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Saudi Teenage Singer, Al-Sehemi, Sings About Inner Conflicts, Traumas

New Age Islam News Bureau

07 August 2022

• Saudi Teenage Singer, Al-Sehemi, Sings About Inner Conflicts, Traumas

• Photographer Fatimah Hossaini: ‘In Kabul, There Was So Much Hope And Desire’

• ‘One Of Not Many’ Young Female Mentorship Program Launches In Saudi Arabia

• Mountains Are My Home: Nelly Attar, First Arab Woman To Summit K2

• Bangladesh Girl Guides Association’s Council Session Held

• A Record Number Of Women Are Running In Kenya's Elections But Many Face Harassment And Abuse

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL:   https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-teenage-singer-alsehemi/d/127662

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Saudi Teenage Singer, Al-Sehemi, Sings About Inner Conflicts, Traumas

 

Noha Al-Sehemi, a Saudi singer who write songs that discuss traumas and inner struggles that many teenagers feel. (Supplied)

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Rahaf Jambi

August 07, 2022

RIYADH: Many young singers have discovered a home for their talent thanks to Saudi Arabia’s increased focus on music and the establishment of a music commission in 2020 that aims to develop non-discriminatory access to music education.

At 15, she was able to produce her first song on social media. Her songs highlight some traumas that she has experienced and the feeling of being misunderstood, which sparked the inner struggles that many teenagers feel.

Source: Arab News

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2137516/saudi-arabia

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Photographer Fatimah Hossaini: ‘In Kabul, there was so much hope and desire’

Photographer and activist Fatimah Hossaini 

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by Rachel Cooke

7 Aug 2022

When the US government signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020, the Afghan-Iranian artist, photographer and activist Fatimah Hossaini thought little of it. People warned her, of course. The Americans will leave Afghanistan, they said, and all kinds of trouble will follow. But she hardly listened. Life in Kabul, where she had been working since 2018, felt so full and free, it was all but impossible to imagine the clock turning back.

The simple fact was that she had lived with more day-to-day restrictions in Tehran, where she was born and grew up, than she had ever had to put up with in Kabul (her Afghan grandparents fled to Iran in the 1980s, during the Soviet-Afghan war). “Life was good,” she says. “In Tehran, people are a little depressed with the situation. But in Kabul there was so much hope and desire. A new generation was burning with it. I could see women in every sector: musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, politicians. I could teach my classes at the university without a hijab. I could show my students any image I liked. These things would never happen in Iran.”

But life really was about to change. When a newly elected Joe Biden confirmed in April 2021 that American troops would be withdrawn by 11 September, Taliban insurgents began to intensify their attacks on the Afghan state; in May, for instance, a car bomb outside a Kabul school killed more than 60 people, most of them schoolgirls. “Even I could see that the security situation was different,” Hossaini says. “I lost two journalist friends [to Taliban attacks] during those months. When my mum called, which was every day, she would say: Fatimah, use a different entrance each time you come home.”

At one point she did go back to Tehran, largely at her parents’ behest. (Her mother is a housewife and her father runs a small business. The oldest of three sisters, Hossaini, ever independent, moved to Kabul when she graduated from university.) “But I only lasted a month and a half.” She struggles to explain it. “I just had to be in Afghanistan. I was there in the bright days; I felt I should be there in the dark days too.” Ahead of an exhibition of her photographs in the US, she had an American visa, and this was her insurance policy. “I thought: if the worst happens, I can use that visa.” She shakes her head. “My parents couldn’t believe I was going to go back. They said I was crazy. But I didn’t listen to them.”

On the same evening, she and 10 friends went to a cafe to drink tea. “One of them invited me to her sister’s wedding! We were just drinking and talking. We didn’t know, then, that this would be the last time we would meet.”

The following morning, having at last booked a flight to the US, she got a taxi to take her to a clinic for a PCR test. The driver thought she must have lost her mind. The Taliban are at the gates of Kabul, he said. Looking out of the car’s windows, she noticed that in the streets people were running. What kind of person runs in Kabul in August? “It wasn’t normal. I began to think something might actually be going to happen.”

