{"id":7793,"date":"2001-10-21T19:30:02","date_gmt":"2001-10-21T23:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7793"},"modified":"2018-12-27T17:47:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T21:47:37","slug":"what-can-we-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7793","title":{"rendered":"What Can We Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Danya\nWellmon:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How proud\nand yet humble I felt sitting amongst such a diverse group of very special\nwomen. Proud to be working with women dedicated to harmony and open-mindedness\namidst our varying faiths, opinions and cultures. Humble in that I was\nprivileged to be a part of such an ambitious undertaking that will lead to many\npositive and productive endeavors. We have been given a wonderful opportunity\nnot only to change communities for the better but also to build upon the\nenormous wealth of good that exists within us all. I know in my heart that we\nwill meet the challenges placed before us with the highest level of integrity\nand with the utmost compassion for all of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Betsy Wiggins:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again I\nconvey how affirming it is to hear you express your thoughtful responses as we\nmeet together to consider how to deal with world events. We began our second\nmeeting by passing our\ninformation sheet to the woman sitting next to us and\nhaving the experience of hearing ourselves described by an extremely solicitous\nnew friend. We shared information provided by our first meeting participants\nwho could not attend. Following introductions we had consensus that it was\nimportant to begin identifying projects to develop. We shared our ideas ranging\nfrom how we might bring to bear our cumulative experience as women to deal with\neducating our community regarding religious diversity, as well as dealing with\nharassment and discrimination. The ideas articulated and built on were as\nfollows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danya\nWellmon asked for assistance to help the Muslim community distribute the\nthousands of pounds of rice that the Muslim Relief Organization has been\nprohibited from sending abroad since 9\/11\/01 through existing Muslim agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noshin\nJihan raised the dilemma of New York City Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who where\nafraid to come forward to inquire about missing family members and friends who\nworked at the World Trade Center because of fear of interrogation or\nharassment. Sue Wadley informed us that Muslims in NYC are afraid to make any\nclaims for dead and missing Muslims. She will share articles and web sites with\nInternet resources we can investigate to see if we can find a way to help with\nthis problem. An article on this from Sue was forwarded to all of you. Let me\nknow if you didn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nJeanette Powell and Karis Wiggins asked for more information about the\ncelebration of Ramadan, Hoda Gabar, Noshin Jihan, Arlene Baker and Danya\nWellmon informed us and invited all of the non-Muslim participants, friends and\nfamilies to break fast at the mosque on November 30 during Ramadan in an effort\nto deepen understanding of the Muslim tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molly King\nextended an invitation to all in the group to attend Dewitt Community Church\u2019s annual\nChristmas tea to see the collection of religious symbols from all faiths that\nhave been collected over the years to decorate their Christmas tree. Perhaps\nour non-Muslim participants should consider inviting our Muslim sisters to\nexperience other seasonal celebrations of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas\nwith our families and in our places of worship. I suggest we add this to the\nagenda of the next meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara\nFought informed us that the Fellowship of Congregations on Syracuse\u2019s East Side\nis in the process of increasing awareness of religious diversity in the\nSyracuse community by visiting places of worship of different faiths and would\ngive us their schedule via e-mail. We should think about how we want to take\nadvantage of this opportunity individually or in small groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathy\nBenzel wanted to know how to reach out to homebound Muslim women and assist\nthem with activities that take them outside the home such as shopping. Beatrice\nMuhammad confirmed the need for such outreach. Danya Wellmon will inquire about\nwomen in the Muslim community who would welcome assistance and will contact us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danya\nWellmon also suggested we consider how we can bring young children and teens of\nmany faiths together in recreational activities that will allow them to learn\nabout each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen\nInvoldstad, Beatrice Muhammad, Kathy Benzel, Aga Haupt and Husna Hamza\nbrainstormed about increasing community awareness of the cultural diversity of\nthe Syracuse Muslim community and other faith communities with a women\u2019s ethnic\npot-luck supper, open to the public in January, possibly at Dewitt Community\nChurch. There was some thought about making this a fund-raiser for projects\nthat our group develops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romana\nHosain broached the idea of establishing a literacy project with the help of\nRuth Colvin for Pakistani children, beginning in Karachi, with funds raised by\nlocal Muslim and non-Muslim women in community projects to increase awareness\nof religious and cultural diversity and by other means. Literacy projects are\nRuth Colvin\u2019s life-blood, and she was unfortunately unable to be present at this\nmeeting, but we will approach her with the idea when she returns. Romana has\nfirst-hand knowledge of a similar successful literacy project and extensive\ncontacts in Pakistan and has agreed to draft a proposal. Sue Wadley\u2019s\ninvolvement at the South Asia Center may be able to provide us with some\nresources here as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last\nitem was when to meet next. We decided three weeks from this meeting would give\nus time to meet once again before Ramadan and settled on Sunday, November 11,\nat the house again. Jeanette Powell and Molly King have graciously offered to\nhost future meetings, which should be an item on the next agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nthing to cogitate\u2014do we want a name for this group? Several people have asked me this and\nsome of the suggestions are: Community Sisters, Sisters for Peace, and Uncommon\nWomen (consider the double entendre). Got any suggestions? Let me know and we\ncan circulate them via email and get a reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have one\nmore thought about an idea brought up during our first meeting by Janet Mallan.\nShe suggested we submit a letter to the editor of the local paper describing\nthe coming together of our faith traditions in an effort to understand each\nother and address shared community concerns in the aftermath of events of\n9\/11\/01. One of the things I am struck with over and over is how many women I\nspeak to share these concerns but don\u2019t know how to express or act on\nthem. If we do this successfully, we may find a way to link with other women or\ndiverse faiths in our community with similar concerns. I propose asking Barbara\nFought to help us think about the implications of doing this and, if we agree\nas a group, drafting a letter to be circulated for approval among all of us\nbefore submitting it for publication in as many outlets as we can identify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a\ngreat crop of new participants who added greatly to our discussion for this\nsecond meeting, and plans are underway to bring us more extraordinary women of\ndiverse faith traditions. Our notes have been distributed to interested women\nwho have not been able to join us in a meeting, but who want to be kept\ninformed until they can join us. All participants for the first and second\nmeetings receive our e-mail information and are encouraged to share their\nthoughts, ideas and informative articles. If any of you want to invite someone\nto the 11\/11\/01 meeting, please let me know who the new participants are, with\ntheir e-mail addresses, so I can add them to the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you\nfor your time, the genuine concerns you share, and creative problem-solving\nskills you bring to seemingly insurmountable problems. It is a delight and\nprivilege to work with you all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Danya Wellmon and Betsy Wiggins reflected on the initial meetings of women and possibilities for further dialogue and action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-7793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-dialogue",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7793"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8563,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793\/revisions\/8563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}