The Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Auxiliary of Dallas hosted a Peace Symposium in Allen, Texas on March 1, 2020. The room was filled with 250 women gathered for the purpose of discussing how we as women can help build peaceful nations. The worldwide leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad has said, “In the establishment and development of any nation or community the women play a fundamental and vital role, as the responsibility for the training of the future generations lies in the hands of mothers.”
The role of women as mothers was a common theme brought up by the presenters. All of them agreed that as women we can play a role in raising children who have learned to show compassion to everyone.
The National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Auxiliary, Dhiya Bakr, who was the keynote speaker for the event, mentioned that leaving the event today we should all make an effort to get to know someone we wouldn’t normally interact with. We need to bring about change. She said, “There are such distinguished women here with all types of experience and volunteer work. I always think to myself what have I done? It is very humbling. It was so awesome to see all the women join us here today and fill all of these seats. They were all very engaged and I could feel the support for one another. I can see that there are a lot of strong relationships built between all of these women and I hope to see these relationships continue to grow and blossom.”
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Allen Council Member Lauren Doherty brought up the essential message that exposure is the only way to overcome fear. If we get to know one another and get over the fear of the unknown, then we can make small efforts toward a more peaceful community.
The Frisco ISD Board of Trustee Anne McCausland stated that in our everyday encounters we must be willing to give grace to one another. We never know what someone else is going through.“Peace is so important whether it’s just at a local level, national level, or worldwide. The best way we can achieve peace is to work as individuals to achieve it and then help to grow that feeling of grace, kindness and respect,” she remarked.
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Dr. Mona Kazim Shah, a Journalist and Human Rights Activist, discussed how she tries to promote peace through her work. She has started a program called Project Pakistan which helps to promote dialogue on various human rights issues. When asked why she does this if it puts her family at risk, she replied that it was so her daughters could grow up in a better world.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Auxiliary presented two Peace Awards at the event. The first award was presented to the Superintendent of Richardson ISD, Dr. Jeannie Stone. She has worked along with her peers to promote the “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy” in her district. This policy was established to “eliminate any bias, prejudice, or unlawful discrimination that may affect student achievement and learning experiences.”
The second award was given to Naiya Vaden, a ten year old, who started a “Let’s be friends” campaign to promote kindness in schools. Naiya’s mother was very proud of her daughter for starting this initiative. She pointed out that this was not an “anti-bullying” campaign. This type of labeling is exactly what is trying to be avoided, rather it is an initiative to spread compassion and show grace to one another. Naiya Vaden said “Just be yourself; you don’t have to pretend to be someone else to be someone’s friend. Just do what is coming from inside of you.”
April Kenely, a guest at the event stated, “I thought this event was a great way to bring together women of all faiths. I really liked hearing from the different walks of life on the panel. There were different levels of activism. It really made me think about my daughter because she had done a post on social media about different stereotypes that happen in schools. It was great to see women talk about this and more importantly seeing a child being awarded for “Let’s be friends.” This whole event has spurred a lot in me. I am the chairperson for the Allen ISD diversity committee. It really made me think about the changes we need to bring about in our own community.”
In a world where we see indifference or even hate, it was liberating to be in an environment filled with diverse women ready to have open discourse with one another while being so encouraging and accepting.
It is inspiring to hear that so many women are willing to implement these individual efforts of peace that will lead to a more tolerant tomorrow.
