Amina Khalid, a Somali living and working in Britain, was one of a panel at the opening of a recent IofC conference on ‘Building trust for our future’, held at Liverpool Hope University. She told her story:
I was born and brought up in Mogadishu, Somalia. My family and I belong to the Benadir clan, an ethnic minority group on the southern coast of Somalia. When civil war broke out in early 1991, the Benadir clan became one of the biggest victims of the war. Hundreds of thousands of people were savagely killed, women were raped and people’s homes were looted. My family encountered these atrocities: my uncle was shot dead by his neighbour whilst trying to protect his family; my 13-year-old distant cousin was kidnapped and raped by a member of the warring clans. Amidst the chaos of the war, millions of people were forced to flee their homes in search of safe havens abroad.
My family left Somalia in early 1992 and we ended up as refugees in London. At the age of 13 I was sent to secondary school without being able to speak any English. From my early days at school I was subjected to constant bullying, racial harassment and, at times, physical violence from students, partly because of my wearing the headscarf. I went to four different schools before I could settle.
On many occasions I felt like taking revenge on those who harmed me. However, I had to remind myself of the terrible conflict my family had fled from, and I did not want to bring or be part of a conflict in a country which I now call home. My faith also guided me against acting upon any of my negative thoughts. Islam does not permit violence or revenge; it is said that ‘Revenge is like a poison that flows through a deceased soul.’ Had I taken revenge on those who harmed me, I would never have found peace and happiness in my heart.
For many years I had very negative views of English people and distrusted them very much because of my initial negative experience. But as Muslims my parents have always taught me not to harbour negative feelings, and that forgiveness is the first step to healing wounds and building trust. When my father first introduced me to Initiatives of Change I was somewhat skeptical about the work of the organization. I found its aims to be almost too good to be true. However, I was quickly struck by the honesty and openness of IofC members’ experiences and the way in which they transformed their lives by not only forgiving those who wronged them but actually working with them too. IofC principles have helped to me to deal with the [memory of the] bullying, racism, and physical violence which I experienced at school.
Trust-building, reconciliation and forgiveness are now fundamental elements that play a critical role in my professional life. I am currently working with Initiatives of Change as a youth outreach worker on a number of initiatives. I played a leading part in coordinating a ‘Learning to be Peacemakers’ conference at the IofC centre in Caux, Switzerland, in August 2009. I participate in the IofC-UK schools programme and have visited many schools in Liverpool, Newbury and Scotland. I also work extensively with young Somalis, sharing my experience with them and motivating them to raise their expectations, to better their lives and increase their opportunities.
I am also an active member of IofC’s Agenda for Reconciliation programme, including the ‘Somali Initiative for Dialogue and Democracy’ based in London. Currently, I am involved in an intergenerational dialogue project, which aims to create understanding among young and older people in the Somali communities in the London boroughs of Brent, Harrow and Islington.
In the current climate of fear, trust building is now more important than ever before. In such times of difficulties we must learn to put our dependency and trust on each other.
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