It is very daunting to write your first blog post. This is not my ‘first’ blog post ever but it is my first for Muslim Womens Resources and it is has taken me a while to get here.
I always wondered which topic I would decide upon as my first post. Would it be an introduction to the website? Would it be about who I am and why I set up Muslim Womens Resources? I have decided to write about something still raw inside of me. I have set up Google alerts for various topics that interest me. I may not get to read each and every article that Google pulls up using its very impressive algorithms but it helps me skim through the headlines and get a gist of what is happing around the world, especially with what is happening in the world of Muslim women.
And the one post that caught my eye was about an Afghan woman who had been trying to cross the border into Turkey from Iran. I don’t know the whole story about her time in Iran or where she came from in Afghanistan. In fact the news article did not name her or the two children she was travelling with. In fact I almost did not click on the article. It is not that I do not care, it is because I knew it would hurt.
The woman was crossing into Turkey in the middle of winter with her two sons. The family were refugees. The woman had been found at the border frozen to death with plastic bags on her feet. She did that because her children’s hands were beginning to freeze so she gave them her socks to use as gloves. The children survived by seeking shelter in the nearby village but unfortunately their mother did not.
I did not cry, I wept. I sat there with my back to my partner pretending I was working. I couldn’t take it. The whole debacle with Afghanistan has left me reeling with anger and hurt. I am angry about the mess. I am angry at the extremists. Women and children always suffer the most because they are underrepresented. I wept because I am a mother and I know I would have done anything to save my children. I would have had the same desperation to get them safely to another country or the need to protect my children by giving them my clothing to keep them warm. But wouldn’t it have been worth it if the Afghan woman and made it with her two children? I don’t know what would have been the end of that story but the body of the mother and the two children were handed back to the Iranian authorities as it was deemed that the ‘incident’ occurred on Iranian soil. And the story ends there. For now.
This is my first blog post. A harsh reminder of the plight of women because of war and because of misinterpretaion of faith.
I pray that Muslim Womens Resources serves as a space to discuss taboo topics, heated topics, and topics we imply but never openly discuss. I pray this resource is accepted with the intention it was created. I pray that it is not seen as a tool for misguidance or to promote an agenda. It is purely a place where discussions and research take place for, about and by Muslim women. Amen.