Teens with No Engineering Experience Invent Solar Tent for Homeless, Win Grant from MIT*
Due to a flailing economy, homelessness is on the rise in cities such as Los Angeles. Fortunately, a new innovation developed by students at San Fernando High School may help those who are stranded on the streets — at least until a more permanent solution is presented.
Bored Panda reports that with absolutely no experience, a group of young females invented a solar-powered tent that rolls up into a backpack. Together, the 12 females were recruited by DIY Girls, a non-profit organization that empowers young women from low-income families in LA to pursue fields in technology and engineering. Overseeing the project was executive director of DIY Girls, Evelyn Gomez.
The girls primarily used YouTube videos and information found via Google searches to produce a tent that offers major benefits to homeless individuals. Throughout the process, they learned skills such as sewing, coding and 3D printing.
Fortunately, their hard work paid off. Not only did they win the world’s respect, the team won a $10,000 grant from the Lemelson-MIT program. In result, they will present their invention at MIT’s EurekaFest on June 16th. Because the high school students come from low-income families, they almost couldn’t afford the trip. Compassionate strangers, friends, and family members, however, donated to a GoFundMe campaign that raised over $18,000. Now they can go and enjoy their time in the well-deserved spotlight.
It’s a deserved victory for the twelve teenagers who are making a positive difference in the lives of others.
Sex Trafficking Victim Receives Compensation from Indian Gov’t*
By Brianna Acuesta
This teenager, who was sold for sex by traffickers, just got paid by the government to go to school.
When Devi was a young girl, her life took a horrific turn when she became a victim of trafficking was sold for sex in Mumbai before being rescued. With the help of a shelter that saves and rehabilitates girls that have been trafficked for sex, Devi has recovered from this tragic part of her life as best she could and is now looking forward to the future.
Despite the taboo nature of women having sex before marriage in India, even if the intercourse was a result of rape or trafficking, Devi remains hopeful that she can still lead a fulfilling life doing what she loves by not allowing her past to define her. She has high hopes for her career, and has even declared that it’s her dream to become a doctor.
“I want to study science after high school. I know it is difficult, but I have the will to study. I was only unsure of the money,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Devi is currently living at the shelter that has helped her move forward from her time as a sex trafficking victim and was one of thousands of girls to send a request to the government of the western state of Maharashtra for compensation to pay for her schooling. The government recently deposited 75,000 rupees ($1,150) into Devi’s bank account to help pay for school, and she will receive another 225,000 rupees when she turns 18.
Maharashtra is one of the many states in India that has a high rate of girls and women being trafficked and sexually abused or sold, some as young as 6 years old after being abducted or sold by their own parents. As India faces pressure, both externally and internally, to crack down on perpetrators of trafficking and sexual violence as well as provide safe havens and compensation for victims, each state has developed its own program for how to combat these horrible crimes.
The state developed a financial aid scheme in 2013 to compensate victims of rape, sexual assault, and acid attacks, but its scheme is set to be reviewed as it isn’t yielding the results that human rights advocates hoped for. In the last few years, the state has received 7,500 requests for compensation and they have offered payments to 4,500 girls. However, Devi was one of the first to actually receive her payments, as with most other cases the government has claimed that there is a lack of funding. Devi’s success can in part be attributed to the International Justice Mission, who has worked with her for the last two years by following up endlessly with different departments.
“This is the first time compensation has come through for a case with our follow-up. We are now encouraged and are pursuing compensation for four to five other cases of minor victims who are eligible for compensation,” said Melissa Walavalkar, IJM’s director of Justice Solutions.
This is especially promising for the others that the IJM is representing, but for the thousands of other girls still waiting for financial aid, the wait could be endless. Human rights groups also point to some of the restrictions in the scheme as being unfair, like the rule that only girls who were abused during the time that the scheme started and onwards are eligible. One lawyer, Wesley Menezes, has been tirelessly fighting this stipulation because he is representing a then-13-year-old girl who was raped and forced to marry her rapist to ‘avoid shame’ in 2012, just before the scheme started.
