Starring Maryam and Terry, the American "Sydney Spirituality" against bullying and racism

Mai Malkawi-Connecticut

She did not know how to find her so quickly. Terry went to the Hidayah Center in Newtown, Connecticut, with a story in her hand. I asked the children after explaining why she was coming: I want to write this story poeticly ... She raised her hand and said: I can.

Twelve-year-old Maryam Aziz, with her large brown eyes, was confident in her ability to write poetry. She felt that the story was actually about her life. Mary and Terry met four months later and came up with the "Sydney Spirituality" story.

Maryam speaks at an interview on Al Jazeera Net and has become one of the youngest female Muslim writers in the United States about the story of a blue-eyed, blue-eyed American girl named Sidney. A family with a veiled girl moves to the opposite house. Sydney decides to welcome them with her dog. Vtnhrh and apologize to the new Muslim girl.

real story
The story of the book revolves around the idea of ​​bullying, racism and hatred spread by the American media, but the two girls reject it and become friends. The Muslim girl, Maryam, talks to Sidney about the Muslims and then they go together in a spiritual journey to meet children of other religions and races, .

Maryam, who discovered her writing talent in the summer of 2017, joined her mother and two brothers in a mini-poetry workshop. "That's why I started to love and write poetry and learned how to do it in nice ways."

Maryam recounts how she suffered several positions of bullying by her classmates when she was in the first grade, although she did not wear hijab, but she heard words such as "your family is from the state organization or you are a terrorist" and other words. "I was not alone. Racism and bullying as well, so my parents decided to start with home schooling. "

"The book targets children more, if you can change the way children think, we will influence others," she says.

"I noticed the change through the children who were keen to read the book with their parents, and the teachers and teachers we meet tell us the good reactions they read in their schools, because the book is not only for Muslims but it tells about the diversity that exists."

Grandma Terry and the girl Mary
The idea of ​​the story is for American Terry Murphy, a nuclear medicine technologist, a mother of Oujda, who wanted to change Americans' perception of Muslims through a children's story. She looked for a Muslim child to help her craft the book.

"Everything happened quickly, from writing the poetic text and editing it to drawing, directing and printing, everything ended in four months," she told Al Jazeera Net.

Mary wrote the original poetic text and then I edited and edited it. Then we gave it to my sister and I put it more literally because it is the author of the poet William Shakespeare, until we all agreed on the final text. "He said.

Sydney and the dog
She began to think of the story when she watched the news and embraced her granddaughter, Sidney. She told her she hoped her granddaughter would live in a world free of racism and hatred. She wanted to do something different. "My sister and I feel the same, So we wanted to do something different. "

"I do not like the idea that my grandchildren will live in a world where violence, murder and shooting are frequent because of religion, race, gender or identity, which has prompted me to think about this book to make change," she said.

"I chose to be a dog, barking at the veiled girl for fear," he said.

"The celebration was not just about Muslims but we wanted to talk about the diversity that exists. We included children of all faiths and races, and in fact they are real children," she said.

American hospitality
Maryam's mother, Iman al-Bashawi, director of the Hidayat al-Islami Center, describes how Maryam's personality has been shrouded in various circumstances, including home-schooling, which she and her brothers have begun. "The bullying of my children was a major reason to begin with home schooling. This contributed to their excellence, .

"I am happy with the impact of the story on Mary, she is a beautiful and conversational figure and she is more mature and aware, and she has decided to wear the hijab alone."

"Unfortunately, no Islamic institution has contacted us, although the book's story speaks of Islamophobia, racism and bullying, and these are the issues that these institutions are interested in," she says. .

Since the launch of the book, Terry and Mary have been touring schools and libraries to give lectures and workshops to teachers, teachers and children. She called on Terry to support a campaign to publish the book in about 14,000 libraries across most of America. She said she needed support to make the move by donating To purchase the book and distribute it to libraries in different countries of the world.