At home she made some green tea and took it on to her balcony, with its view of her city, and it was then that she saw them: “Down below were Taliban fighters on their motorcycles, waving their flags. They’re here, I thought. I shouted it: ‘THEY ARE HERE!’ But there was no one to hear me. I was alone.”

She isn’t sure how she got through the night. She couldn’t cry, she couldn’t eat. She had missed her flight, if it had, in fact, left. The next day, another friend called. “She said: ‘They’re going door-to-door looking for journalists, musicians, teachers; make sure you’re not alone.’ I got my backpack, my laptop, my camera, and a hat that’s traditional to my tribe [Hossaini is an ethnic Hazara, a group that has often been persecuted in Afghanistan], and I went to stay with friends.” She spent the next two days with them, deleting all her social media, begging journalists who had any footage of her to take it down. Her voice is full of contempt. “Those fucking terrorists. One day, early in the morning, we had three Taliban at the door. They were only looking for food, and when we gave it to them they left.”

But her mind was clear now: it was, she finally conceded, time to go. Like thousands upon thousands of other desperate Afghans, she pitched up at Kabul airport. She would spend the next four days there. “It was crazy,” she says. “Mothers abandoning their children; lovers abandoning each other. People were so desperate, they would do anything to leave.”

It wasn’t, she tells me, as we might have seen it on television. She wasn’t in the military section of the airport, where British and American soldiers were filmed by news crews lifting tiny babies over wire fences. She was in the commercial part, a chaotic realm that could only be accessed through seven Taliban checkpoints. Inside, people stood in long lines, each one corresponding to the country to which they hoped to travel seeking asylum. It was frightening, and surreal. Looking around, she saw several Afghan politicians, and the singer and TV personality Aryana Sayeed, one of Afghanistan’s biggest stars.

At first, Hossaini joined the American line. She knew that to go to the US would make it almost impossible for her to see her family again: travel between the two countries is extremely difficult. But she was desperate, and she had her visa, after all. Wouldn’t it help her? Apparently not. “Get back, get back!” the Americans shouted. This made her very angry. “I thought: you betrayed us. We’re about to lose everything. You have ruined our country. At least be a little nice.”

Like others in the airport, she began to call out to embassy staff, irrespective of which country they represented. Germany, Italy, Poland: four days in, and she would have gone anywhere.

It occurred to her that in France, artists are admired, even revered. “Just take me,” she yelled, in the general direction of the French. “I’m an artist!” She was duly allowed to move from the American line to the French line – and it was at this moment that the miracle occurred. “David Martinon, the French ambassador in Afghanistan, used to come to my exhibitions in Kabul. I was wearing that crazy outfit with a scarf; only my eyes could be seen. But he recognised me. ‘Fatimah?’ he said. He put his arms around me. ‘You will be welcome in Paris,’ he told me.”

Some hours later, she flew alone to France, relieved but sorrowful, grateful, but in mourning (her friends were eventually all dispersed to other countries). “It was very hard,” she says. “Afghanistan didn’t only give me pain; it gave me love too. I was connected to it by my heart, and when France gives you asylum, the arrangement is that they take your Afghan passport and your ID card, and you must sign a paper that says you won’t ever travel there. Can you believe it? My heart. I had to promise them not to go back to Afghanistan.”

Source: The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/07/photographer-fatimah-hossaini-in-kabul-there-was-so-much-hope-and-desire

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‘One Of Not Many’ Young Female Mentorship Program Launches In Saudi Arabia

AFSHAN AZIZ

August 07, 2022

JEDDAH: Luxury watch manufacturer Vacheron Constantin has launched its second “One of Not Many” business mentorship program in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Jeddah’s Dar Al-Hekma University.

Six Saudi women leaders have been selected to mentor undergraduate students over six months. The program is aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 and aims to encourage young people to become entrepreneurs.

Christophe Ramel, regional Brand Director Middle East at Vacheron Constantin, said: “The Kingdom represents huge promises and great potential, and the Maison values are aligned closely with Saudi Vision 2030.