However, the fact that a payment has been made at all proves that the scheme could be promising, though not in its current form. Critics are hoping that a review of the scheme will open up the payments to more women and girls and that more funding will be made available to actually deliver the payments.
Woman Employs Disabled People To Make Shoes—You’ll Never Guess What They’re Made Of*
By Brianna Acuesta
The shoes are made out of unexpected materials.
Credit: Duchess International Magazine
A 23-year-old Ghanaian woman named Mabel Suglo grew up ambitious and was surrounded by strong female role models. Her late grandmother suffered from severe leprosy, which is a disease that can result in skin lesions and damage to the nerves, limbs and eyes. Her grandmother had deformed hands and feet, leaving her to work with just one thumb, but she showed that she could keep up her farm on her own because she had enough willpower.
“One person didn’t give him money, but started telling him that he is good for nothing, useless, and that kind of thing. I just watched and had this mental picture of my grandmother. I really saw how we isolate these people. I thought it high time we make them feel welcome in the community. So I just walked up to him and I asked him if he could get a job that would pay better than begging, would he be ready to work? And he said yes.”
After asking several other disabled people if they would be willing to work and being met with a resounding “yes,” she promised to help these people to secure jobs—even though she had no idea how at that moment.
Mabel began mulling over ideas of how to start her own small business so she could personally employ the people she had spoken with. As a student studying Health Science Education, she was becoming increasingly aware of the need for sustainable products that are eco-friendly but also good for people. She gravitated towards clothing and remembered one key thing about the way her grandmother lived.
Credit: Rising Africa
“The idea of using car tires to make shoes came to mind… My grandmother actually used to wear bits of old car tires for shoes because she had no toes and no shoes could fit her feet… So she just took a car tyre, cut it into short pieces and tied it with a rope and it worked well.”
After speaking with two business partners, her idea became a reality when she also partnered with a local school who teaches disabled people valuable job skills. They taught the students how to make shoes from old tires, discarded fabrics, and other waste materials to create unique, fashionable footwear for her new company, called EcoShoes.
She first employed 5 workers, but recently had to increase the amount of employees she has because of a growing demand for her the shoes. What started out as a small business that sourced the shoes to four regions in Ghana has now prompted her to seek out a website developer to expand the business. At just 23 years old, Mabel is a great role model for women looking to make a difference in the world. With her own willpower and her determination to let people know that “disability is not inability,” she’s changing the world one person at a time. Source*
Parents Told Five Times to Abort Boy with ‘no brain’ – Now He’s a Thriving 4-year-old*
Noah and mother Shelly Wall
Noah and mother Shelly Wall
By Fr. Mark Hodges
Shelly Wall received the news that no pregnant woman should hear: Her baby would not survive.
Doctors told Shelly that the baby inside her — a boy — not only had Spina bifida but also had developed a rare complication of the defect. Hydrocephalus caused his skull to fill with fluid, stopping his brain from growing.
Physicians told Shelly and husband Rob that the baby would not live and urged them to abort him. They refused. Experts told the Walls that even if their baby survived birth, he would die soon after. They still would not consider aborting him. Surgeons told Shelly that even if he lived, he would be severely physically and mentally handicapped.
Noah’s brain scans at birth (left) and age 3
Noah’s brain scans at birth (left) and age 3.
The couple, who already had a teenage daughter, was advised by professionals five times to abort their child. Each time they refused.
But the Walls did follow their doctor’s advice and plan for the worst while praying for the best. Shelly and Rob planned their little boy’s funeral before he was even born.
“I’d never seen a baby’s coffin before,” Shelly said.
The Hydrocephalus prognosis was, tragically, correct. When tiny Noah was born, he had less than two percent of a brain.
Little Noah was rushed into emergency surgery immediately after birth to close the opening at the bottom of his spine and to drain fluid from his empty brain cavity.
