If you live in the Kansas area, please help any way you can. If you don’t, pray hard that she is found safe and share this information.

Like the ‘Help Find Aisha Khan‘ Facebook page and follow @findAisha on twitter, for updates, to post messages of support and find pictures and fliers to distribute.

The latest flier (click for full size):

The recent visit to the Somali refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya, by Dr. Jill Biden and several high-level U.S. officials highlighted the United States’ commitment to working with the famine-struck people of the region. From the camps, however, it was likely impossible for Biden to witness the depth of the suffering the ethnic Somali population is enduring inside Somalia and in the neighboring countries of Kenya and Ethiopia.

As I write from inside Kenya, my mind is replaying images I have witnessed here – images that Biden and the rest of the world likely do not have the opportunity to see: Thousands of exhausted people arriving at camps after they walked hundreds of miles across the hot, dry land in search of food and away from conflict. A child’s horror on seeing his parent drop dead in the middle of the semi-arid desert, due to heat and starving.  A father’s grief on seeing his daughter passing away in front of his eyes because her body was so malnourished and dehydrated that medical support could no longer save her life.  A mother’s heartbreaking decision of choosing which child to continue carrying in the journey, and which child to leave by the roadside with the hope that some stranger will pick him up before he dies.  A child so severely malnourished and starving that his body could no longer accept nourishment while he lives camouflaged within the local population as an unregistered refugee.

Each survivor has a story; each grave has a story.

While traveling with colleagues around East Africa for several weeks, I have come across innumerable cases of grief and suffering caused by the most severe drought to hit the region in the last six decades. This natural disaster has been further complicated by conflict in certain regions of Somalia. The conflict has magnified the effect of the drought, to leave millions suffering from acute malnutrition, disease outbreaks and human rights violations.  In addition, the interference of local authorities and warlords in the delivery of relief efforts has prolonged the people’s agony.

In these situations, faith-based groups like the Islamic Relief family of organizations can play significant support roles.

Islamic Relief Somalia has been implementing humanitarian assistance programs in the country since 2006, before the world’s attention was turned toward either the drought or the conflict.

The inexhaustible aid efforts and consistent humanitarian service put in over the years by Islamic Relief staff members have gained them the trust of local stakeholders. They have earned the reputation of unconditionally caring for all humans, and thus the programs have continued without interruption. As an example, while riots at certain food distribution sites have resulted in deaths, potential problems at Islamic Relief sites in Mogadishu have been peacefully resolved because of Islamic Relief Somalia’s respected status in the region.

Because local stakeholders respect Islamic Relief’s integrity and neutrality, Islamic Relief teams have been able to accomplish humanitarian work without interruption, even when other NGOs have had to evacuate conflict zones. In addition, Islamic Relief has a policy of refusing to pay “taxes” for the right to distribute desperately needed humanitarian relief supplies, and, because it has been able to build trust in the local communities, has never been asked.

The trust we have earned is an asset that serves as a strong protective shield, and it is our primary strength in regions like the Horn of Africa. This trust can also be leveraged by other major international players to provide the maximum relief to the suffering people of Somalia. I propose a two-pronged approach:

First, in the short term, I invite other organizations to leverage the opportunities that are open to us to directly reach the people in the greatest need, and to work with Islamic Relief to distribute assistance. We have worked with major entities including United Nations agencies, and we welcome more partnerships in a joint effort to save the most innocent lives possible.

And secondly, for a long-term improvement, we invite peacemaking organizations to work alongside humanitarian relief efforts like Islamic Relief’s, to strive to achieve a lasting resolution to this conflict, which has caused such profound suffering. Islamic Relief workers may have unique perspectives to offer on how to best broker peace in the region and would welcome dialogue to that end.

Providing stability in the region would be the best way to help Somalis build livelihoods that are more secure against shocks like droughts; this would lower both the death toll and the need for the kind of humanitarian assistance Biden is advocating. Such assistance is desperately needed, but removing or at least reducing the need for it would be infinitely better.

Adnan Ansari is the Vice President of Programs at Islamic Relief USA, based in Alexandria, Va. He can be reached at 703-370-7202 or aansari@irusa.org. Islamic Relief USA and Islamic Relief Somalia are independent affiliates of Islamic Relief Worldwide. For more information, visit irusa.org.

