Muslim activist receives award from Centre for Research on Domestic Violence against Women and Children in London, Ontario

Salam/Peace:

For the first time, it's not unusual for abused mothers, daughters and sisters from the 30,000-strong Muslim community to seek help. And for the first time, mainstream services are equipped to help them.

That's largely because of the passionate work of one man -- Mohammed Baobaid, whose brainchild, the Muslim Family Safety Project, has changed lives by educating the community about family services and social service providers about Muslim culture.

The Yemeni immigrant is often praised by London's imams for mobilizing the community to address domestic violence. Today, at Fanshawe College, he's to receive an Everyday Hero award from the Centre for Research on Domestic Violence Against Women and Children.

[...]

Because of his work with mainstream social service agencies, places such as Women's Community House now have Muslim women on staff, the Children's Aid Society now has two Muslim foster families and the community now has the Muslim Family Support Services, through which a counselor out of Family Service Thames Valley connects with families and bridges them with the most fitting type of counselling.

Read the whole article at:
http://lfpress.ca/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=245455&s=societe

Islamic leader walks the peace walk across Canada

Salam/Peace:

An Islamic leader who mortgaged his house to walk across Canada in the cause of non-violence is striding toward Victoria after six months on the road.

"We should be in Victoria on [Monday] and we are looking forward to people of all faiths, all Canadians, to come and join us during our walk," said Imam Syed Soharwardy. He remains passionate about his Multifaith Walk Against Violence, but in a cellphone interview at the 5,945-kilometre mark near Kelowna, admitted he was glad it's nearly over.

Since Soharwardy, the founder of Muslims Against Terrorism, began walking April 20 in Halifax, he has encountered everything from a large bear to tornado territory, suffered severe heat stroke and lost nearly 10 kilograms.

Read the whole article at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/life/story.html?id=6cbffa2a-88a7-49d0-90ad-629f2886b75b