The surgery was successful beyond anyone’s hopes. As time went on, Noah’s brain began to grow into its cavity.
Today, Noah is a “chatty” little four-year-old, always smiling and very happy. He can count to 10 and hold a pen, is learning to read and write, and interacts socially with others at his local primary school.
He asks his mother, “You alright?” in reaction to Shelly’s tears as she latches his leg braces.
Last year, British television showed Noah’s amazing survival in a documentary entitled “The Boy with No Brain.”
There is hope that Noah, born with spina bifida, could one day walk without mechanical aids
There is hope that Noah, born with spina bifida, could one day walk without mechanical aids
The Mirror reported that Noah’s brain “is developing beyond all expectation.” In fact, brain scans dramatically showed Noah’s empty cranial cavity at birth and then at three years old, when his brain had expanded to 80% of normal.
On Friday night, a new documentary, “The Boy Who Grew a New Brain,” chronicled Noah’s improbable maturity.
One key to Noah’s miraculous mental advancement is his family. Shelly, Rob, and sister Steph (23)
The Walls call this constant cognitive stimulation Noah’s “brain-training.”
Spina bifida caused Noah to be paralyzed in the lower half of his body, but several hip surgeries are giving the Walls hope that Noah may one day walk.
“We’re determined that Noah will be able to walk” either with or without mechanical aids, his proud and heroic father Rob declared.
Noah’s life-saving neurosurgeon, Dr. Claire Nicholson of Newcastle’s Great North Children’s Hospital, summed up the lesson from Noah’s story.
“He teaches the medical profession,” she said, “that you can’t ever know.”
U.S and its Partners in Crime Suffer ‘Meltdown of Sanity’ over Syria’s Aleppo Victory*
By Finian Cunningham
The U.S. and its terrorist-sponsoring partners are seeing their criminal regime-change project in ruins, as the Syrian army and its allies win a spectacular victory to retake the strategically important city of Aleppo.
Western governments and their flunkies at the U.N. are cynically, perversely decrying a «meltdown of humanity».
Closer to the truth is their own «meltdown of sanity». This is because the official Western narrative about the Syrian war is finally being exposed on a glaring scale.
The exposure for the whole world to see is one of a systematic, fake propaganda cover that concealed a criminal enterprise – an enterprise involving terrorist proxies, or fake moderate rebels, whom the Western governments have sponsored for the past six years in a conspiracy to overthrow the government of Syria. The gravity of this systematic crime committed by Washington and its various partners is now unfolding.
Unable to cope with their own cognitive dissonance over the criminality, the Western governments and their complicit corporate news media are resorting to outright denial and to compounding lies with even more lies.
Instead of dealing with the reality that Syrian state forces have recaptured Aleppo from brutal, illegally armed groups, which the West and its regional clients have bankrolled and armed, the West distorts the dramatic victory as the «fall of Aleppo». One report on American channel CNN even referred to the victorious Syrian army and its allies as «persecutors».
With typical unhinged emotion, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power cited unverified reports of civilians being executed in Aleppo, and slammed Syria and its allies Russia and Iran for having «no shame». It is Power and her Western partners-in-crime, including top U.N. officials, who should be hanging their heads in shame.
Among the hysterical sound-bites about alleged atrocities and slaughter being lobbed around this week was this from U.N. «humanitarian» official Jens Laerke who said Aleppo was seeing a «meltdown of humanity». Catchy words, but divorced from reality.
Western news media outlets were screaming headlines alleging summary executions of women and children by the Syrian army and its Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies as they moved in to finally retake the whole of the northern city.
Outgoing U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon talked in disparaging tones about an «uncompromising military victory», while his underlings Rupert Colville and Jan Egeland decried «hellish» conditions and «war crimes» committed by Syria and Russia.
