NORTH CAROLINA — A Christian volunteer group is reaching out to southeast Michigan’s Muslim community, during the holy month of Ramadan, in an effort to upstart a women’s library in Yemen. 

Impact International has volunteered at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn for 14 years and returned this year, despite its cancellation, to plant flowers on Warren Ave.  They are currently seeking assistance, in order to aid a developing project in Sana’a, Yemen. A recently opened women’s center in the region, received funding to upstart a library, but funding has not been adequate enough to fill the building with literature.

Mike Griffin, president of Impact International, has traveled to Yemen with groups of volunteers for the past 15 years. During a visit there last April for a first aid workshop, he discovered that the Biliques Woman’s Center in Sana’a had built a brand new library, but no books were found on its shelves.

“It’s a beautiful library, but there are no books.  None whatsoever. They used whatever funding they had to build the facility, but they have no funding for books and aren’t getting any foreseeable funding in the future,” Griffin told The Arab American News.

Upon learning of the research center’s predicament, Griffin and his group offered to assist the center. The center’s leaders have provided two lists of recommended books, one in English and one in Arabic, in hopes that Impact International can aid them in, either donating these specified books to the library, or solicit funding, so that the books can be purchased for the library. 

The goal of the center and its library is to provide resources to local women in Yemen, who will be using these books for their own purposes.

“This is just a start for the library. There is a lot of room for more books, but they need to start somewhere,” Griffin adds. “We hope it will be helping Muslim women, especially in a country like Yemen, which has been going through hard times these last few years. There’s a great vision for this women’s center, and a great vision for this library.”

Established in 1998, and based in North Carolina, Impact International, a non-profit organization, seeks to bridge U.S. and Arab cultures, through service opportunities. The group’s membership includes residents from Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona and South Carolina.  These are just some of the states that have engaged in cross-cultural initiatives with Muslim and Arab communities, in attempts to eliminate barriers and misconceptions. 

The group has already established projects in Yemen through their annual visits. Griffin, whose son suffers from Down’s Syndrome, has in turn, used his experience and resources to assist with special needs programs for children in Yemen. The group has met with schools, parents and families, in order to provide special needs children with the proper training and support that they may need.

His efforts in the country have been acknowledged by the local community. Impact International’s humanitarian work was even profiled in the Yemen Times. Griffin says that he has visited the country at least 15 times and has toured almost every province.

“I’m just hugely in love with Yemen.  I love the culture and the people.  It’s a beautiful country,” Griffin added. “I’m hoping that during Ramadan, the Dearborn community could be involved with this project in some way,” he added.