Category Archives: Viva!

Not Even Snow Can Stop These Afghan Women from Practising Wushu Kung-Fu – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

 

Sima Azimi, a 20 year old Hazara woman from Kabul, Afghanistan, is determined to teach her students this form of Shaolin kung-fu despite the odds, be they societal or the meteorological. When she isn’t training them on icy mountain tops, it’s in a grungy club financed by a film actor. She sourced a Shaolin sword from Iran, and Shaolin uniforms from a tailor in Kabul. Azimi emerged the top female contender in a kung-fu competition organised by the National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan in Kabul, and has won medals in kung-fu competitions in Iran.The group is practising for the day when finances permit them to be sent to international tournaments as the Afghanistan women’s wushu team. Azimi also says that learning martial arts helps them defend themselves against street harassment and criminals.Watch them in action here:

Source: Not Even Snow Can Stop These Afghan Women from Practising Wushu Kung-Fu – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Just Beyond the Dawn #poetry #devotion

penned in moon dust

behind the curtains

Like holding rushing water

or embracing the stars

we must hold lightly

to whom we are

not just this moment

a raging sea

cannot upend

the love for me

The earth holds little

in actual pull

the gravity’s waning

as heart grows full

abundant purpose

window opens for me

a place for sailing

in eternity

There are days that seem so weighty and burdensome. Grasp a hand full of soil and cast it to the four winds. It doesn’t remain in a state of stasis neither do we. Don’t dig your heels into what doesn’t last. Be set free by the hope past the world’s window that is cracked open for you…

Turn Your Eyes Helen Lemmel 1922

  1. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
    No light in the darkness you see?
    There’s light for a look at the Savior,
    And life more abundant and free!
    • Refrain:
      Turn your eyes…

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Egyptian Aak 2017- Week 5 ( Jan 30- Feb 5)

Nervana

Top Headlines

  • Louvre attacker refuses to speak to investigators
  • Islamic authority rejects Egypt’s move to reform divorce
  • Egypt court acquits 12 lawyers accused of ‘spreading false news’ on Red Sea island deal
  • Cairo airport to allow barred travelers to board US bound flights after Trump ban blocked
  • Egypt allows passage of goods through border crossing with Gaza
  • South Sudan rebels accused Egypt of carrying out bombing raids against their position
  • Egypt’s foreign reserves climb to $26.3 billion at the end of January
  • Cameroon fights back to beat Egypt 2-1 in the African Cup of Nations final

Main Headlines

 Monday

Tuesday

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Jews stand up for Muslims, as Muslims once stood up for them | +972 Magazine

Last week I joined tens of thousands of people protesting President Donald Trump’s Executive Order banning refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. I was amazed to see many Jews — people who heard stories from their families about how they were protected during the Holocaust — join the protest. These are young Jews whose grandparents were allowed in America as they fled the mass murder of the Third Reich — whose personal stories caused them to stand up for others who are in need today. These stories lie at the heart of every community that stands up and defends civil liberties.

Source: Jews stand up for Muslims, as Muslims once stood up for them | +972 Magazine

Iranian Student Returns To LAX After Forced Deportation Under Trump’s Ban: LAist

A little before 1 p.m. Sunday, Sara Yarjani, a graduate student at the California Institute for Human Science in Encinitas, California, and an Iranian citizen, returned to LAX after being refused entry into the country last week.Yarjani, who holds a student visa to the U.S., previously arrived at the airport on Janaury 27, just hours after President Donald Trump’s travel ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries—including Iran—went into effect. According to the L.A. Times, Yarjani is a permanent resident of Austria and has lived outside of Iran for most of the last 20 years. She had been visiting family in Vienna over her winter break.After landing on January 27, she was detained for 23 hours by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, long enough for a federal judge in Brooklyn to rule an emergency stay on the travel ban.

Source: Iranian Student Returns To LAX After Forced Deportation Under Trump’s Ban: LAist

SPIEGEL This Week: The Pain of a Donald Trump Presidency – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The image for this week’s cover was created by the artist Edel Rodriguez. Edel was nine years old when, in 1980, he came to the U.S. with his mother — two refugees, like so many others. “I remember it well, and I remember the feelings and how little kids feel when they are leaving their country,” he told the Washington Post on Friday night. The newspaper wrote: “This DER SPIEGEL Trump cover is stunning.” It wasn’t the first time Edel has drawn Trump. He usually portrays him without eyes — you just see his angry, gaping mouth and, of course, the hair. “I don’t want to live in a dictatorship,” he says. “If I wanted to live in a dictatorship, I’d live in Cuba, where it’s much warmer.”

Source: SPIEGEL This Week: The Pain of a Donald Trump Presidency – SPIEGEL ONLINE

ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Trump On Behalf Of Three Middle Eastern Students: SFist

The ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of three students at California universities who have been living here legally with F-1 student visas who are now barred from traveling because of President Trump’s January 27 executive order, and in one case trapped outside the country. Announced via the ACLU’s site, the lawsuit seeks to establish the three plaintiffs as a class, “representing all people who are nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen and who currently are, or recently have been, lawfully present in California and who would be able to travel to the United States or leave and return to the United States if it were not for the Executive Order.” And the ACLU is asking the court to find the executive order unconstitutional, and have it invalidated.Joining the suit as an institutional plaintiff is Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay (JFCS East Bay), which provides legal services and resettlement help to refugees.The suit argues that the executive order is clearly a pretext for establishing a permanent preference based on religion when it comes to the issuing of visas or accepting of refugees. And, “As such, the government’s actions violate the First Amendment, the equal-protection and due process rights granted under the Fifth Amendment, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.”

Source: ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Trump On Behalf Of Three Middle Eastern Students: SFist

Seven Places To Try Traditional Syrian Dishes: LAist

According to the Arab American Institute, California has the highest Arab American population in the United States, and the state is home to the largest community of Syrians in the nation. City Data estimates that nearly 14,000 Syrians live in Glendale, 1,400 more live in Burbank, and tens-of-thousands are scattered around Los Angeles and Orange counties.The main cultural hubs of the Syrian community are in Van Nuys and Anaheim (where it’s centered mainly on a stretch of Brookhurst Street that has become known as Little Arabia).Nahla Kayali of Access California Services, one of the largest refugee resettlement organizations in the state, told LAist that the Syrian community has deep roots throughout many industries, including real estate development, construction, medical research, and entertainment. And according to a representative of the Islamic Center of Claremont who spoke to LAist, the Syrian community has shied from the spotlight until recently, when the civil war compelled many Syrian Americans to step out in support of new immigrants.

Source: Seven Places To Try Traditional Syrian Dishes: LAist