Hey all, we are almost ready to launch our new website but we have some little issues that we need worked out. If you know Joomla, can edit the .htaccess file, and know how to edit CSS within Joomla, we will love you forever.
Also for anyone not technical savvy, please invite a few friends to our Facebook Page or subscribe to our blog!
Fellow World Faithers!
We have a unique opportunity to raise money for our organization through Facebook. Thanks to Chase Community Giving, all Facebook users can vote for local charities and non-profits and help channel Chase corporate philanthropy dollars to eligible organizations like World Faith which focuses on human services and community building.
It involves three basic steps:
1. Logging into your Facebook account
2. Become a fan of Chase Community Giving here:
3. Search for World Faith and Vote! Here is our page.
I advise that you get your friends and family to vote for us too so we can use this money towards more programming in our area and to expand our work in the United States. Furthermore, we ask that you share your comments on our page to show your support in writing. Short and sweet is just fine.
The first round ENDS on Friday, Dec. 11th so we need all the VOTES we can get now!
For More information, please visit:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/home/faq
Feel free to contact Halima Samad (halima@worldfaith.org) for more information.
Rather than either celebrating thankfulness for one holiday or sacrifice for the other, I think this year’s proximity of Thanksgiving and Eid al-Adha is an opportunity to recognize how complementary they are.
This year, like most, I stayed in New York, as visiting either parent is both expensive, and inpractical given the shortness of time. Medina and I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, and invited anyone. To our surprise, we had 12 people show up, crowding our little 1-bedroom apartment in Queens. You could say that hosting such a dinner requires some sacrifice, albeit minuscule compared to the sacrifice asked of Ibrahim, but I think that falls short of recognizing the blessing.
Around 10am Thanksgiving morning, our friends Heather, Nic, and Ming showed up with a turkey, duck, and chicken, along with the ingredients of stuffing, and some other dishes. We worked together to make Turducken, along with a plethora of delectable side dishes.
It was a trying procedure, as we discovered pyrex glass can’t rest on the bottom of the oven, or else it explodes into shards of molten glass which can cut/burn/sear your bare feet. After eight hours of cooking, and seven runs to the grocery store, we had an amazing meal.
It was then when I realized what I am thankful; others’ sacrifice. Without those around me taking the time, it would have been a stressful process rather than a fun ordeal. As a product of everyone one digging in and making this happen, we had our own interfaith/international Thanksgiving here in Astoria, among a family of friends.
At the recent IFYC Conference, Eboo Patel, Founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, spoke about World Faith, and specifically about the work happening in India under the World Faith’s National Director of India, Abdul Shakeel Basha.
While I was at the IFYC conference this past week, I reflected on the myriad of ways that the Interfaith Youth Core, and it’s awesome staff, has supported me as an interfaith leader, and World Faith as an organization.
First of all, as a member of the Fellow Alliance, they gave the NYU chapter of World Faith funding for interfaith service programs on campus.
Starting with the Fellowship, they have flown me four times to Chicago for trainings, meetings, and other leadership development programs. This training was wide in scope, including media engagement, dialogue training, and institutional and campus involvement.
I have had several media opportunities through IFYC, including being interviewed on Good Morning America, Chicago Public Radio, and an hour-long interview on the online radio show Embracing the Journey.
The contact network I have built both directly through IFYC, and as a product of the credibility of association with IFYC is immeasurable, but includes world-class leaders in the field, funders, and best of all, other activists who joined in the World Faith cause, including Joshua Stanton, Soofia Ahmed, Mustafa Abdullah, and Abdul Shakeel Basha, just to name a few.
Eboo has been a mentor to me since the end of my Fellowship, giving me insightful advice that I need to hear, when I need to hear it. He has been a true advocate, putting me in touch with people who otherwise probably wouldn’t give me the time of day. One of my favorite things is that Eboo can give me blunt criticism one moment (which I need and ask for), and yet gives World Faith shout-outs, further opening up possibilities.
The IFYC staff has played a vital role in our development in the previous few years. They each rotate between being a friend, psychologist, ally, and advocate, often more at one time. I probably email, call, or skype chat with an IFYC Staff member at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a week. Despite my constant questions or requests, they still respond quickly and with patience that I myself may be incapable of. This includes (but isn’t limited to) Megan Hughes, Amber Hacker, Cassie Meyer, Erin Williams, Hannah McConnaughay, Hind Makki, Jenan Mohajir, Zeenat Rahman, Charles Levesque, and April Kunze.
For anyone who is following World Faith, please take a look at the Interfaith Youth Core. I consider them a strong ally in the struggle for religious common action, and I hope that every World Faith leader is trained by IFYC in some capacity. Be sure to check out the IFYC website.
