{"id":15927,"date":"2023-03-07T06:20:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T14:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gnrc.net\/?p=15927"},"modified":"2023-03-07T06:20:46","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T14:20:46","slug":"celebrating-mama-shamsa-on-international-womens-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/?p=15927","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Mama Shamsa on International Women’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Mother Teresa\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had the privilege of meeting Ms. Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, a Kenyan peace mediator, community mobilizer, and winner of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity<\/a> 2023. Popularly known as Mama Shamsa, she joined GNRC through a programme funded by Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), aimed at empowering vulnerable women in Kisauni, Mombasa. Mama Shamsa facilitated children\u2019s forums held in places of worship, the most common being Elim Church Nyali led by Rev. Maria Menego, a member of GNRC Kenya, and secretary of the GNRC Kenya committee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news of her visit to Arigatou International \u2013 Nairobi office was received with great excitement. As soon as she arrived, she got to know everyone, and her laughter warmed the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama is a great storyteller! The same warmth that her laughter carried, is the same warmth that our hearts were filled with as she shared the humble story of her work. Her effort in countering violent extremism is inspiring. To her, a little<\/em> goes a long way. \u201cAnyone aligned to humanitarian work should do it with an open heart, expecting nothing in return\u201d Mama Shamsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue of violent extremism is not abstract. It has been on the rise in East Africa in recent years, causing anxiety among peacebuilding communities. Due to a lack of dedicated tools, The Goldin Institute<\/a>, Chicago, and Arigatou International \u2013 Nairobi supported the development of the Community Resilience Against Violent Extremism (CRAVE)<\/a> Resource Guide to fill that gap. Preceding the CRAVE Resource Guide, was the Building Resilience Against Violent Extremism (BRAVE)<\/a> Training Manual and Resource Guide, by the Center for Sustainable Conflict Resolution (CSCR)<\/a>, aimed at addressing the rising radicalization and violent extremism, focusing on violent manifestations in Kenya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe process of rehabilitating those who have fallen<\/em> victim to violent extremism is not easy \u2013 it is a long and slow process\u201d Mama Shamsa stated. She explained the importance of demystifying narratives used by violent extremists to radicalize the youths, empowering, and encouraging them to find easy and sustainable means to fend for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mama, the issue of violent extremism is a\u00a0thorn<\/em>\u00a0in Mombasa. She explained that the leading causes of radicalization and violent extremism in Mombasa were a lack of education, a breakdown of the nuclear family unit, misguided ideologies, and religious differences that many religious leaders refrain from addressing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am happy to have met the Arigatou International \u2013 Nairobi team, I feel very welcome and at home here,\u201d she said as she departed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were all left inspired and motivated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh! You might wonder why we refer to her as Mama, well\u2026 before she left, she warmly said \u201cI now have additional children at Arigatou International and you are welcome to call me Mama.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe selfless. You end up getting more than you anticipate when your soul is giving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you MAMA, we celebrate you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signed off,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GNRC Communications,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stacy Ndungu and Tracy Memusi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Children Gangs in Kenya: A Faith Leaders Perspective\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my community, there are about ten known gangs that have recruited children and youth. They get attracted to gangs because of different factors within their environment. Through the GNRC, I have learned a lot. I now recognize the challenges of children in society and embrace them without judging or condemning them.\u00a0Faith leaders should connect with their communities and educate them on the importance of maintaining spiritual resilience to overcome these challenges.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Rev Maria Kipruto, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GNRC Kenya <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.\u201d\u00a0 \u2014 Mother Teresa\u00a0 We had the privilege of meeting Ms. Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, a Kenyan peace mediator, community mobilizer, and winner of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity 2023. Popularly known as Mama Shamsa, she joined GNRC through a programme […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":15931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15927"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15941,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15927\/revisions\/15941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}