From Public Radio International
She was only 8. He was in his 20s. Sameera Qureshi didn’t fully understand that she’d been assaulted by this distant relative, a Muslim just like her, until two decades later when she became a sexual health educator and started teaching students in schools about sexual abuse.
“I was 30 years old when I realized I am a survivor,” said Qureshi, now 36, speaking at a panel titled, “#MeToo in Scared Spaces,” in Columbus, Ohio, in September. “I can reflect back, and now all the traumatic memories start to make sense. My body … has kept the score till this day as I continue to unravel and work through the trauma that my body has held for that many years.”
In 2012, Qureshi joined HEART Women & Girls, a national organization that raises awareness about sexual health and violence within the Muslim community. The group, whose sex educators are all Muslim, has a presence in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. HEART also has “virtual educators” with whom Muslims can talk privately online, and it hosts webinars, talks and trainings across the country.
“For the past eight years, I’ve been driven spiritually, mentally and physically to do sexual health education by prevention within my communities,” said Qureshi, director of sexuality education and training at HEART.
“While I do not speak for all Muslim survivors, I do see my experience as guiding my work till this day and I hold onto a verse of the Quran in which one simple sentence is repeated twice within six verses of one chapter: ‘Verily with hardship comes ease.’”
Nadiah Mohajir co-founded the group in 2009 after identifying a need in faith-based communities for sex education, as traditional programs failed to meet their demands and religious programs were almost nonexistent or focused on topics like hygiene.
“Mainstream programs alone were missing the mark because they weren’t really giving students the space to think about how their religious and cultural worldview could fit into some of the topics they’re talking about,” Mohajir said. “So, we founded it to merge what was happening in the mainstream world with public health education and put a cultural lens on it.”
The group provides a forum for Muslims to talk about issues that can often be taboo, working with mosques, campus chaplains and community centers as well as other organizations like Planned Parenthood and rape crisis centers to raise awareness among non-Muslims about the merits of culturally sensitive sex education.