“We, at Vacheron Constantin, realize the importance of passing down skills to the next generation to support the leaders of tomorrow. We wish all selected students a fruitful program ahead and look forward to witnessing them excel towards their career ambitions.”

Shahd Al-Shehail, entrepreneur and co-founder of Ethical Luxury Brand Abadia, said that the small choices people make every day matter and young people should continue to work hard and not be afraid of failure.

Aya Al-Bitar, Saudi product and furniture designer, and founder of AYA the Art of Living, said she would encourage students to explore their heritage and individuality if they choose to enter her field.

Emon Shakoor, founder and CEO of Blossom Accelerator, Saudi Arabia's first female-focused and inclusivity accelerator, said: “As an entrepreneur, it’s not about how much resources you have but about how resourceful you can be. Every individual has the power to create the life that they have dreamed of and to achieve it. This program will definitely allow the student to understand and execute the things that they actually want in life and never take no for an answer.”

Nora Aldabal, arts and creative industries executive director at The Royal Commission of AlUla, said: “Saudi Arabia is a gold mine of inspiration; inspiration attracts talent and talent gets ideas. This program will accelerate individuals to be the most creative version of themselves.”

Nouf Al-Moajil, strategic analyst and CEO of the Eastern Province Social Responsibility Council, said she would advise students to explore and follow their passion, even in a new area of business. They should try to be as authentic as possible, she said.

Basma El-Khereiji, chef and entrepreneur, and founder of the Social Kitchen, said students should be passionate about what they do and allow people to feel and appreciate it.

After successfully completing the program, students have the opportunity to embark on an internship program with Vacheron Constantin or any other Richemont Maison.

Source: Arab News

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2137581/saudi-arabia

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Mountains are my home: Nelly Attar, first Arab woman to summit K2

Sana Jamal

August 06, 2022

Islamabad: Nelly Attar reached the top of the world’s second highest mountain, K2, around 3:30 am Pakistan time on July 22, and raised the flag of Lebanon. With that triumph, she became the first Arab woman in history to summit the savage mountain.

“It was very early, completely dark when we reached the top. I just couldn’t believe that this is it. We are at the K2 summit. I cried for about 20 minutes. Crying and laughing. I was really, really happy to be at the summit” said Nelly Attar in an interview with Gulf News.

Nelly Attar is a Lebanese national, born and raised in Saudi Arabia, who also spends a lot of time of the year in the UAE. But which of these places does she call home? Instead of picking one country, she says: “Mountains are my home. Where I feel happy where I feel like there’s a purpose for me, that’s my home.”

Nelly was among the first few mountaineers who reached the summit of K2 on July 22 - a glorious day for the mountaineering community when a record number of women climbers reached the top of the 8,611-meter-high mountain in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. K2 is known as the ‘Savage Mountain’ for its difficult terrain and treacherous climbing conditions.

“I’m really proud and honoured to put my country’s flag up there. But even more happy that many people successfully and safely climbed K2 this year, especially Arab and Pakistani women” said the 32-year-old climber. At least five Arab climbers successfully summited K2 this year, including Oman’s Nadhira Alharthy, who happens to be a close friend of Nelly and climbed the world’s highest Mount Everest together. Other Arab climbers were Saeed Al Maamari from UAE, Fahad Badar and Asma Al Thani from Qatar. They summited the K2 in separate groups.

Nelly Attar climbed Mount Everest in 2019 and has scaled at least 17 other peaks around the world. But K2 was “one of the toughest,” she says. “K2, you certainly live up to your reputation,” reads the caption on her Instagram page after the summit. She had deep gratitude for her coach Michael McCastle, sponsors Bateel, Seek Discomfort, and Peacefull and her team Madison Mountaineering, especially Aang Phurba, Ming Dorgie, and Terray. “We made history together!” she says.

