Sahiyo’s Silent Auction Donor Spotlight: Arefa Cassoobhoy
Starting March 6th, Sahiyo will be hosting its second annual Women’s Day Celebration & Silent Auction with the goal of raising $15,000 in support of our work to end female genital cutting. The auction will open on Wednesday, March 6th and close on Sunday, March 10th. During this five-day fundraising event, we’ll celebrate women’s voices with comedy, video spotlights, stories, and entertainment. We’re incredibly grateful to all of our generous sponsors and supporters who have contributed some wonderful auction items. To uplift their work and thank them, we’re highlighting a few and why they support Sahiyo. And if you, too, would like to contribute in some way, click here to donate auction items, money, or sponsor the event. Today we’re profiling Arefa Cassoobhoy, who served as the chair of the Sahiyo U.S. advisory board in 2021-2023. She is also a board certified internal medicine physician and has held various senior editing and writing roles at the likes of Everyday Health, WebMD, and Medscape. When and how did your involvement with Sahiyo first begin? I discovered Sahiyo’s website online when I was researching FGC for my work at WebMD and Medscape back in 2018. There was an excellent media resource guide for reporting on FGC and I decided to reach out to speak with Mariya Taher, the U.S. Executive Director to learn more. She was incredibly helpful with the articles and videos and we stayed connected afterwards. We then met at the American Public Health Association national meeting and by 2019 I had joined Sahiyo’s U.S. Advisory Board. Why did you decide to donate to Sahiyo’s silent auction? What does the event mean to you? I’ve worked with Mariya and her team for a few years now, and I have been impressed by how much work they do and also the breadth of their work. From educating healthcare professionals and providing support for survivors, [to] addressing legal issues, planning Activist Retreats and the Voices to End FGM/C workshops, it’s a lot for a small organization. They’ve done a great job building on their successes so every year they’re expanding and fine tuning their projects. So I feel like the money is really well spent. The more they’re able to do, the better. The silent auction and comedy show are a great way to expose more people through a fun event to Sahiyo’s work. I’m looking forward to having people over to my house and sharing with them information about FGC. What did you donate? I’m committed to Sahiyo and their work and give a monthly recurring donation. Also this year I’ve bought a VIP watch party ticket for the Women’s Day Celebration comedy show. I’ve catered the meal from a local nonprofit and have invited guests who I hope will take advantage of the many great items listed in the silent auction portion of the celebration! Many have already donated generously. How would you like to see your donation help Sahiyo grow? I hope it helps in continuing to grow existing programs at Sahiyo. I really appreciate their multi pronged approach of educating healthcare providers so that appropriate care can be given to survivors in the U.S. And also how Sahiyo encourages conversations that allow people to talk about [FGC], especially the Voices to End FGM/C workshop. I think there’s a lot of healing that happens there, and ultimately stopping FGC from happening to more people. And with Mariya’s leadership, and all the other staff members, they really listen to people. So when someone brings up an idea, they remember it, they make notes. and they follow up. They’ll create a project or a program on a small scale, and then refine it before expanding it. That has given me a lot of confidence that the projects and programs that come out of Sahiyo are really thoughtful and scalable. They truly reflect what the audience is asking for and their needs and wants. They don’t rush it. So I hope my donation helps Sahiyo as they are expanding. Related: Read about our other inspiring supporters in our Silent Auction Donor Spotlight 2024 series
Sahiyo’s Silent Auction Donor Spotlight: Kaneez Madraswalla
Sahiyo U.S. will host its second annual Women’s Day Celebration & Silent Auction with the goal of raising $15,000 in support of our work to end female genital cutting. The auction will open on Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 and close on Sunday, March 10th, 2024. During this five-day fundraising event, we’ll celebrate women’s voices with comedy, video spotlights, stories, and entertainment. We’re incredibly grateful to all of our generous sponsors and supporters who have contributed some wonderful auction items. To uplift their work and thank them, we’re highlighting a few and why they support Sahiyo as a part of larger series. And if you, too, would like to contribute in some way, click here to donate auction items, money, or sponsor the event. Yesterday, we profiled Zehra Patwa. Today, we’d like to introduce our second donor: Kaneez Madraswalla. Kaneez is Sahiyo’s U.S. Advisory Board Member and a trained lawyer. She works as the Vice-President of Compliance at QBE North America, where she also co-leads the QBE Women’s Initiative Network. Kaneez believes that participating in volunteer work allows individuals to contribute meaningfully to their communities while fostering personal growth, empathy, and empowers women to support and uplift each other, and is passionate about embodying this in her involvement with Sahiyo and other activism. When and how did your involvement with Sahiyo first begin? I first became aware of Sahiyo and its mission through my conversations with a Board member, Zehra Patwa, almost ten years ago. Why did you decide to become a donor for Sahiyo’s Silent Auction? What does giving to Sahiyo mean to you? As a newly inducted Board member, I wanted to make an impact by raising awareness of the issue and normalizing conversations surrounding the mission of Sahiyo. Giving to Sahiyo represents a commitment to ending a harmful practice, supporting survivors, empowering women and girls, and advocating for positive change in communities affected by FGC – especially the Dawoodi Bohra community, of which I am a member. What did you donate or contribute? I am hosting a watch party at my home with an expected attendance of 30 people. How would you like to see your donation help Sahiyo grow? While I understand the money raised will help Sahiyo programming and outreach, I am most excited about raising awareness of this issue and introducing others to Sahiyo and its work. Why do you think others should donate to Sahiyo? One of the things I look for when I donate to an organization, other than its mission, is to see the direct impact my contribution has and what it means to the organization. Sahiyo is a small, grassroots organization where every dollar counts. It is spearheaded by folks who are so very passionate about Sahiyo’s mission and are deeply committed to making a difference! Related: Read about our other inspiring supporters in our Silent Auction Donor Spotlight 2024 series Sahiyo welcomes Kaneez Madraswalla as new U.S. Advisory Board Member
