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Ukrainian Muslimahs League not only holds events in different regions of Ukraine, but also has enough experience to share abroad. Thus, Head of the League, Ms.Olha Fryndak, who had a private visit to Moldova in August,  was invited to give a lecture for her sisters in faith from Moldovan muslimahs League. The meeting took part on 18 August.

Ms.Fryndak exemplified her lecture with success stories of Muslimah volunteers from different regions of Ukraine, who, despite having jobs, education in process, and kids, managed to find time for being useful for both the local communities and the overall Ukrainian Ummah and Ukrainian society. By not dividing Muslims and Non-Muslims, the UML’s volunteers share true information on Islam and combat stereotypes, strenthening interfaith peace and cohesion.

According to the lecturer, who had already spoken for Moldovan Muslimahs several years earlier, she was really happy to see the increased activity of her Moldovan sisters in faith. She mentioned that last time, there have hardly been a dozen women in the audience, while, three years later, now there were over three dozen.

The cooperation wasn’t over after the lecture ended: the MML asked Ms.Olha to make a training on organizing and coordinating the team’s work as well. So a week later, on 24 August (Ukrainian Independence Day), they had another meeting where they learned how to analyze the situation, set goals, define their abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and define what they were eager to invest in the cause and what was their targeted audience. They also spoke about working as a team, developing common rules and sharing responsibilities.

Each participant got some homework which they have to send to their trainer in September. That must help them define their main fields of work and how they are planning to grow in order to fulfill the roles chosen.

30 female activists of All-Ulkrainian Muslimahs League, coming from Kyiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Sumy, participated in educational recreational camp that the Association held in Slavske on 8-13 July. That wasn’t just a mere chance to get away from it all and leave everyday duties behind, but also an opportunity to gain more knowledge they could make use of both in this life and in the Hereafter. There was a novelty adopted from this year’s children’s camps, namely evening campfire stories.

The agenda was well thought-out to cover both the physical and spiritual recreation: there was a time for prayers and individual worship, time for morning jogging, and a balanced diet. After recharging, both physically and spiritually, in the morning, the participants began their day of study.

During the very first Qur’an lessons, the women were given a clear and achievable goal: they had to memorize the 56th Sura, The Inevitable, and present their results during a closing recitation contest. Of course, the best reciters were awarded.

During trainings, they spoke about the emotional burnout, establishing connections with different types of personalities, student-teacher ethics, general communication ethics, sisterhood in Islam and morals of everyday deeds. They recalled respective examples from the life of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. The participants also learned how to perform the last favour one Muslimah can do for her sister in faith: washing and shrouding the body for the funeral.

Of course, the programme also included sport games outside and excursions. They visited Shypit waterfalls, Synevir lake and a ropeway to Gemba mountain.

One of the participants, Ms.Ruslana Martsinyshyna, shared that mountain jeeping was her personal favourite:

— We didn’t use the road that made a huge detour, but we just made our way straight ahead, with both any type of road and even some plane stretches of land unavailable. Riding across all those rocks and ditches was a pretty scary thing to do, so we tried not to look down, but God, how beautiful it was around us! You can’t see that from a bus traveling on a regular road.

When asked what she liked the most about this year’s camp, she replied:

— A chance to be among intimates of sisters in faith, with whom you have shared values and desire to grow and develop and learn something new.

Can anyone understand a woman better than another woman? Who can answer the most delicate questions in the fullest? For women do have problems that men find hard to comprehend, and only a woman with a respective training knows both the theory and its practical implications.

On 23 June Kharkiv Islamic Cultural Centre hosted a meeting with a guest from Dnipro, namely with the only female member of RAMU “Umma”Shariah Counsil, Ms.Anastasia Radoveliuk. Among the topics raised there were, for instance, balance of modesty and modernity in a certain cultural conext, limits between a Muslimah’s personal style and undesirable choice of clothing and accessories, appropriate attire for different situations, basic rules of using makeup and perfumes.

There were more delicate questions as well, like periods and postpartum bleeding. The participants were reminded of religious rulings on different aspects of life during those periods of vulnerability and of the practical meaning of those rulings for a woman’s health. Everyone had an opportunity to discuss even the most delicate matters and get full extended answers.

Noteworthy, the meeting was facilitated by Ukrainian Muslimahs League.