There is always the first climb that makes humans fall deeply in love with the mighty mountains. For Nelly, that peak was Mount Kenya, the second-highest in Africa. “It was my first ever climb and adventure trip with my father when I was 17 years old” she shared. The experience did not go as planned as they didn’t have the right gear due to which Nelly’s dad got hypothermia, a condition when the body loses heat faster due to prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. They ended up not reaching the summit, but the trip and the journey with her father inspired her to pursue mountaineering in the future. “It was the first time I spent a couple of days on a mountain and that left me changed. I felt so enriched, so alive. And I just knew it. I want to do more of this in the future. This is my reality now,” she said talking to Gulf News.

The Arab mountaineer says her strength to climb mountains comes from her family. “My family has been super supportive. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be doing what I do. They believed in my dreams and my goals. My father, may he rest in peace, instilled in me a love for mountains. He used to take me on hikes when I was a kid. And my mom is the reason why I love experimenting and taking risks and have this immense passion for outdoor sports. They both have been such big pillars in my journey.”

Nelly has dabbled in many adventures in her life. She began her career as a mental health professional and worked as a therapist and life coach for four years in Saudi Arabia. But she realized she was creating a more powerful impact through sports and decided to focus on emerging sports for women.

In 2017, she became the owner of Saudi Arabia’s first dance studio ‘Move’ for women to empower females through physical activity and spread the joy of dance. “The experience was fantastic. Challenging but also very rewarding. Just like a climb. There were a lot of uncertainties that I had to navigate through. But the community response was amazing. It was one of the best experiences in my life” she says. In 2019, she won the award for female fitness influencer of the year across the GCC. Nelly is now a thriving entrepreneur, trainer and athlete. She completed her master’s in Psychology in the UK and is currently pursuing a mini MBA degree.

Nelly believes her adventures would inspire people to go out to live their dreams to challenge their potential. She particularly aims to inspire women in Arab countries to push past their limits. “Live your dreams. Follow your passion, and your purpose. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Don’t let society tell you what you should do and shouldn’t. Live that life outside of your comfort zone. That’s where the most beautiful things happen.”

What inspired her to begin the challenging journey of becoming a mountaineer is her love for sports. “I have this love for challenging myself physically, emotionally, and mentally. Always taking the bar a little higher and seeing how far I can go whether it is running, triathlons, dance, climbing.”

Nelly has had a lot of incredible adventures but the most memorable is exploring the prehistoric Son Doong cave, the world’s largest cave in Vietnam. “That cave is an entirely different world. It has its own weather, its own environment. I saw insects and animals that I’ve never seen in my life.”

K2 summit and the natural beauty in Pakistan left a lasting impression on her as a lover of wilderness. Her focus was K2 but Nelly says she was “pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful Pakistan is” and how green and gorgeous Islamabad is. She said she felt safe during her travel and found the people welcoming, especially the locals in Skardu. They were “so friendly, so welcoming, so happy to have tourists and foreigners. I loved the food, energy and music,” she added. “I felt like I was at home at the K2 base camp” in Pakistan.

Source: Gulf News

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/mountains-are-my-home-nelly-attar-first-arab-woman-to-summit-k2-1.89735254

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Bangladesh Girl Guides Association’s Council Session Held

Staff Correspondent

Aug 07,2022

The Bangladesh Girl Guides Association organised its 16th National Ranger Council Session and Election-2022 at the auditorium of the Guide House at Baily Road in Dhaka on Saturday.

National University vice-chancellor professor Md Mashiur Rahman was present as chief guest at the opening ceremony, said a press release.

Md Mashiur Rahman, at the programme, said, ‘If we want to ensure the equality of men and women and the empowerment of women in the country, we have to break the social structure. The image of a chaotic society should be changed. Only then will the aspirational goals of this country be achieved.’

Bangladesh Girl Guides Association national commissioner and additional secretary of the Health Care Department Kazi Zebunnessa Begum chaired the event, while national deputy commissioner, professor Yasmin Ahmed, and national deputy commissioner Ferdous, among others, were present.

At the beginning, a documentary on various activities of the Bangladesh Girl Guides Association was screened.

