiled was Muna Hassan, who campaigns for the health issues connected with chewing khat to be understood taken seriously by government and health practitioners. Take a look!
Artwork by Emily Kirby - Emily’s paintings have been exhibited in Prague, southern Africa, and across the UK. Her work has always been concerned with the study of people, revealing the figure to be a landscape in itself. Her continuing aim is to explore techniques which portray people in a free and powerful way, as a celebration of their identity.
Photography by Liz Hingley – Liz intimately documents political and social issues, with a particular interest in alternative modes of community living. Her exhibition of 2009 – “Under Gods”: stories from Soho Road’ documented the lives of residents on one of Britain’s most culturally diverse streets in Birmingham.
Soundscapes by Angela Robson – Angela is an acclaimed BBC radio documentary maker and has reported from twenty‐eight countries, including Rwanda, Tuva and East Timor. A regular contributor to Woman’s Hour on Radio 4, her items have included a week‐long series on five ‘Women of the Qu’ran’.
We need your help now! Can you tell us about a woman who inspires you and who can inspire others by being part of the Free To Be project? Let us know.
Keep up with the latest on Maslaha and Free To Be on twitter and Facebook.
Mike Nelson: I, IMPOSTOR (2011) Installation, British Pavilion; Venice Biennale 2011, Photo by Cristiano Corte
© British Council
Venice and Istanbul – two cities whose histories has been intertwined for centuries. Constantinople was for centuries the very heart of Christendom after the demise of the Western Roman Empire and as such it fascinated Venetians with its wealth of religious artistry and architecture. Both were great cities of trade and the seas and roads between them teemed with merchants bringing goods and riches between the two. This symbiotic relationship has always been of special interest to artists. In the fifteenth century Gentile Bellini journeyed from his home in Venice to Constantinople and completed a number of works that capture the city’s spirit, even painting the portrait of Sultan Mehmet II.
And still today this cultural interchange is continuing to inspire artists. At the 54th Venice Biennale, which commenced on Tuesday, Mike Nelson is representing Britain with his art installation I, Imposter. Like Maslaha’s exhibition ‘The Book of Travels’, the British entry to the Biennale is orchestrated in partnership with the British Council and also like ‘The Book Of Travels’, I, Imposter draws on the overlapping lives of the Ottoman and European worlds. Both projects question in fact the very validity of the distinction between these worlds. Nelson’s installation was first displayed in 2003 in Istanbul’s Büyük Valide Han – an enormous 17th century traveller’s inn. The work took the form of a photographic darkroom with hundreds of photos of the Han all being prepared. However, this year in Venice Nelson has also recreated the Han itself at such a scale that it completely engulfs the British pavilion and creates a small corner of Istanbul in the heart of Venice. Today it is easy for us to draw a line between the East and the West and then to see this line not as a manmade wall but a geographical feature – a river or a mountain range. But if we do this we overlook the true nature of life in 17th century Venice and Istanbul. Rather than one civilization meeting another one, boundaries were expanding to encompass it all in one sphere. I, Imposter questions the future of the Han – once grand, now tumbledown warren of artists, and rapidly becoming gentrified – as well as giving visitors an experience of the interplay between two distinct cultures that are, nevertheless, bound together throughout time.
