Religion and Gender: Addressing Women's Issues in the Muslim Context
Giraffe Heroes Inernational Operations
1. Details on Giraffe Heroes International Operations
Giraffe Heroes Kenya
Giraffe Heroes Kenya (GHK) was launched on 17 October, 2014. The celebration,
which took place at the Waterbuck Hotel in Nakuru, honored and appreciated 23
ordinary Kenyans and one non-Kenyan, from diverse backgrounds, who are
‘sticking their necks out’ for the common good and serving their communities in
selfless ways. Present at the event was John Graham, a former USA diplomat and
2. the Director for Giraffe Heroes International as well as representatives from the
County Government of Nakuru. Dignitaries from corporate, academic and
religious institutions also attended.
In the next months, GHK will tell the stories of these Giraffes Heroes through
both traditional and social media. The stories of these brave and committed
people will inspire others to become active citizens themselves in responding to
challenges facing Kenyan communities and the nation. Telling the stories of
heroes may be an old, old strategy, but, as the Giraffe Heroes Project USA has
proven over more than 30 years, it is a powerful way to motivate positive,
effective citizen action. Giraffe Heroes Kenya intends to find, honor and celebrate
at least 24 Giraffe Heroes every year.
Giraffe Heroes Kenya is a wholly Kenyan-run affiliate of the Giraffe Heroes
Project, USA and joins global affiliates in India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Egypt and
Zimbabwe. Kenya is the first country in East Africa and the third in Africa to
undertake this initiative.
Prior to the Nakuru launch, Giraffe Heroes International Director Graham met
with many Kenyans from all walks of life and gave presentations to universities,
high schools and civic groups in Nairobi, Nakuru and Narok.
Giraffe Heroes Zimbabwe
Giraffe Heroes Zimbabwe was launched with the purpose of moving more and
3. more citizens of that country to “stick their necks out” for the common good, and
to give them tools to succeed. The new organization follows similar groups
launched over the last three years in India, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Egypt.
Although completely independent, all are inspired by the work of the Giraffe
Heroes Project, founded in the US in 1982.
GHZ focuses on social and economic rights activists although we do not limit
the political aspect. The idea is to honor such individuals for ‘standing up’
against injustice or doing something positive for the community. Just like a
Giraffe that keeps its neck high so is the GH.
GH Zimbabwe strives to recognize “unsung heroes” that have positively
contributed immensely in society and we hope to leave a legacy of positivity to
future generations through our work.
We are now calling upon nominations for individuals from around Zimbabwe
whom you think deserve to be honored for their outstanding contributions
inasmuch as advocating for social and economic rights as well as contributing
positively in communities they reside in.
Giraffe Heroes Zimbabwe, as all other Giraffe Heroes programs around the
world, will not take sides with any one political party or ethnic group. Rather, it
will find and celebrate the work of those citizens whose lives transcend party,
ethnicity and class—people whose work is dedicated to the good of all people in
the country, from all parties and all groups. Here are a few of the heroes honored
to date:
Farai Maguwu, Zimbabwe's very first Giraffe Hero, is Director of the Centre
for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), an NGO that fights for the rights
of miners in the diamond fields of Zimbabwe. Maguwu is a powerful voice
demanding that the profits from the mines be used to benefit the people of that
nation rather than disappearing into unseen hands. He's been imprisoned and
he's watched constantly, but his CNRG goes on monitoring the mines and
sounding alarms.
4. .
Farai Maguwu
Betty Makoni is Giraffe Hero #2 in Zimbabwe. Makoni founded and runs the
Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, determined to see that girls there escape the
horrors of Makoni's own childhood. In an overarching culture that devalues and
abuses girls, Makoni's advocacy has brought her arrests and death threats—it's
also brought healing, education and hope to thousands of girls in Zimbabwe,
Swaziland, Malawi and South Africa.
Betty Makoni
5. Tasara Wamambo is the Director of Tokwe Mukosi People's Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Trust and has been on the lead in defending the rights of the people
of Tokwe Mukosi since 2009 until now. In February 2014 heavy rains pounded
on Tokwe Mukosi in Masvingo Province resulting in flooding which displaced
tens of thousands of villagers. Government and humanitarian agencies
response to the Tokwe Mukosi disaster was lethargic. Tasara worked tirelessly to
highlight the plight of his community resulting in several humanitarian and
government agencies working together to alleviate human suffering in the flood
hit area. He is a true Giraffe who managed to stick his neck out at a time the
community needed an organizer.
