Groundbreaking project for Jewish, Muslim groups

[Che -Guevara]

TAGHREED SAADEH FOR METRO TORONTO

Thursday, October 23, 2008

 

 

Canada’s largest Jewish and Muslim community organizations are joining together in a groundbreaking partnership on Oct. 28. The Jewish-Somali project will engage the resources of the Jewish community to provide mentorship to young Somali professionals, in the first of a series of collaborative ventures under the auspices of the Canadian International Peace Project.

 

As a reciprocal gesture, the Somali community will respond by creating a scholarship fund for Jewish students. This large-scale initiative presents a new paradigm for the forging of substantive relationships between members of Canada’s diverse communities, and will serve as a model for future projects and partnerships.

 

The launch of this project will be held at Kipling Collegiate Institute, recently listed as one of “Canada’s Top 10 Extraordinary High Schools” by Maclean’s magazine, and recognized by the Toronto Star for its peace building initiatives.

 

This is the first comprehensive project of its kind in Canada, in which the Canadian Jewish community and a large Muslim community are working together. The project duration is three years and will continue subject to available funding.

 

Through this initiative, the Somali-Canadian community will raise funds to establish scholarships for one or more Canadian Jewish students annually as an expression of appreciation for the assistance offered by the Canadian Jewish community.

 

Source: Metro, Oct 22, 2008

[Ms DD]

Shouldnt this be Jewish/Muslim collaboration? Somalis need funds for themselves, dont they?

[Aaliyyah]

MS DD you are absolutely right, they should offer scholarships to their own somali students who are the highest drop out rate in Toronto. The Jewish community or students mostly come from families who are well off, they most certainly don't need this.

[Sir-Qalbi-Adeyg]

Is it me or we are getting jibbed in this deal? they should throw the funds my way, I could use it to pay the damn osap.

[Boom Boom]

AAliyah, Somalis are not the highest drop out rate in Toronto. Yes, the drop out rate is bad however the highest drop out rate are the Portuguese, Carribbeans, Spanish speaking people and then Somalis.

 

 

Here's the sources.

 

http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2006/06/dropout_failure.php

 

http://www.roconsulboston.com/Pages/InfoPages/Education/RoExcelCanada.html

[winnie]

i dont trust it

[Aaliyyah]

I actually read it somewhere. I will look it up. But, what difference does it make if they are the third or the fourth highest. The main point is that we have huge drop out rate.Something we need to change, if we want to see change in our community.

[grasshopper]

Here's the website to let you know more about the organization and other projects they've initiated.

 

http://www.canadianipp.org/en/projects.htm

 

It doesn't seem like a fair trade to me. We get 'mentored' by a Jewish professional and then we have to raise money for a community that doesn't really need it for the most part?

 

I think the scholarship fund should ALSO go to Somali students...God knows our community needs it too.

[Aaliyyah]

We apparently misunderstood the main reason for this project. They are seeking mentors for Somalis, and there're obviously lack of them. Somali students need mentors to guide them through what they are expected to do in order to pursue the career of their choice. Especially most educated Somalis are foreign trained, so it would be a lot easier to have mentors who are familiar with the system. So, I believe in this case it's win-win situation for both the Jewish and Somali community...

 

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/526450

 

salaaam...