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We share a brief glimpse of how three Zayed Award honorees are positively impacting the world. Since the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity was establishment in 2019, 13 honorees have been awarded.
Saving youth from a life of crime in Kenya
Since being honored with the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity in 2023, Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil – known as “Mama Shamsa” – has saved more and more young people from lives of crime and provided them with opportunities and resources through her Zayed Micro-enterprise Seed Support Grant – an initiative enabled by the award.
She participated in the Emerging Peacemakers Forum, held at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, in July 2023.
One transformational testimony comes from Omar Katana, a young man previously engaged in criminal behavior. Through the guidance of Mama Shamsa, Katana stopped his life of crime and is now involved in poultry farming, an initiative supported by the Zayed Micro-enterprise Seed Support Grant. Through the project, he is able to provide for his family and positively impact the local community.
Reuniting mothers and children in Chile
Sister Nelly Leon Correa, 2024 co-honoree and president of the Woman Standing Up Foundation, hosted a Mother’s Day celebration on 12 May in Santiago, Chile, with 20 female participants from her foundation’s post-prison program and their children. The celebration took place in housing provided by the foundation for women who have been recently released from prison.
"For women deprived of liberty, resuming their roles as mothers is what they long for most when they are released,” said Sister Nelly. “A mother deprived of liberty has a strong effect on her children and their future.”
Combating extremism and encouraging forgiveness in France and Morocco
After receiving the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity in 2021, activist against extremism Latifa Ibn Ziaten launched an educational and social center in Morocco called “Dar Imad.” The center – named after her late son Imad who was murdered in a terrorist attack in 2012 – aims to prevent extremism among young people and promote human fraternity values. She is currently working on launching a project at Dar Imad called The Parents’ School which will help adults and parents manage a situation of potential radicalization of young people.
Most recently, Ziaten was a featured speaker at the Ubuntu Fest in Sintra, Portugal, where she addressed an audience of 700 students and educators, delivering a speech on forgiveness in the face of pain and suffering.
For spiritual nourishment, “practise humanity,” says Mama Shamsa (WCC feature story, 8 July 2024)