Tasara Wamambo
Giraffe Heroes Egypt
6. GHI has been in contact with the heroes of Tahrir Square since the beginning of
the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. GHI Director John Graham went to Cairo in late
May 2013 to set the groundwork for launching Giraffe Heroes Egypt (GHE), a
new movement whose purpose is to find and tell the stories of Egypt's heroes—
courageous men and women whose examples will inspire others to transcend
religion and partisanship to build together a new Egypt that is safe, stable, just
and prosperous. GHE will help construct what Egypt so desperately needs — a
national process of building instead of tearing down.
Graham met with key NGO leaders, politicians and educators in both Cairo and
Alexandria. All were very enthusiastic about using the Giraffe vision and
methods to move many more Egyptians to help rebuild the social and political
infrastructure of the country after 30 years of one-man rule. The Library of
Alexandria, a secular political party and a human rights-oriented law firm all
expressed interest in hosting the new organization. During his visit, Graham
gave three seminars on political action, suggesting ways that even people who
live in a society as deeply polarized as Egypt’s might find ways to work together
to build the secure, just and prosperous society they all say they want.
The work is not without risks. 48 hours after Graham left the country, the Cairo
Court ordered the arrest of all foreigners “teaching democracy.”
A few weeks later the Morsi Government was overthrown by the Army, many
Morsi supporters (and many others) were killed and the Muslim Brotherhood
leaders were arrested. As the year comes to an end, there is a fragile peace,
pending the adoption of a new constitution and new elections in the spring.
Meanwhile, plans for the launch of Giraffe Heroes Egypt have been delayed until
the dust settles a bit more. The need for this new organization grows by the day.
Egyptians have got to find a way to live together, Muslim and Christian,
religious and secular. Their heroes can show them how, and Giraffe Heroes
Egypt will tell the stories of those heroes—men and women from all religions, or
no religion, committed to a free, democratic pluralism.
As the continuing unrest shows, the 2011 Revolution may have the easiest part of
this enormous transition in Egypt. Most of the heavy lifting—writing a secular
constitution that upholds the rights of all Egyptians, developing and
strengthening a vibrant civil society, creating a workable parliamentary and
court system—lies ahead. But none of it will succeed until Egyptians can talk and
work together— discussing, forming and implementing a common vision of their
future. By giving them examples of their own heroes, GHE will inspire and
support this process. Giraffe Heroes International continues to coach by e-mail
7. and Skype from the US. Stay tuned.
Giraffe Heroes India
Giraffe Heroes India (GH/India) aims to bring Giraffe vision, strategies and tools
for change to the 1.3 billion people on the Indian subcontinent – making it
potentially by far the largest Giraffe global affiliate launched to date.
Vijay Saluja, GH/India’s new Director, hosted Giraffe Heroes International
Director John Graham for twelve days in May, 2012, and the two worked
together on setting up the new venture. Saluja, like the Directors of Giraffe
Heroes Sierra Leone and Giraffe Heroes Nepal, is a Giraffe Hero himself. Saluja
was honored in 2004 for his courageous 20-year stand against the
mismanagement and unfair and unethical practices in the New Delhi City
Government, where he himself worked as a senior engineer. That experience
makes him perfect to direct an operation whose purpose is to move more and
more citizens to stick their own necks out, working to help solve important
public problems ranging from poverty, corruption and discrimination against
women to injustices still remaining from India’s traditional caste system.
Like all Giraffe operations, GH/India will tell the inspiring stories of the
country’s heroes, motivating others to become heroic too. GH/India will also
offer practical tools citizen activists need to succeed, as wel l as Giraffe civic
engagement programs in schools, helping young people build lives as
courageous and compassionate citizens serving a vibrant India.
Saluja and Graham visited dozens of India’s leaders in government, business,
media, education and the world of NGOs, seeking their advice and support.
Everyone they talked to was very enthusiastic and offers of help have been
pouring in. A two-hour meeting with the Maharaja of Jodhpur was important,
but the Giraffe idea seemed to resonate among Indians of all ranks, who see the
need for building more of the public-spirited courage necessary to take on the
country’s daunting challenges.