I am quite excited about the IFYC conference coming up next week in Evanston, Illinois. I will be leading a workshop on using technologies, and I hope to post my presentation on here afterwards, or just a link to it.
Also, I want to challenge myself to keep up with my blogging that I have so horribly ignored for the greater part of this year. Check in for updates!
Shakeel is our awesome National Director of India. Starting a few months ago, he has switched to running World Faith India full-time. He sent me a letter explaining the work they are doing, so far with only $1,000 and I wanted to share it with all of you:
Dear Frank,
Just wanted to update you on recent events in India.
The funds has been transferred. that;s a great relief bcos my team was not able to go on streets for street contacts bcos of lack of money plus the non-formal education center we started was also in danger closing down. BIG THANKS for sending the funds. With this money we were able to buy some books and stationery for the children ( from ragpicking community) attending this education center.
Now we are having 7 members working actively for world faith India Chapter- Haq A Campaign for the rights of Homeless. Nobody is paid salary we all are working for it for free. the names are shakeel, akbar, nandlal, radheshyam, jaiprakash, zenab and lalit. we also have a working group of 21 members which met once a month.
That’s some update. Please let me know any developments from your side on the funding thing. The Indian Chapter is really growing in a very short time. Without any institutional support it will be difficult to sustain it for longer period.Now we need a office, a helpline to deal with crisis, some staff to handle emergencies arising at night, So there are many things where we are not able to intervene due to lack of funds.
Do keep me posted on any development.
thanks and regards,
Shakeel
Photos from informal school:
In an interfaith movement, what are we fighting? On one hand, there is the explicit mission statement of World Faith, which states we are countering “religiously inspired hatred, war, and division.” So that is simple enough. But this is perhaps only part of the story.
As with any organization with any message. In order to “fight” an idea or societal ill, we have to mobilize against it. This requires those who agree with the mission that take action. This is where things get tricky. While many or perhaps most people form most societies would agree with the basis of our mission statement, not many are willing to take a stand. In fact I would say that over 90% of youths in religious diverse societies agree with our mission statement. Yet, I would also venture to say that the religious extremism still holds the attention of the world because of their superior mobilization.
So then what must be done to mobilize those who remain inactive? While not everyone needs to be a revolutionary, more people must take action, but sometimes it just reguires the right people, not the masses. For instance, policy makers need to become aware of the importance of cross-religious understanding as a building block of national identity and as a safe guard from communal violence. We still often times hear of conflict in the cosmic war sense… that “this is us versus them and we must win.” Also, we need to engage the media, and not just intellectual media, but all media. These concepts can be woven into pop culture, such as tv shows, movies, and music. There are many examples of where this is true, but its a matter of sheer quantity. Until more quality media content framing the story of religious becomes predominent, it will continue to be an uphill battle. Thus, we don’t only fight the fear and anger that inspires communal violence, but the apathy that allows it to continue unchallenged.
As this time of year rolls again, World Faith is glad to announce that we are continuing to expand. We have several chapters in development in India, and we are expecting new locations to take part in the Days of Interfaith Youth Service this year.
I know that I am hardly blogging these days, and that my posts have been infrequent, short, and more of a World Faith update system than a blog about relevant issues in the interfaith movement. Give me some time and I will remedy the situation. I just moved, am working several jobs while still developing World Faith, and find little time to keep up some of the small things. Thank you to those of you who still read these!
Hey All,
I know I have neglected my duties of blogging for quite some time. I will begin writing again now that I am back in New York after traveling for the past two months, most recently in India. Essentially my plan is to recount what happened in India through a series of posts, in which I’ll include some photos and videos, etc. Here is my first installment:
Day 1: In the dawn of the first day in Delhi, a thick fog clouds the city. For years I have been enamored with aspects of South Asian culture. Having studied Kajira rhythms and amassing a decent library of both traditional and modern Indian music, I was ready to embrace a culture that I had already felt comfortable with before arriving. India is beautiful. Yet within a few minutes in Delhi, a whole new world begins to present itself. The intense poverty is overwhelming, as children, often crippled, beg at every intersection in the city. India is dirty. I don’t mean this in a negative way, but this constant sense of contradiction in India. Beauty and trajedy. Even the term snake charmer fits the bill… Why would anyone want to charm a snake?
I also felt a big isolated, for the first time in years. While I have been doing significant amounts of traveling in the past few years, it has been to places where I feel comfortable with the language, know many people, and at least have some hope of blending in. Knowing no Hindi/Urdu, I stuck out in India, towering over the men an average of five inches, and a foot over the women. Luckily the Humari Dunya director, Soofia Ahmed, was there to help, with her husband Zubair. It was an unfamiliar feeling to me to be a complete outsider.
