I found something on Google, and Im gona share it by beginning with a story abt when I was in Germany last year for BYEE.
In that one week, I have never felt so connected with so many different people. We had such similar drive and interest in the environment, it literally felt like we belong with each other; corny as that sounds. Naturally, some of them wanted to know me better. One of these people was in fact a journalist from Argentina by the name of Gabriela Navarra. At first glance, she's quite strict looking and very serious, but once I got to know her we became realllly close. She wasn't even one of the envoys, nor was she a person of my age, but we clicked really well.
Anyways, she asked to interview me, so one day we sat together for like, nearly an hour talking about myself and my project and, naturally, my religion. It was pretty obvious which religion I belonged to to many of the people there. She asked me a lot of controversial questions and I had to answer them no matter what.
I don't know if Gabriela ever feels the same way I did, but I was really thankful for the interview. I never once felt like I was being pressured or was in the hot seat with those questions. Somehow I reaally feel like out of her honesty, she just wanted to know more about Islam and clarify so many things that she was unsure of. And I was more than glad to do that. Through the interview I learned that there are so so so many misconceptions about my religion, how widely transmitted this information is and how people tend to just accept it as it is. Some of the things we discussed include marriage, aurat and womens status in Islam...
Flash forward a few months later; today I found her article. She has mentioned a lot of us in the article, but she has also highlighted a section about Islam. Here's the link (the article is in Spanish by the way):
and here is an excerpt of the part of the article that was on me:
"Haneesa Zahidah, another Muslim girl from Malaysia who is attending the Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur, says: "Study of English Literature, but my passion is the environment. When people understand that simple actions can help, how to sort household waste participates with enthusiasm. " Haneesa is a Muslim believer. "Not that we can not show their hair," he says, in his 20 years teaching. The concept is that only you can show your face and hands, except when you're with other girls, your family, your husband and family your husband. For Islam women are naturally beautiful and the male has to concentrate on what they think, not his body. Men and women are equal, both have strengths and weaknesses, and complement each other when you marry. "
Sorry for the funny translation. I just copied it off Google Translate
Nowadays its hard to keep in touch with her. I emailed her some time after November and she replied. We even have each other on Skype!
She's extremely busy with her journalism I'm sure; and I have no qualms about that. She told me its the one thing she absolutely loves doing despite the many challenges she faces in the field.
Just one more thing we both have in common.
xx
Haneesa
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