Community
DOMESTIC ABUSE SUPPORT
From a place of lived experience, Al Masaar has always supported women experiencing domestic of all forms and raising awareness of this looks like for ethnic minorities. Out partnership work with Police Scotland’s Forth Valley Diversity Officer, PC Helen Auld has been by Farah where she has advocated for women to access legal and justice support. We regularly post on social media about domestic abuse and mark 16 Days of Action with online and offline discussions. Chair Day is a public event we hold to difficult conversations on the topic.
We have previously worked with Amina MWRC to inform and empower women about gender based violence. We have a confidential WhatsApp group called ‘Safe, Single and Stigmatised’ for any women in Forth Valley looking for peer support. We have links with Shakti Forthvalley Support, Committed to Ending Abuse and ForthValley Rape Crisis. We recently began support from Healed Scars who offer specialist courses to support and empower women who have experienced domestic abuse.
ANTI-RACIST WORK
We took part in Sarwar’s CPG on Islamophobia with valuable contribution regarding gender and education.
We also held consultations with CSREC to encourage our community to report hate crime, as well as taking training in Third Party Reporting.
We held important public conversations on racism on Facebook in October and November 2020 marking Black History Month and Islamophobia Awareness Month. We have made connections with and work closely to anti-racism activists and researchers, Pavi Sarma, Khadiya Mohammed, Debora Kayembe Buba and Stephen Lawrence Foundation. We openly challenge the lack of urgency to tackle racist bullying in local schools and work with councillors, MSPs and Police Scotland to this effort. We will be launching a parent and pupil survey to collect experiences of racism in Scotland in the coming academic year.
AUTISM SUPPORT
Al Masaar is the first ethnic minority charity to address autism in understanding and acceptance in Scotland. We held ground breaking webinars educating neurotypical parents on experiences of autism through our partnership with SWAN where Dr Catriona Stewart OBE had an open discussion on her research and experiences.
We also had insightful information on nutrition and brain health which gave careers an insight on how our diet affects brain development and function focusing on the autistic brain. Local mother and scientist, Shona MacGregor shared her learning with us on a webinar in 2020.
We now have a WhatsApp group for mothers with autistic and ADHD children which includes two autistic adults and experienced careers. Contact us if you would like to join for peer support. We have established a link with the Falkirk and Stirling Career Centre to help them understand the needs ethnic minorities and signpost families for support. Part of being on Autism Advisory Forum, Sofia has provided Government policy manager for autism feedback on the lack of representation and consideration of ethnic minorities in core and public services sectors including education, police and health.
EID IN THE WOODS 2017
Our Eid in the Woods event was held on the 3rd September 2017 to coincide with Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim festival that celebrates the completion of Hajj.
The day was planned to bring the local Muslim and Non-Muslim community together to learn about the Hajj and to celebrate the day of Eid in a woodland environment. The aims for the event were to engage people in a woodland environment and to highlight the significance of Eid. We brought together over 400* people from a wide variety of cultures and communities and shared this space to celebrate Eid Al-Adha. Our venue for the event was Callendar Park Arboretum and Callendar Woods which offered a great backdrop and for many was their first time visiting these woodland spaces.
The event was very successful with a great turn out and positive feedback across the board from members of the public, organisers and activity providers. Over 400* people attended the event and participated in activities like a treasure hunt, arts and crafts, storytelling, face painting, foraging, forest bathing, outdoor cooking, woodland games as well as traditional Hajj rituals. There were a variety of organisations present on the day to offer their activities and information including Recyke-a-bike, Central Scotland Regional Equality Council, Trossachs Search and Rescue Service, Al Masaar and Forestry Commission Scotland.
Al Masaar were responsible for the general running and provision of the event with support and funding from Forestry Commission Scotland. On the day we received great support from a team of volunteers which helped the day to run smoothly.
As well as the local community attending the event we also had groups attend from Glasgow and further afield in Greenock, including the Inverclyde Health and Social Care partnership who provided transport for members of their community to attend the event and celebrate Eid. We also had a group from the Maryhill integration Network in Glasgow visit as they were keen to join in the celebration of Eid.
SCoJeC: Hand in Hand – Interfaith Creativity
The theme of Scottish Interfaith Week – “Creativity and the Arts” – gave a wonderful opportunity for faith communities to explore their own cultural traditions alongside those of other communities.
SCoJeC was delighted to join with Al Masaar, a Muslim organisation whose name means “the Path to Progression”, to put on a unique event called Hand in hand: Paper-cutting from Jewish and Muslim traditions. Al Masaar promote positive community relations, supporting vulnerable, isolated, and disadvantaged families, as well as working with the wider community to break down barriers with education and new experiences.”
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