They were gratified by the offers of support and Graham came back very excited
by what he saw, and by the energy that Saluja and he were able to generate, even
in a short time. One of the many high points for Graham was meeting with
traditional village leaders (sarpanches) in the Rajasthan desert, explaining how
bringing into their villages stories of Giraffe Heroes—people from all over India
solving the kinds of problems they all face—could help them generate
enthusiasm and action for local change. Saluja and Graham gave three public
presentations, combining Saluja’s inspiring story of his own anti -corruption fight
8. with Graham’s stories of thirty years of working with and learning from Giraffe
Heroes.
Meeting with Village Leaders in Rajasthan
A solid beginning was made with India’s major media, including well -placed
articles in major newspapers and an offer of support from Governance Now, a
prestigious news magazine that has agreed to carry the stories of India’s Giraffe
Heroes when they are ready.
Tibet
There is no Giraffe Heroes operation in Tibet—the Chinese overlords there
would shut it down in an instant. But Tibet represents another function of Giraffe
Heroes International—investigative reporting. GHI Director John Graham
managed to get a tourist visa into Tibet (no easy feat, given the sensitivities of the
Chinese) in October 2012. He traveled westward across the high plateau there for
a week, from Lhasa to the Mt. Everest Base Camp to the frontier with Nepal,
stuffing notes for his blog into his dirty socks.
What he saw and wrote about was eye-opening. He calls what the Chinese are
doing to Tibet nothing less than cultural genocide. Read his report, Goodbye
Tibet.
9. Monks in Shigatse, Tibet
Giraffe Heroes Nepal
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and a ten-year civil war that ended
in 2006 stalled development and left many people there uncertain and afraid.
Nepal needs the Giraffe message of hope, courage and service.
Giraffe Heroes Nepal (GHN) was launched in October 2011 during a ten-day
visit to the country by GHI Director John Graham, working there with GHN’s
leader, Dr. Sushil Koirala, already honored as a Giraffe Hero for his courageous
work with Peace for Nepal (PN), an NGO he founded in 2004 to help end the
bloody civil war.
When the war did end, PN helped promote the election of a Constitutional
Assembly and then, after the elections, organized programs in villages and
towns collecting peoples' opinions, suggestions and concerns for drafting the
Constitution that ended the monarchy and launched Nepal as a new democracy.
10. Since then, PN has expanded its activities and focus both within Nepal and
abroad, promoting programs that build peace, support development, combat
injustice and protect the environment.
Under Dr. Koirala’s direction, GHN will find the brave men, women and
children who are already making a difference in Nepal, and get their stories told
to the nation, energizing others to move into action themselves. GHN speeches,
trainings and other tools in civic engagement will help activists succeed. And
GHN schools materials will help young people build lives as courageous and
compassionate citizens.
Over ten days in September and October 2011, John Graham and Dr. Koirala met
with key people in government, major donor organizations, NGOs, schools and
especially media organizations. All were impressed with the idea of Giraffe
Heroes Nepal and all enthusiastically agreed to help launch it. Graham was on
Nepal's version of The Today Show, talking about Giraffe Heroes Nepal to a
national audience, or at least to its many English speakers. Dr. Koirala and
Graham also talked at length to Nepalese language media executives.
Graham and Dr. Koirala also spent a half-day at Tilingatar, the largest high
school in Kathmandu, talking to groups of students about the adventure of
serving one’s community and nation. They strategized with the school's leaders
on how stories of Giraffe Heroes, combined with Giraffe coaching in civic
engagement and community service, could help young people make a difference
in their communities. It was also apparent that these stories would be a great tool
for teaching English. GHN’s plan—once a robust program is launched at this
initial high school—is to use this model to spread Giraffe schools' programs to
other schools in the Kathmandu Valley and then elsewhere in the country.
Graham and Dr. Koirala also took GHN to the rural areas, spending three full
days in small towns and villages deep in the foothills of the Himalayas. In one
poor village, the two spoke to a group of teenagers who had formed a club to
help the village solve its problems, including providing safe drinking water.
What the kids were doing was great—and could be even more effective with a
small amount of Giraffe training and materials.
11. Giraffe Heroes Nepal Director Dr. Sushil Koirala and
GHI Director Graham at Dashain festival, Nepal
Nepal faces significant challenges including continuing conflicts, poverty and
disease, threats to the environment and corruption. But it’s also clear that there
are many brave and committed Nepalese already making progress in all these
areas. When GHN tells their stories, others will be led to follow their leads. And
GHN training programs will help them succeed.