The problem is that all these sensational, reckless assertions are based on unverified claims by anonymous «activists» or persons involved with militants – militants who are integrated with terror groups like Jaysh al Fatah, Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar al Sham and Nour al din al Zenki. All of them affiliated with the internationally proscribed Al Qaeda terrorist network – which the Western governments claim to be at war with.
It truly is a grotesque revelation when Western governments and U.N. officials publicly spout propaganda on behalf of terrorist groups.
Samantha Power and her British counterpart at the U.N. Matthew Rycroft cited U.N. «reports» of 82 civilians being executed, including 11 women and 13 children, by the pro-government Syrian forces during the final hours of recapturing Aleppo. But the same U.N. «reports» were themselves based on unverified sources supposedly embedded among the terrorists. This is not reportage. It is simply recycling rumours aimed at saving the necks of terrorist groups.
The simple fact of the information coming from unverified sources did not stop the U.N., Power, Rycroft and the raft of Western media outlets, including the Washington Post, CNN, Guardian, Independent, France 24 etc, presenting the claims as if they were fact.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Western governments and their dutiful, unquestioning news media of spreading «fake news» about the dramatic events in Syria this week. Lavrov pointed out that none of the alleged atrocities were acknowledged by independent humanitarian groups.
Syria’s ambassador to the U.N. Bashar al Jaafari also refuted the claims of atrocities that Western counterparts appeared to be so perplexed by.
Western governments and media outlets persisted in their gory fantasies despite abundant video footage that even they themselves were broadcasting which showed thousands of civilians calmly walking away from militant-held pockets of Aleppo towards the Syrian state forces. Is that the behavior of people who are being massacred, summarily executed, slaughtered?
One of the most absurd distortions was this from France 24. The state-owned broadcaster of one of the countries that has supplied weapons and propaganda cover to terrorists in Syria over the past six years described this week how «people in government-held areas of Aleppo were celebrating». Given that the Syrian government holds virtually all of Aleppo that means that the vast majority of Syrians were celebrating. Yet France 24 roils its words to contrive a false division between pro and anti-government populations.
The more logical and truthful depiction is that Syrian civilians are at last able to flee from terror gangs that have held them under siege. But in reporting that the whole false Western narrative about what has been going on in Aleppo and Syria for the past six years would implode like a house of cards.
Why aren’t the Western news media interviewing the tens of thousands of civilians who have now managed to flee from the defeated terrorist groups? Why don’t the Western media ask questions about the nature of their captivity? Such as, why could they not escape from militant-held eastern Aleppo until now? What do these civilians think of the Syrian army and its allies who have crushed the militants?
The curious, gaping absence of any testimonies carried by the Western media from the thousands of liberated civilians in Aleppo is mirrored by the same curious, gaping absence of testimonies from thousands of civilians liberated elsewhere in Syria by the army over the past year.
That’s because those civilians are telling media outlets which are willing to report, such as the Syrian state broadcaster SANA, as well as RT, Press TV and Al Manar, that their nightmare siege imposed by the Western-backed terrorists is over. If Western media outlets were to actually bother to conduct real journalism they would go into liberated areas of Aleppo and other towns and villages across Syria and report that life is returning to happy normalcy for these families and communities.
The truth is Aleppo was invaded by Western-backed mercenaries in July 2012, who turned the eastern side of the city into a den ruled under a reign of terror. A twisted, demented caliphate run by head-chopping Wahhabi jihadists was imposed. Like Syria as a whole, these mercenaries were sanitized in the West as «moderate, pro-democracy rebels» – albeit somehow supposedly «intermingled» with jihadi extremists.
If that were the case, then where are these supposed «moderates» now that the last den of the «rebels» in Aleppo has been routed?
The stark absence of «moderate», «pro-democracy», «Western-value-supporting rebels» emerging from the ruins of Aleppo is as stark as the absence of petrified civilians denouncing Syrian army «atrocities» or Russian «war crimes».
In one resounding moment this week, the Western narrative about Aleppo, and the Syrian war more generally, has collapsed in a pile of dust. No amount of denials and further distortions can hide the exposure of Western lies and propaganda fabrications.