Support Yemen’s Revolution

Yemen’s revolution has been the longest in the Arab spring and the most peaceful so far. It started on the eve of Mubarak’s historical stepping down on February 11th and has been ongoing ever since. The prolonged political crisis in Yemen caused a humanitarian and economic crisis, costing Yemen billions of dollars monthly and resulting in displaced refugees enduring all kinds of hardships. Yemen’s youth have been staging marches and camping in sit-in tents across the squares in most Yemeni cities and despite being subject to expired tear gas, live bullets, killings and arrests they have resiliently stood firm demanding a regime change. Electricity, gas, water and food shortages were imposed by the regime on the entire population as a mean to pressure Yemenis and intimidate them, yet they kept marching peacefully demanding their rights.

Yemen’s revolution was not given the appropriate coverage which was given to other Arab spring revolutions, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. The obvious media blackout to what is occurring in Yemen is a direct reflection of the lack of support of Western and regional forces to the revolution. As the youth called this weekend for a peaceful escalation and revolutionary steadfast, the regime blocked entrances to major cities, deployed troops in main streets and cut the power and gas supply.

Kindly join in a social media solidarity campaign and support Yemen’s Revolution at this critical stage by dedicating most of your Facebook status to support Yemen’s revolution and your tweets this week September 4th -11th to the hashtag #Yemen.

Links:

Yemen’s Youth: The best Hope for Democracy
Amazing determination of the Yemeni people
Follow Noon on Twitter

Many of us are preparing to face the challenge of fasting long, hot summer days. However, we are blessed to get breakfast, and we eat when the sun goes down. We don’t wonder where our food is coming from, or if it is coming. We don’t choose to feed our children or ourselves.

This Ramadan, as famine devastates Somalia and other places in the Horn of Africa region, we have the opportunity for deep reflection and meaningful action for our brothers and sisters in faith and in humanity whose fasting does not end and who remain hungry into the night. May Allah ease their struggle amin.

Places to donate to the famine relief effort:

• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Islamic Relief USA
• Oxfam
• Unicef
• Doctors Without Borders
• More ways to help at PBS.org

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our Autism awareness event Blue Hijab Day is only about 6 weeks away! We have the fliers and tag up and ready to print out! Soon we’ll have suggestions for events you can plan for Blue Hijab Day on the site. Don’t forget to RSVP on the facebook event and join the facebook page.

This year, we also have versions of the fliers and tag without a face for those who don’t use images with faces and/or want to put the flier up in a mosque.

This was a victory not only for Egypt but for ‘the People’ in all places. This was a victory for humanity and human rights.

We’d like to say Mabrook – Congratulations to Egypt and we are hoping to see the change continue to go on. Importantly, the opening of Gaza and the freedom of all of those across the Arab world who still do not have their rights and do not have their freedom. Yemen and Algeria march and call for their freedom as we speak. Watch Al Jazeera to stay up to date with the Arab revolution.

Wael Ghonim is a Google Middle East Employee who is missing in Egypt since Friday the 28th January. Read more about Wael’s story.

There is a new campaign on twitter by Wael’s friends and those who care to try and get Google to change their logo in support of Wael.

See the tweet here asking google to do this: http://twitpic.com/3w5q60

I wanted to add my voice the best way I know how so I created the below image to add my voice and art to the call. I hope Google is listening and that they will not only change their logo to support the search for Wael, but also take an active and urgent role in searching for him and/or calling for his release if he is detained.

You have permission to share this widely and add to it if you want to.

Those who read my writing know I try to tread carefully arouindend political matters, I’m a peacekeeper to my own detriment most of the time. However when it comes to revolution – a peoples revolution – it is very much in my blood to join the march as if the people marching are my own, and they are, as they’ve been saying on Twitter: Yesterday we were Tunisian, today we are Egyptian, tomorrow we’ll be free.

It began on facebook, a grassroots movement for anti government protests inspired by the recent ousting of Tunisian President Ben Ali. Twitter was quickly blocked in Egypt to prevent communication aiding the anti government efforts, Facebook was reported blocked as well, and soon, the entire internet and cell phone networks were reported to be down. From that point on, I was glued to Al Jazeera English, who have truly shone in their coverage of the uprising even while having police knocking on their door.

On Friday the 28th over a million people marched, relatively peacefully considering the amount of anger, passion and the sheer number of people moving in the streets across Egypt. They are calling for Autocratic President, Hosni Mubarak to step down, Mubarak was nowhere to be seen or heard from since the beginning of all of this, speculation had him in Israel at one point and Switzerland at another, none of that ended up being accurate, as far as we know, he never left Egypt.

I woke up on Friday (morning in the US, but evening in Egypt) and began to tweet as quickly as I could, all the important updates from the ground that I could get, I felt the dire importance in the face of censorship, to keep the stream of information going. There were (and continue to be) hundreds, maybe thousands of others doing the same.