Giraffe Heroes Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is a country the size of Iowa on the bulge of West Africa. It’s a
potentially rich country, but impoverished by a brutal ten-year civil war that
ended in 2002—think child soldiers and Blood Diamonds. The war killed
thousands of people, destroyed infrastructure, and left many more people
discouraged, apathetic and fearful. Sierra Leone needs a lot of inspiration, hope
and guidance.
GHI Director John Graham spent eight days in Sierra Leone in May 2011 and
came away impressed not just with the enormous tasks of governance and
development at hand, but also with the longing of the people he met—from
political leaders in Freetown to war victims in small camps upcountry—to heal
the country's wounds and restart development work. Giraffe Heroes Sierra
Leone can help by bringing Giraffe programs to the country, providing
inspiration and training to people traumatized by the war. For a relatively low
cost, GH-SL can help them regain their footing, renew their hope and help solve
12. the enormous problems the country faces such as poverty, corruption and
political violence.
John Graham at camp for war victims, Makeni, Sierra Leone (now the epicenter
of the Ebola epidemic)
Everywhere Graham went in Sierra Leone, billboards proclaimed “Na wi
country,” which is translated not just as “This is our country” but “This is OUR
country.” The signs were symbols of a national pride rooted in the common good
and a positive vision of the future that just might finally produce the stability
and well-being that have long been promised but never delivered. It’s as if the
whole country has discovered that building a safe, fair and prosperous nation
can’t succeed unless they build it together. While in Sierra Leone, Graham gave a
number of speeches and was interviewed at length by two national radio stations.
13. Giraffe Heroes Sierra Leone is being launched with the help of three outstanding
NGO partners in the country. The lead partner is Hope Sierra Leone, led by John
Bangura, himself honored as a Giraffe Hero four years ago for his courageous
peace-building work in the aftermath of the Sierra Leonean civil war. John's
organization works principally with the military, police and tribal chiefs. Our
second partner is the B-Gifted Foundation, led by Andrew Greene, which focuses
on war victims, women's issues and the environment. The third partner is
Talking Drum Studio, led by Ambrose James, an affiliate of the US-based NGO
Search for Common Ground. Talking Drum broadcasts all over Sierra Leone
through a network of 26 radio stations. GH-SL hopes to use this network as the
principal vehicle for disseminating stories of Sierra Leonean Giraffe Heroes. The
country is so poor that cell phones or computers do not begin to cover all the
rural areas.
GH-SL’s plan is to begin broadcasting stories of Sierra Leone's Giraffe Heroes by
early next year. We will buttress the broadcasts with an active series of
interviews and speeches by our NGO partners, encouraging the whole country to
find, honor and emulate their fellow citizens who are acting with courage and
compassion to heal divisions and build a successful common future.
Giraffe Heroes UK
Dealing with Muslim/non-Muslim tensions in Great Britain
In 2010, Giraffe Heroes International and the Karimia Institute launched a joint
program to defuse the disaffection and anger of many Muslim youth in the UK
and replace it with a growing sense of competence and hope as citizens of their
adopted country.
There are over three million Muslims in the UK and half of them are under 25.
Most of them live in abysmal social and economic conditions, made worse by a
confusion of identity and a lack of teachers and role models. These multiple
deprivations lead to a sense of alienation and victimization that then breed anger
and frustration which make the kids easy prey for the recruiters of radical Islam.
The situation of young Muslims in the UK has become a growing social and
security threat. Many of them applaud the violent tactics of al Qaeda. Almost all
of South Asian descent, the most radicalized of these young Muslims can end up
in training bases in terrorist safehavens in Pakistan. Mainstream Islam in the UK
does not condone terrorism, condemns the violence of al Qaeda and urges UK
Muslims to participate as full citizens of Great Britain. Politically moderate UK
Islamic organizations, such as the Karimia Institute based in Nottingham,
struggle to counter the influence of radical clerics among Muslim youth.
14. The Karamia Institute is a politically moderate Muslim organization whose
mission is “to promote moral, social and spiritual development through worship,
education and recreation for today's society.” The Institute operates over twenty
programs for men and women, boys and girls, including nurseries, schools,
mosques, a radio station and a sports center. Its newest program is the Muslim
Youth Development Project, working with Muslims aged 16-25 to develop
leadership skills and encourage community volunteering.
