Today I went to the White House for an event honoring Emerging American Muslim Women Leaders sponsored by the Office of Public Engagement and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Instead of feeling empowered when the event ended, I felt sad...depressed...and.....overwhelmed. You want to know why? I sat there and listened to these inspiring women share their stories of success and how well their businesses are doing. I sat there and felt my eyes water. I sat there and thought about RAHMA and the lack of support I receive from the Muslim community. There are Muslims in our community who face HIV every day of their lives in silence. They have no one to talk too and they live in fear. They are judged and it is automatically assumed they must have done something bad to contract HIV. I came home this evening and cried. All I want to do is raise awareness and show that someone cares. All I want to do is help stop the judgement and the stigma. I have traveled across the country and back hoping to find support. I have had the phone hung up on me. People say nasty things and turns their backs when I approach them about RAHMA. People tell me I should give up and there is no point in doing this. I am only human. I may seem strong on the outside but sometimes I just sit in my room and let the tears fall. Some days I just want to throw in the towel. But each time I meet a Muslim living with HIV and I see the hope in their eyes.... I know that I cant. It is not about me. It is about them. It is about educating our community. But I cant do this alone. I need help. I need your help. Seriously I need your help. Honestly I need your help. Support Rahma - Reaching All HIV+ Muslims In America. We cant carry out RAHMAs work without support. We can only go so far without donations or funding. Myself, Asma Hamid, Karim R Amin, Shahed Haque, and Sarah Bounse believe in RAHMAs mission because we care. We have other responsibilities in our lives and juggle many things.. But we Care.... Because we know that this is way overdue. We know that silence is not the answer. We volunteer our time because we know that mercy is the key to the future. We believe. Will you believe with us? Prove it. Share this status. Tell your friends about us. Your family. Your co-workers. Your neighbors. Help us to keep our programs going. We have so much we need to do but not the funds to do it. Please donate today at haverahma.org/donate. From the bottom of my heart, from the Muslims living with HIV who have reached out to us, from the brother in the masjid who felt stigmatized when people refused to take food from him while he was serving iftar because they learned of his HIV status, from the sister who was raped and contracted HIV and had a baby as a result, from the brother who was born with HIV and has a hard time finding a spouse, from the sister who lives in silence and can not bear to tell anyone she is HIV+, from the brother who used to be a drug user and contracted HIV, we say.... Thank You. Believe
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 00:28:25 +0000
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