Our African Members in Istanbul: Institutional Visits and the Panel "Being a Disabled Muslim in Africa" (November 2019)

On 5–9 November 2019, the presidents of our member organizations operating in Somalia, Togo, Nigeria and Ghana were hosted in Istanbul. The aim of the program was to build the service capacity of member organizations and to strengthen work for visually impaired Muslims in Africa.

The program included visits to the Albayraklar Foundation, the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, the Deniz Feneri Association, the Orphan Foundation, the Turkish Red Crescent and the Aziz Mahmut Hüdayi Foundation, as well as meetings with Ali Şahin, Member of Parliament for Gaziantep, and İrfan Üstündağ, Mufti of Büyükçekmece. As a result, the Turkish Red Crescent undertook to cover the rent, furniture and food needs of the school for the blind in Mogadishu, and the Hüdayi Foundation sent representatives to member organizations to begin needs assessments.

On 7 November 2019 a panel titled "Being a Disabled Muslim in Africa" was held at the Üsküdar Municipality Accessible Life Center, addressing among other topics missionary activities targeting people with disabilities in Africa. A "training of trainers" program was also developed to meet the need for Braille Quran instructors in West Africa, and the guest organizations were supplied with braille slates, styluses, paper, Braille Qurans and white canes.