Mainstream Media across the world speculates on who is behind this uprising, is it an “islamist” revolution backed by the Muslim Brotherhood? Is it simply chaos led by looting thugs? Indeed, it is neither, it is a grassroots uprising of Egyptian people from all backgrounds, who have had enough, enough of tyranny, enough of corruption and most definitely, enough of Mubarak, who has ruled with State of Emergency power for going on 30 years.

The focus and the purpose of this revolt has been astounding, historical, inspiring! Egyptian Christians vowed to stand outside Mosques to protect Muslims as they prayed Friday congregational prayers, which had been banned by the regime due to the uprising. And they did, before joining together as one voice for political change, a revolution.

We saw Police firing live ammunition at protesters, before disappearing entirely on Saturday. Government buildings burned across the nation. Concern grew for the fate of Egypts National Museum and the history it contains. Protesters formed human chains in front of the National Museum in Cairo to protect it from looting and made some efforts to protect it from a fire that raged for days in the Government Headquarters next door. These acts further showed the clear focus the uprising had, this is not about chaos and anarchy, there is a clear and specific purpose here.

Friday on Twitter, Egypt, Mubarak, #jan25 and National Museum were all trending worldwide. Soldiers and Tanks deployed in the streets were welcomed with cheers and thumbs up, confusing many international onlookers. The confusion continued as Police fired towards soldiers in Suez and protesters chanted “The people and the army are one”.

Curfews were imposed and ignored. Finally late on Friday night Mubarak spoke, his speech largely politician bore, he stated that he would remain President but had fired his entire government and would appoint a new one the following day. This announcement led to renewed anger in the streets as the people spoke, once again, with a clear voice, Mubarak must go.

As things progressed into Saturday it became clear State Police were the aggressors while the Army was remaining neutral, seen to be supportive but somewhat removed from the revolt. 100 people have lost their lives so far, many killed by police. Violence and looting spread and the scene quickly became one of chaos. As night fell reports came in of thugs in the suburbs threatening and thieving, looting of government buildings and civilian businesses and fear among residents. Al Jazeera English described it accurately as thugs using the protests as a cover for looting.

Citizens formed armed neighborhood watch teams and took shifts protecting their neighborhoods, using loud speakers to urge residents to keep lights on and setting up check points on the roads. Further evidence still of the focus and purpose of these Egyptian people. Citizens arrests were made on some of the thugs revealing a shocking truth, many of the looters were indeed carrying State Security ID’s and government issued weapons. This coupled with the mysterious disappearance of any police presence on the streets lead to speculation of planned chaos with the purpose of silencing the revolt. “Where are the police who are shooting the protesters? they are shooting the protesters and leaving the thieves!” one resident asked.

The feeling is and has been very much one of a peoples revolution, the stand out quote from Al Jazeera in all of this “The government has underestimated the power of the people”. As they speak to people on the street the message has been consistently, we are the people, ordinary Egyptians who have had enough.

As I write this, reporters continue their coverage, crowds continue to gather, the people continue to rise and call for the end of a 30 year rule that has left the country with no choice but revolution. I’ve heard numbers from 150,000 and 1 million gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square (also known as Liberation Square) right now, 10’s of thousands of more on Alexandria and Suez and across the country.

Solidarity protests have erupted around the world, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, several cities across the US, this is a peoples revolution and it is supported by the people around the world.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said “Help the oppressor by preventing his oppression”.

Who to follow:

Al Jazeera has been banned by the Egyptian government, however they continue their amazing work. You can watch live coverage and regular updates on Al Jazeera English and Arabic.

The hashtag on twitter that is used for tweets related to the revolution is #jan25. See all tweets with the #jan25.

We are tweeting regular updates from news and retweeting information from people on the ground, follow the Muslimas Oasis twitter feed.

Egyptian American Organica updates her twitter with accounts from family and friends on the ground. She also has a popular flickr feed with pictures of the uprising which she kindly offered me photo’s from for this article. Big thanks and much love!

Democracy Now Producer who is on the ground Sharif Kouddous

Egyptian Columnist Mona Eltahawy

CNN Correspondent who is on the ground Ben Wedemen

Despite international effort the siege continues and Gaza has yet to recover from the now 2 year old devastation of both infrastructure, personal lives and families. The population of Gaza continue to be impacted by bombs and blockades, and by international indifference.

Please read and comment on my post on the 1st anniversary.

• More about World AIDS Day.
• More about the day here.
• UNAIDS Website.
• Wikipedia World AIDS Day page.
• Positive Muslims.
• Tweets tagged with World AIDS.

See also our AIDS and Muslims post.