Testimonial from the founder, Mrs. Sabina K
“Sulah se Salamti (SSS) in the Urdu language means (Resolve for Peace)
The strategic culture based; communication initiative is offered to the Kiran Foundations’ mothers by Dr. Dilshad Dayani, an associate professor at Columbia University. She is our General Body Member at Kiran Foundation and delivers the program late at night from NYC. This program uses live technology to cater to 300 mothers in a month. The area where the program is delivered is historically known to be volatile and prone to conflict and unrest.
Dr. Dayani is preparing mothers to become the catalyst of change through communication, dialogue, decision-making, and intergenerational bonding addressing the role of faith and culture.
Dr. Dayani has been long associated with KF and has been extremely supportive of several projects, which include a library, media hall, after-school mental health center, pottery and baking stations, regional flood relief efforts, and program development. However, SSS is one unique program that she developed specifically keeping the need of the Lyari mothers in mind. It started in 2018 and has transformed mothers and their families through the skill of conflict resolution and faith-based mindfulness application.
Keeping key components of peace, kindness, culture, justice, and metacognitive elements at its core, she works tediously to design a program around their needs which is highly inspiring!
Dilshad is not just a great sister and friend but also the most emotionally genius person I have known. Feel fortunate to have met you and connect like magic. Sulah se Salamti has become a core program offered at the Kiran Foundation as part of Social emotional growth and mental health support.
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Dilshad’s interest in social justice and activism was sparked when, at the age of 13, she was exposed to the poor children in her neighborhood who were frequent victims of child abuse and torture. From that moment, she realized you’re never too young to make a difference. She started tutoring young kids who loitered while their moms worked as maids in the neighborhood.
Later, she paid a special focus on girls’ education and youth intervention programs in Karachi, Pakistan by working with social agencies and through personal advocacy. Watching poverty, women’s economic plight and cultural and religious subjugation, rape, and honor killings made her think that inaction is not a choice. In her book, she narrates about cultural and gender bias in her environment- where girls were discriminated against over boys. Later, after getting married and coming to a new country as an immigrant, she started working to redefine many aspects of her life as a participant in the acculturation process.
She feels that her parents instilled a desire for excellence and education, and education not only in itself but rather as a tool for service to others. She says that her mom often quoted that if girls at a tender age are conditioned to believe that they are weak, vulnerable, and second-class human beings, they will begin to perceive themselves as caged birds: having wings but hesitant to fly. Caged in thoughts and actions and limited in capacity, they will attribute everything to fate and destiny. This was not just in theory, but her mom lived her childhood and most of her life just for others. Dilshad refused to accept this notion and started working in her circle of influence to empower women and then there was no looking back.
The Power to Empower is Within You! I wish that for myself, and I wish that for every woman. I hope you will be our supporter and ally in the change we all wish to see in the world.
