By: T’Neil Gooden
Brooklyn College’s (BC) Muslims Giving Back collaborated with BC’s Muslim Women’s Educational Initiative (MWEI) to provide a flower bouquet-making event on Oct. 30th in the Women’s Center room, 227 New Ingersoll.
The event featured real dried flowers that students could use to make bouquets for themselves or anyone they believed needed one. Students were provided with a tutorial on making bouquets, many of whom made them for friends, family, and themselves.
“I just love the fact that the [women’s center] lets you do things you wouldn’t regularly be able to do. Like, when am I going to make a bouquet?” said Mayar Shihadeh, a sophomore at BC.
Over 30 students came in and out of the women’s center to support the MWEI while making these bouquets, and left the rooms not only with bouquets but also with a new community.
“Creativity, the opportunity to express yourself differently, and also just meeting people. I think that’s a big part of the event,” said Sara Qureshi, junior at BC and secretary of MWEI. “They’re usually people I don’t really meet anyway, but through events like these, we get the opportunity to make new friends and make new connections.”
Attendees of the event were given the option to donate ten dollars to MWEI in support of countries that are experiencing severe hardships.
“This event is mostly to have fun and connect, but the core purpose of it is to raise money for Palestine for Gaza and for orphans, and many, many other countries like Sudan and Bangladesh, and all the countries that are in need,” said Samira Mamirova, the vice president of MWEI. “I would say that’s the core purpose, which makes this event more enlightening.”
Leaders of MWEI delivered this message and ensured that students understood the importance of giving back to these communities.
“This is for a good cause, right, and I think it brings a lot of us together after finding out the main purpose of it,” Mamirova told The Vanguard. “I think in times when different communities are struggling, it’s always important, even if you’re not part of the community, to educate yourself about both communities and be able to participate in these events to help one another.”
Students followed by explaining the need to learn how to give back to those who need it.
“Giving back to people who have been giving to you. I think that’s very important. Especially nowadays, when people use social media, I feel like people have forgotten what it feels like to actually make connections with other people,” said Qureshi. “I feel like people just don’t acknowledge them because it’s just not on their ‘for you’ pages or their social media. But, through events like these, people get more awareness of what’s going on around the world.”
The eboard members of MWEI were not the only ones to show support for the charity week donations; students also supported spreading awareness about these countries.
“I love when they [MWEI] do events like this, that really mobilize efforts to generate more charity among students, you know, Shihadeh told The Vanguard. “Being charitable towards people who are our age, maybe from the same backgrounds, who are absolutely not getting the same opportunities of safe, accessible education where they are. I think it’s so important to give back to our community here and our communities abroad.”
Brooklyn College prides itself on the diversity of its students, and this event displayed that same testament.
“Brooklyn College’s backbone is its diversity. It’s something that they[BC] always celebrate and advertise to new students,” said Shihadeh. “I feel like they should keep their word and honor that diversity and show more love to all the different types of students and all the different backgrounds that their undergraduate students come from. I think it’s necessary.”
For students interested in MWEI and Muslims Giving Back can visit their Instagrams: @muslimsgivingbackbc and @brooklyn.msa.