Hadayai Majeed

Although her mother was a social worker, Hadayai had avoided following in her footsteps, observing its personal demands. But in 1997, she responded to the call of her faith and founded Baitul Salaam Network.

Hadayai remembers when she first knew she had done the right thing in creating Baitul Salaam: "Just after we opened the shelter in 1999, a child of one of our first residents danced in the middle of the floor, dived head first into the toy box, and squealed with joy."

Baitul Salaam Network operates at local, state, and national levels; requests for help are frequent. Locally, the network focuses on shelter, prevention, and intervention trainings. Information about the program is widely disseminated on bulletin boards in masjids (mosques), Islamic centers, and on the Internet. Hadayai is a frequent presenter at her masjid in Atlanta, and at national conferences and women's gatherings. She is a recognized resource concerning abused and neglected Muslim women and children for social workers, mental health professionals, and abuse victims' advocates throughout the state of Georgia.

Perceived as troublemakers, Hadayai's group has had difficulty communicating their mission. Sisters who feared loss of favored status among men would not embrace the cause and in some cases were used as pawns to fight against the effort. Any association with feminism is alienating in the Muslim culture, and the group lost funding and co-founders because of a perceived affiliation. Confidence from women has been slow in coming.

"Our plan is to build a viable organization that will be here when we are long gone from this earth," says Hadayai. "We want the issue not to be hidden and for people to be able to report in safety and begin to rebuild their lives in dignity without fear of any form of reprisal. We see this as being accomplished through constant reminders, examples of victims living free and productive lives. We plan to change the climate by changing ourselves. As a survivor, the best thing I can do for victims and other survivors is to be successful, happy and stay free
of abuse.