So ironically, Western media outlets have recently whipped up the phenomenon of «fake news» in the context of trying to discredit Russia over alleged electoral interference in the U.S. and Europe.
What Syria has demonstrated is that the real culprits of peddling false news, and more gravely false narratives, are the Western governments and their conceited, self-important news media.
Unable to deal with the unbearable truth of criminal complicity, the official West is displaying a meltdown of sanity.
Aleppo and Syria will one day emerge again from the present ruins. No such recovery from ruins will be made by the ignominious Western governments and their lying, criminally complicit media.
‘Shoot at Us First’: Veterans Form Literal ‘Human Shield’ to Protect Standing Rock Protesters from Cops*
By Jay Syrmopoulos
A steady stream of U.S. military veterans continued to pour into the Standing Rock protest camps over the weekend, with our sources on the ground estimating nearly 5,000 vets already there, and more arriving throughout the night to take part in the “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock” movement.
The newly arrived veterans wasted no time in making their presence felt as a contingent of vets and water protectors made their way to the bridge, a strategic point that controls access between the encampments and the construction area. The bridge was the scene of an earlier confrontation that saw militarized police assault viciously attack the non-violent protestors with less-than-lethal weapons.
Wes Clark Jr., a key organizer of the “Veterans for Standing Rock,” met with various law enforcement representatives, including the Cass Country Sheriff, an Army general, a veteran’s representative spokesperson, and a rep for the TigerSwan private security firm coordinating intelligence for law enforcement on the police held side of the bridge.
While Clark met with law enforcement, his fellow vets that accompanied him to the bridge formed a human shield to hold space and stand between the police and the water protectors.
There are now unconfirmed reports within the camps that the use of live ammunition has been approved by law enforcement on anyone attempting to retake the bridge. Many on the ground believe that the National Guard may be called in, creating a potentially drastic escalation of an already tenuous situation.
The video below reveals Sheriff Kirchmeier attempting to lay the groundwork for an escalation of police violence by spouting ridiculous assertions regarding vets and PTSD. Be aware that his diatribe almost certainly marks the beginning phase of an escalation of police-sponsored violence — which will ultimately be blamed on water protectors and veterans.
The veterans have brought supplies such as gas masks, earplugs and body armour in an effort to form a protective line around protestors as a means of protecting them against rubber bullets and bean bag rounds – which are actually filled with lead pellets, not beans. One water protector, SiouxZ, has already gone blind in one eye after being shot in the face with these munitions.
“Our goal is to stand there and if need be take the rounds for the First Nations people so they can do their thing,” Mark Sanderson, a former Army Sergeant who served in Iraq, told Vice News.
“We’re here to assist in any way possible,” Sanderson said.
“The police are trying to say it’s not a peaceful protest because we’re in body armour. But I mean, this doesn’t look aggressive at all. There are no magazine pouches, there’s nothing that can be construed as having a weapon. We’re just padding ourselves against any force they might use.”
Catcher Cuts The Road, an Iraq War veteran, leads a protest march to a sacred burial ground at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, Sept. 9, 2016. A federal judge on Friday denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s efforts to halt the construction of a pipeline skirting the northern edge of the reservation on Friday; on the same day, the government ordered a the pipeline company to pause its work.
In fact, the veterans are taking a page out of international protest movements by bringing mirrors to Standing Rock in an effort to make law enforcement officers look at what they have become – nothing more than a militarized security force for billion dollar energy corporations.
“The veterans are saying we can’t stand for that,” filmmaker Josh Fox, who has documented the police force at Standing Rock, told RT.
“What you do to the water protectors you do to the United States Constitution. We are sworn to uphold and protect the United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And they’re saying listen, if you wanna burn the United States Constitution, you have to go through us. It’s quite a brave and amazing act that’s never happened in the history of the United States, that two thousand veterans just said you know what? Shoot at us first.”
