صراط عشق صراط عشق
A Canadian Muslim group is raising ftunds to open a new shelter for Muslim women in Winnipeg. “For example, women who practice Islam, women who spoke different languages, women and children who came from different cultural or religious backgrounds – they weren’t getting their needs met,” said Zena Chaudhry, Sakeenah Homes’ Chief Executive Officer, CTV News reported.
“We had clients who would come and say, ‘I was at so-and-so shelter and someone was being very Islamophobic. They would rip my head scarf off. They wouldn’t let me pray, they wouldn’t let me fast.’ And these are things that we continue to hear over the past four and a half years.”
Sakeenah Homes, founded in 2018, already operates transitional housing and supports Muslim women and their children in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and Ottawa. Chaudhry said that they decided to open a facility in Winnipeg after noticing an increase in calls from Manitoba.
“We have seen the need in the past two and a half years in Winnipeg go up. That means our call volume from Winnipeg has risen, the number of clients that we see in Winnipeg has risen,” she said. Towards that end, the group has launched an online fundraiser with a goal of $25,000. They estimate that the facility will cost anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000 to run annually.
