Thursday, February 26, 2009

An evening with Ashima

An evening with Ashima

"We no longer sit around as victims of the Kashmir conflict, we shall stop it”


An inspirational evening with an experienced peace worker in Kashmir. on 06 April at 18:00.

Ashima Kaur works for Athwaas, an organisation which aims to create safe and secure spaces for women to come together in order to make the shift from being victims to possible changemakers in Kashmir.

We will hear further about Ashima’s work and have a conversation with her about how her work links to our situation here in the UK.

Athwaas explains their work:
Since November 2007, we have set up 6 new Samanbals. (Samanbal is a Kashmiri word, meaning ‘a meeting place’) Athwaas came up with the idea to create safe and secure spaces for women to come together and share, articulate and express themselves so as to make the shift from being victims to possible changemakers. These new Samanbals are still in their initial stage of formation i.e. they are still establishing a permanent meeting place. The Samanbals are diverse; we have widows in Dardpora, teachers in Badgam, young women in Bijbehar, migrant group (IDPs) Purkha and Muthee small scale traders in Leh. Each Samanbal works towards group formation and strengthen/capacity building. They choose an activity, which often is income generating due to the high poverty levels in the region. They also pursue a common advocacy strategy.

In Purkha migrant camp 20 women who have been displaced from different villages in the valley came together to form a Samanbal. The camp is made up of displaced Kashmir Pandits. The Samanbal provides a context for the women to share a common space for reflection and listening. They taken up tailoring so as to step beyond the cramped conditions of the camp dominated by hate, revenge and chest thumping. The basic principle in the Samanbal is to share information/experience, start the healing process, and acquire financial independence. They are then empowered to tackle the big issues affecting the region, the conflict in Kashmir.


Includes Kashmiri refreashments.

This event is organised jointly by Conflict and Change, Peace Direct and Muslim Mediation Service.

If you would like more information please contact:

Hanin on 020 8552 2050 at Conflict and Change
Sara/ Halima on 020 8432 2805 at Muslim Mediation Service

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=507254609&k=54155Y5XP6VM511BUB5UP4

No comments: