peter
“I don’t know how Hanan can manage all this. There is so much tension, not only from the cases we work with but also from the community. The Muslim community in Dublin is very tight. Everyone knows everyone. It’s like a little village looking after itself. There are controversies we have to deal with on a daily basis. We are not only communicating directly with the families but also with the community. There are lots of different mentalities within the Mosque that made our job very difficult at times. This is why we had to gain independence to stay effective and register Amal as a non-profit charity. We are a small team and we love helping people. It’s in our nature, but sometimes it feels like an impossible mission. It’s like asking couples to sign prenuptial agreements before their weddings. I mean, how do you educate women to be more independent from their husbands when there are no issues in sight? Once the issues start, these women begin to reach out for help with the most basic things. Things that you would never think twice about doing by yourself. Imagine going into a shop where all the products are labelled in a language you don’t understand or trying to book an appointment with a doctor in a language you don’t speak. I love counselling. I love to motivate and empower women to take care of themselves, to educate them about things that make them more self-sufficient, but it’s very difficult to get funding from the government for such a programme and most of the time we rely on setting up GoFundMe pages. We are very lucky that there are still communities that are willing to donate and assist us in making our projects successful. This is the only way to keep us and our services afloat.”