The Army Corps of Engineers, last week, issued an evacuation order for all protest camps North of the Missouri River by Dec 4th – which includes the Oceti Sakowin camp – a demand that has been rejected wholesale by tribal leaders. Then, on Monday, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area, citing health concerns.
“I appreciate the governor’s concern about our safety,” said Oceti Sakowin media organizer John Bigelow. “I wish he had been concerned about our safety when he was spraying us with water cannons in 23-degree weather.”
The collusion between the feds and Dalrymple, to laughably use “health concerns” as a means of forcing the closure of the camps, means that anyone who refuses to leave by December 5 risks being arrested or fined on a state and/or federal level. The state has denied it has plans for the “forcible removal” of protesters, but given the ongoing brutality, and disparate force, evidenced by law enforcement — the state’s denial is of extremely little value.
In addition, as we previously reported, the Morton County sheriff’s department has threatened anyone bringing supplies to Standing Rock with a $1,000 fine. As if brutalizing and beating non-violent protestors wasn’t enough, Kirchmeier’s goons now look to create a human rights crisis in the below freezing condition.
For many of the veterans, including Sanderson, an Iraqi war vet, the battle over DAPL isn’t a simple environmental issue, as he believes that he is standing on the right side of history.
“In my prior deployment, I really feel like I was being utilized in the same way the troops are being utilized here,” Sanderson told Vice.
“To protect American interests, whether fossil fuel, natural gas, pipeline. It’s all the same, and it’s the wrong way forward.”
While there is no guarantee against state-sponsored violence at the hands of law enforcement, the arrival of these selfless veterans may decrease the likelihood of the continuation of appalling violence that’s been displayed by law enforcement over the past few months at Standing Rock.
“This is historic folks… not just the bond/currency reissue in Zimbabwe … but that an American blue blood newspaper covered it. It really means that Africa as a continent has been freed from slavery and oppression courtesy of the white race… just incredible times we live in…”
By Elita Chikwati
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is expected to introduce bond notes onto the market today with the majority of people expressing optimism that the new measure will be the panacea to cash shortages afflicting the economy. However, some people were of the opinion that there has not been adequate awareness campaigns and felt some unscrupulous people might dupe the public.
Authorities view the bond notes as a way of putting an end to cash hoarding and the externalisation of foreign currency, mainly the U.S. dollar. The RBZ will release bond notes worth $10 million onto the market starting today with the withdrawal limits set at $50 per day and $150 weekly.
The notes are in $2 and $5 denominations and will be pegged at 1:1 against the U.S. dollar. A new $1 bond coin has also been introduced. The $2 bond note is green and has images of balancing rocks on one side and the independence flame on the other.
The purple $5 bond note has balancing rocks and three giraffes. Security features on both notes include a Zimbabwe bird watermark, see-through perfect register, tactile marks for the visually — impaired, security thread, alpha — numeric lettering and optically variable ink.
Most people from the informal sector yesterday welcomed the bond notes and said this was going to ease cash shortages being experienced and boost their businesses. Some farmers have also welcomed the introduction of the bond notes, especially tobacco growers who expect a five percent export incentive.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union President Mr Wonder Chabikwa, said farmers expected the money this week. “We are waiting for the money and we hope it will be made available to farmers this week. This will motivate tobacco growers and some may increase hectarage as the planting window is still open.
“Farmers can use the money to buy fertilisers and chemicals and this may encourage more plantings,” he said. Mr Chabikwa said while the introduction of bond notes should ease cash shortages, farmers were businesspeople and should not be treated as individuals.
He raised concern over the withdrawal limit, which he said may present some challenges to farmers, especially when they want to withdraw wages for casual labour.
“I hope the RBZ will have a special consideration for farmers. We cannot pay our workers using plastic money especially causal workers. There should be special considerations where farmers can access more cash when necessary,” he said.
Mr Chabikwa raised concern over the short period of awareness of the security features of the bond notes, which he said might affect some farmers in remote areas.