Sahiyo’s Silent Auction Donor Spotlight: Zehra Patwa
Sahiyo U.S. will host its second annual Women’s Day Celebration & Silent Auction with the goal of raising $15,000 in support of our work to end female genital cutting. The auction will open on Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 and close on Sunday, March 10th, 2024. During this five-day fundraising event, we’ll celebrate women’s voices with comedy, video spotlights, stories, and entertainment. We’re incredibly grateful to all of our generous sponsors and supporters who have contributed some wonderful auction items. To uplift their work and thank them, we’re highlighting a few and why they support Sahiyo. And if you, too, would like to contribute in some way, click here to donate auction items, money, or sponsor the event. Today, we’re profiling Zehra Patwa, who serves on Sahiyo’s U.S. Advisory Board. She is also the co-founder of WeSpeakOut, an organization that advocates for Bohra women and their rights. WeSpeakOut is particularly focused on ending FGM/C in the Bohra community and banning it altogether. When and how did your involvement with Sahiyo first begin? After I found out that khatna (FGC) was happening in my community, my cousin put me in touch with a WhatsApp group of several Bohra women [in 2015], which included the founders of Sahiyo as well as the future founder of WeSpeakOut. I was intrigued because I had never heard anybody talk about the practice like this. All the conversations I’d previously had about cutting with female members of my family were like, “It just happens. You just do it and you just move on with your life.” But in this WhatsApp group, people were talking about how to stop this generations-old practice. It was really refreshing to be with a group of Bohra women who were not going to take it any longer and were like, “we’re not going to let this happen to our daughters. We’re not going to let it happen to any girls.” Typically, Bohra people are quite compliant – we tend to be peaceful and don’t want to rock the boat. We’re afraid of what people might think, so the conversations in this group were very powerful. So, that’s how it all started, and now I’m on the Advisory Board! Mariya [Taher] has been an incredible inspiration. She has really helped me develop as an activist, and the Activist Retreat in particular has helped me. I think the retreat has been one of the highlights for me personally in my activism, so, that’s why we need the auction to keep these programs going. Why did you decide to become a donor for Sahiyo’s Women’s Day Celebration and Silent Auction again? What does giving to Sahiyo mean to you? I have been connected with Sahiyo since close to its inception and I’ve seen what an impact it’s made, and continues to make. Sahiyo as an organization has become so well-organized and expansive in its reach, and through its work, many people are recognizing that FGC is a practice that happens right here in the US. The more impactful Sahiyo becomes, the fewer girls get cut and the more girls are protected. I know many people have benefited from Sahiyo’s programs, survivors and activists alike. As activists, we very often keep on, burn out, rest, and then do it all over again, but Sahiyo and programs like the Activist Retreat have allowed us to carry on and not get burned out. It’s really important to know that there is support out there as that keeps these important conversations going. What did you donate or contribute this year? I’m hosting a watch party again this year and my two artist friends are working on pieces for the auction. They both donated pieces last year, both of which were very popular so I’m excited to see what they come up with this year! How would you like to see your donations help Sahiyo grow? I’d like to see Sahiyo become an independent nonprofit. I think by being an independent nonprofit, we’ll be able to do so much more in terms of certain grants and certain programs that we can apply to. Being a fiscally sponsored nonprofit limits us a little bit and I think we’ve grown to a point where we’re really ready to become independent. I think we’re in a really good place and that will then extend our reach even more and allow us to have that kind of wider exposure, which would lead to greater social change. Why do you think others should donate to Sahiyo? Everyone should donate to Sahiyo because it is doing such good work that impacts so many people. I think the impact is even greater than we recognize because this practice is such an underground issue. It’s not something people openly talk about, but I’ve had people pull me aside to tell me, “I can’t say anything publicly, but I really support the work you do.” And that’s really powerful. So I think there are a lot more people impacted by the work than we even know and I think that will really help to eliminate the practice down the road. By supporting Sahiyo, more people can be reached and even if people don’t admit in public that they won’t cut their daughters, if they decide to stop the practice in their families, this harmful traditional practice will eventually die out. Related: Zehra Patwa on Sahiyo and the Coalition to End FGM/C’s recent panel discussion with Connecticut legislators – and why it was a positive step forward I don’t remember my khatna. But it feels like a violation Read about our other inspiring supporters in our Silent Auction Donor Spotlight 2024 series