Express News Service
ABU DHABI: Stories are not always just stories. Sometimes they can be fashioned into powerful political and cultural tools in a time of crisis. Dr Maysoon Salama realised this the hard way; after she lost her 33-year-old son, Ata Mohammad Ata Elayyan, in the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, 2019, which killed 51 persons.
“The lose of my son came as an absolute shock. My husband was injured in the attack, too. I run a child-care centre in the city and many of my children lost their parents,” says Salama.
Her prime concern was conveying the news to her two-year-old granddaughter that her beloved father was no more.
“As an early-childhood educator, I knew that stories could be the best tool and I bonded with my granddaughter through stories. One involved the life cycle of a butterfly — from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to fully mature adult — and how it could be easily transposed to our circumstances, because it teaches how to adjust to changes,” says Salama.
She later penned the story and its illustrated version was an instant hit. The New Zealand ministries of health and education realised the potential.
“Our idea was to celebrate the Muslim identity and to inculcate in children a sense of belonging to the country,” she said.
The government accepted the project of celebrating the diversity of culture through stories and several stories written by different authors from several parts of the country were published.
“These stories will help children realise that the stereotyping of Muslims in the media is far from the truth,” stresses Aliya Danzeisen, national coordinator, Islamic Women’s Council, New Zealand, who is also connected to the project.
Mutual trust and interactions among various communities were solid in the country much before the Christchurch attack and that helped overcome the crisis. “The Muslim community had taken the decision that we would address the situation in a stoic and dignified manner,” she said.
Both activists believe that investing in weapons and other security-related apparatus would not make a country more secure. “People are talking about counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation, but we want to nip the problem in the bud itself,” they say.
Salama and Denseizen were in Abu Dhabi to attend the World Women’s Summit organised by The World Muslim Communities Council (TWMCC) on February 21 and 22.