“We have not seen the bond notes. Most farmers are in remote areas and rely on radio and cannot easily access newspapers. We are afraid some unscrupulous dealers may bring counterfeit notes and dupe farmers.
“We appeal to the RBZ and banks to bring posters of the new notes and coin at schools, clinics and shops in farming areas so that we familiarise ourselves with them to avoid being duped,” he said. He did not expect farmers to experience challenges when buying inputs since major agro dealers had point of sale machines.
U.S. Students form Protective Wall around Praying Muslim Classmates*
By Charlotte England
Mohammed Ishtiaq, Michigan University’s Muslim chaplain, leads the Ishaa prayer, while non-Muslim allies form a protective circle around their classmates Benji Bear, Instagram: benji_bear_photography
Hundreds of students at Michigan University formed a circle around their Muslim classmates so they could pray safely after a woman wearing a headscarf was threatened.
The action was verbally assaulted by a man for wearing the hijab. According to Ann Arbor police, he ordered the woman to remove her headscarf and said he would set her on fire with a lighter if she refused.
The college’s Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) organised the public prayer session following the incident and invited non-Muslim allies to attend in solidarity.
Farhan Ali, president of the MSA, said he was “overwhelmed” when hundreds of people arrived to stand guard as they performed a group Ishaa prayer, the final of five daily prayers, in the University’s main square.
“Some individuals were afraid that we might be vulnerable during our prayer, so we had the idea of calling allies to support us and create a circle around us while we prayed and they ensured our safety,” Mr Ali told the Huffington Post.
“Hundreds and hundreds of people came out for both prayer and showing their support,” Mr Ali wrote in an email.
“The amount of support was overwhelming and absolutely wonderful, and it brought some ease to the Muslim students [and] showed that we have other individuals who are willing to stand with us.”
Chalk left on the ground after students turn out in support of Muslim classmates holding public prayers (Benji Bear, Instagram: benji_bear_photography)
Mohammed Ishtiaq, the university’s Muslim chaplain, told the Huffington Post that both the Jewish and Christian communities on campus came out to show their support. He said some members of the crowd held signs that read: “You Belong Here.”
“Although it was a cold night, the amount of support we got was really heartwarming,” Mr Ishtiaq said in an email.
“Events of solidarity like this give us hope.”
Muslim and non-Muslim University of Michigan students chat after a group prayer (Benji Bear, Instagram: benji_bear_photography)
Since Donald Trump was elected the next U.S, president on 8 November, reports of hate crime against Muslims and other minorities have spiked across the country.
During his campaign, Mr Trump sparked controversy by proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the country and suggesting that Muslim in the U.S. should be required to register on a database.
Two hundred non-Muslims standing guard in a circle around them
Mr. Ali said there was some “sadness, fear, and uneasiness” in the Muslim community at the university immediately after the election. The group is now trying to mobilise and organise in positive ways.
“We must roll up our sleeves and get to work because the fight does not end with the election results,” Mr Ali told the Huffington Post.
“We have allies who are with us and we have a community that is resilient and will not succumb to fear in light of these attacks.”
A woman carries a sign saying you belong here at a public prayer gathering held by Muslim students at Michigan University (Benji Bear, Instagram: benji_bear_photography)
The Facebook event for the group prayer said:
“We will have our voices heard and let it be known that Muslim Students on campus will not be ashamed of their identities, and what better display of our presence than through our worship and seeking refuge in God, the most merciful and the most gracious.
“We will also be having non-Muslim allies attending this event in order to circle and show support for Muslim students, and show that bigotry and hatred on this campus will not be accepted or tolerated by both Muslims and their non-Muslim allies.”
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The curious, gaping absence of any testimonies carried by the Western media from the thousands of liberated civilians in Aleppo is mirrored by the same curious, gaping absence of testimonies from thousands of civilians liberated elsewhere in Syria by the army over the past year.
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