(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Her name is Nazmin Karim, she is originally from the UK, and got married to her husband who is from Kenya, so she does social work in Kenya. She is a qualified distancing optician, but she doesn't work on that profession anymore; she does social work for empowering women and children in Kenya. This is an interview with Mrs. Nazmin Karim.
ABNA: So your organization is stabilized in Kenya?
- Yes. Our organization is called Ahlul Bayt (a.s) sisters network.
ABNA: How you describe African Muslim women?
- African Muslim women is that pretty lots persons specially in Africa because they really don't have belonging to anybody, so when the Ahlul Bayt Assembley was formed and before that they were with the "Balal Mission", they used to take care of their Islamic needs, But I think it didn't reach the majority, so after the World Ahlul Bayt Assembley was formed, the African people specially women felt some kind of unity, so all of us got together and also we have a lot of converts , from Christianity to Sunnis to become Shies and at the moment the African women who wants to convert to Islam, does not have any way to go and get a certificate, only "Supcam" which is a supreme council of Kenya can issue a certificate, and that's for the Sunnis only, they don't have a proper shies way of converting, so it has to have a process. And thank god we trying help them as much as we can for that.
ABNA: Do women there have a social rule or not, such an Asian or African woman is banded in the house only?
- Actually there is a big culture difference, there are many culture in African, tribes and different groups of Islam, which they come from different background. Among them the most powerful women organizations are belong to Ismaeeli and Behoraz. They do a lot of outside works, where the Sunnis are mostly inside, and our Shias not very qualify to high level in education, so we want to raise that standard over there. At the moment they do what from home and we help them with the excuse that we already have to help them with financial issues.
ABNA: What's the pattern life in Africa? It means we have a pattern life like a European, independent women, or Asian dependent women.
- The Asian-African woman is much suppressed at the moment. She has no way of freely going to a place to work, because of the security issues the husband doesn't like her to go out to work, thinking that their household will suffer. We want to remove that idea, without bringing in the feminism issue. We want to balance and work in harmony with so we trying to do with them.
ABNA: Do you think that Islamic feminism is able to create? I mean how we can get both of feminist idea in the Europe and Islamic thinking of the women altogether?
- I think having women organization is a great start, because we are showing to the world that we can do all Iranian women do as they are the perfect example in this field.
ABNNA: What is the women's role in social work?
- I think the women can do more social work there than the men; because they are interacting more than the men. The men are so busy going to the office, coming back home with the women are making the most of their social work. And that's a great benefit to the society, because we form like unity.
ABNA: Are Kenya's women having a right to do anything?
- Yes, in fact they have more rights now than they have before. The feminism thing is so strong in Kenya now.
ABNA: Feminism is good or bad for you?
- For me it's not good. It depends on how you look at it; you know this issue about feminism is well. So we have, you see, because of Islamic rights, you know, given to us before, we did nor them and so the feminism came over and to call for the Islamic rights, so now if I fighting back for our Islamic rights which are given to us before so feminism is now being pushed aside, where there Kenyan women has got more right there, definitely.
ABNA: In which way we can protect our Muslim girls' generation from the European bad habit culture?
- Basically like this type of functions organizations are created to empower of selves. Only if you are empowered you can go empower the society. So here you long so much, you interact with sisters from all over the world, you listen to their problems then you take it back to your country, have gatherings and social networking, bring it outing the schools in the education system, and slowly from that Alhamdo Li Llah, we can do something Insha-A-llah.
ABNA: What is the women special problem in Kenya, girls and women, both of them?
- Starting from the girls, it is basically education. The awareness is become more now, families were thinking that education is not necessary for the girls; they just grow up and get married. But now the girls are getting educated more. Before they were just 15 or 16, and that's it, they stayed at home until they're married, but now the girls at least to 23, 24, they go to university, and get to degree. For the ladies marriage is an issue, finding a right partner, because there is a big gap between the woman are becoming more educated, and the men are not educated. They take over the father's business, and the girls cannot see eye to eye. There is no balance in education and then there is a problem of divorces and widows. The divorces are really looked down according the community; they are not help in any way, they have no way to go to, the society doesn't help them; and the widows, they don't help to get married again. In our community you are not the member of the Mosque or the Jamaat (congregation), unless you are married. So once you are married, you are automatically a member, but one time divorced or a widow, I'm not a member, but I'm privilege to use the facilities. So I'm just by the way, type of using the facilities. Women are still at the side line level unfortunately.
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