Source: New Agebd

https://www.newagebd.net/article/177844/bangladesh-girl-guides-assocs-council-session-held

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A record number of women are running in Kenya's elections but many face harassment and abuse

By Larry Madowo

August 6, 2022

Lamu, Kenya (CNN)Just before sunset, Umra Omar boards a speedboat that will take her around the historic Lamu channel for meetings with voters. As her boat zooms past idyllic islands and arrives at shore 30 minutes later, dozens of women and children rush to greet a candidate they hope will be their next governor.

Omar is native to Lamu, a conservative region near the Somali border, best known for its preserved Swahili culture and being a UNESCO heritage site.

"If we're to address the challenges we're facing as women, young people, and indigenous communities, we have to take up the political battle as well," she tells CNN.

The 39-year-old is the coastal county's first female candidate for the top job. She is among a record number of women running for office in Kenya's August 9 general election.

Omar is a humanitarian who has in the past been named a CNN Hero for her work with award-winning social enterprise Safari Doctors, which provides basic healthcare in remote areas of Lamu.

She says she is running for office as a natural progression after seven years of providing "band-aid solutions" for poor healthcare.

"Being able to really dig our teeth into the root causes of rural challenges is what definitely propelled us into politics," Omar says.

A constitutionally mandated gender quota to break the male supermajority in power has consistently failed in the 12 years since it was passed.

Veteran politician and former Justice Minister Martha Karua addresses a crowd during a campaign rally in Kirigiti Stadium on August 1, in Kiambu, Kenya. If elected, she will become the country's first female deputy president.

Veteran politician and former Justice Minister Martha Karua addresses a crowd during a campaign rally in Kirigiti Stadium on August 1, in Kiambu, Kenya. If elected, she will become the country's first female deputy president.

"That name speaks to the misogyny within society. Strength is not perceived as female, strength is perceived as male," Karua tells CNN pointing out that it was first used to describe former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who came to power in 1979.

"We're seeing more and more women running, which tells us it has never been a problem about women wanting to participate in politics," says Marilyn Kamuru, a lawyer and writer on women in politics. "It continues to be a problem about the systematic exclusion of women."

That exclusion includes financial barriers to competing in notoriously expensive campaigns that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and regular violence employed against women running and even those already serving in office. For example, in 2019, a Kenyan MP was arrested for allegedly slapping a female colleague and calling her names.

"It chills the environment for women, it makes women think again, hold back," and consider running for lower positions or abandoning their campaigns altogether, Kamuru says.

The latest election cycle has followed the familiar pattern, with many women reporting violence or threats of physical harm and misogyny being used to intimidate them out of the race.

"We've had some major, mindblowing character assassination, to the point of discrediting the work that we've been doing with Safari Doctors, but we try not to let that distract us," Omar says.

She laments the propaganda used against her in the race, including taboo accusations such as being an LGBT "recruiter" or a drug dealer to derail her campaign.

It is harder for women in rural parts of Kenya to be involved politically because of socio-cultural barriers, Daisy Amdany, women's rights advocate and executive director at the Nairobi-based Community Advocacy and Awareness Trust, told CNN affiliate NTV.

"There are certain cultures that don't even give women the right to keep their voter cards, so you need a man's permission," Amdany said. She added that negotiated situations where elders determine who gets to run for office also disadvantage women and they are "more common than you would think."

Despite the roadblocks to political office, Kenyan women persist. "As long as we remain non-negotiable players the system has to accommodate us," Kamuru said.

The powerful governor role Omar is eying is considered a long shot as only three out of Kenya's 47 counties are headed by a woman. One recent opinion poll placed her third out of four candidates but she's not discouraged.

While everyone CNN spoke to in Lamu was aware that she was running, some men felt that she was punching above her weight and should have vied for the less powerful Woman Representative county-wide parliamentary seat.

But 24-year-old Constance Kadzo, owner of a small grocery stall, told CNN she was inspired to see an indigenous Swahili woman running for a top seat.

"I'm voting for her because she's the only woman who's brave enough to go up against the men and I know she will fight for us."

Source: Edition.Cnn

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/06/africa/kenya-elections-women-candidates-intl/index.html

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