GHP President John Graham and Imam Hussain Musharraf, Director of the
Karimia Institute, first met at an international conference in Switzerland in the
summer of 2009. They quickly saw the possibilities for using Giraffe themes and
programs to support the Institute’s work in helping disaffected Muslim youth
develop confidence, self-esteem and self-belief.
John Graham and Imam Musharraf at the Karimia Institute's Radio Dawn
Graham went to Nottingham in April 2010 to explore these possibilities and to
work with the leaders of the Institute to design a partnership and programs that
met the challenge. It was clear from the start that Giraffe programs developed in
the US simply couldn't be transferred whole to a much different cultural context
in the UK’s Muslim community. While many of the same Giraffe themes and
methods that work in tough inner cities in America would also work among
15. angry Muslim youth in the UK, there were important differences. And the heroes
chosen as examples for Muslim youth in the UK clearly needed to be weighted
heavily towards Muslims and South Asians. Over four days, Graham:
• Trained Karimia Institute staff to set up a system to solicit nominations for real
heroes from the Muslim community, select the best stories, then get those stories
told by whatever means would be most effective, including Radio Dawn, the
Institute's own station.
• Explored with the Institute what would be needed to amend the Giraffe civic
engagement materials now used by schools and youth organizations in the US to
fit the unique context of Muslim youth in the UK. In the plan that resulted,
Muslim youth first hear, see or read the inspiring stories of real heroes, credible
examples of real people leading exciting, productive and meaningful lives. Then
they are coached to become heroes themselves by designing and carrying out
projects that help solve public problems they care about. Seeing the positive
difference their actions can make in their communities—Muslim youth learn that
they are valuable members of society and can live their entire lives as involved
citizens. Their communities see them as assets instead of liabilities. Taking part
in Giraffe programs helps give these young Muslims confidence and skills.
Perhaps most importantly, it gives them hope.
Giraffe Heroes Nigeria
The success of an exploratory trip to Nigeria by John Graham in 2008 led to the
idea, then the plans and the launch of Giraffe Heroes International two years
later. In that 2008 trip, Graham spent eleven days speaking, leading workshops
and meeting a wide variety of Nigerians committed to the social and political
transformation of their country.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, suffered then and now from
corruption and poor governance that for decades have hampered efforts to meet
key challenges of social, political and economic development. Blessed with
natural resources (principally oil) and a large, educated middle class, the country
has made only limited progress since its independence in 1960.
Graham was initially invited to Nigeria by the Nigerian Center for Societal
Transformation to explore how the Giraffe Heroes Project, with its message of
courage, hope and practical change, could help. From Lagos in the south to
Abuja in the middle to Kano in the Muslim north, Graham gave nine
presentations in eleven days including public speeches, leadership training
workshops, training sessions for educators and even preaching in churches.
16. Everywhere he went, he introduced the Giraffe concept of telling the stories of
real heroes as a way of moving others to courageous and compassionate action
on issues that they cared about. He talked about meaning as a key motivator for
taking on tough tasks and about service as a strong and stable source of meaning.
He offered practical tips to Nigerian activists to improve strategic planning and
execution. He showed them how to create and communicate a vision powerful
enough to attract support from others.
Graham with civic and religious leaders in Kano
In Kano, in the Muslim north, a city where Osama bin Laden was a hero to many,
Graham told the story of Joel Bisina, a Nigerian hero working for peaceful
solutions to deadly violence in the troubled Delta region of the country. In one of
the poorest slums in Lagos, he worked with young leaders to improve their
efforts to provide leadership for community development. In Abuja, the nation’s
capital, he met with senior non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders to
explore how Giraffe ideas and materials might help them in their efforts.
With a huge percentage of Nigeria’s population under 25 years old, Graham
spent much of his visit talking to educators and youth leaders about how to
engage kids in service projects, giving them skills and hope for the future. He
17. urged Nigerians to tell their kids the stories of the real heroes in Nigeria’s rich
history, and why it was important to give kids the freedom to explore their
powers as agents of change, even when that means rocking a few boats.
Graham with youth leaders in Lagos
Giraffe Heroes Project curricula and books proved very popular, especially Stick
Your Neck Out, Graham's guide for social and political activists. In an
arrangement with the book's US publisher, Stick Your Neck Out is now being
published by Rehoboth Books, a publisher based in Lagos. This allows it to be
sold at a price low enough to get it to many more activists and change agents
who need it all over the country.