The shock of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 left many around the country looking for answers on what to do next. Auburn resident Nighet Ahmed was one of those people.
Ahmed began to meet with other women in the Auburn area to figure out how to productively react to attitudes that began to shift toward hate and violence after Sept. 11.
In the year following the attacks, the FBI reported a 21 percent increase in hate crimes, including a 1,600 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslims from 2000 to 2001.
The International Women for Peace and Understanding was started by Ahmed and the other women as an interfaith multicultural group to promote goodwill and compassion between different groups.
IWPU first came together informally when they met at Ahmed’s house in December 2002, a year when multiple religious holidays — Christmas, Hanukkah and Eid al-Fitr — all fell within the same time span.
“We did not have an agenda. We did not have a name,” Ahmed said. “We just came together to celebrate each other’s differences.”
IWPU decided one of the best ways to counteract misunderstanding was through education.
“There’s a lot of international presence [in Auburn],” Ahmed said. “If these are people who are sharing the space with us, then you’ve got to know them, right? You’ve got to understand them.”
IWPU aims to increase awareness of all cultures. At their internal gatherings, they share their own personal stories, host speakers to discuss topics like the prison system in Alabama and immigration and tour different religious places of worship. Part of their mission of education comes in the form of community outreach.
Past community work efforts from the group have included planting a peace garden with the Boys and Girls Club in Lee County, fundraising for the budget-constricted Little Tree Preschool on Auburn’s campus and working with Auburn University’s Model U.N. club.
In one instance, the IWPU circulated a list of books to local schools that dealt with themes of inclusion and peace put together by a member who was a librarian. School media centers picked age-appropriate books from the list, and the IWPU purchased the selected books and donated them.
IWPU has also hosted two cultural community fairs where they invited international student groups to share different aspects of their culture, including cuisine and music, with the Auburn community.
This year, IWPU is focusing on working with Auburn’s College of Education to fund an annual scholarship for graduate students from underrepresented groups such as first-generation students or those from the Black Belt region.
IWPU members come from different countries and backgrounds including Turkey, Egypt, China, Panama, Germany, Pakistan, Alabama and other regions around the U.S. One of the main tenants of the organization’s members is to embrace the diversity and cultural differences that exist between them.
Interest in the organization has been growing, Ahmed said. She credits it to the growing international community at Auburn as well as the number of international businesses opening in Alabama. Ahmed said membership is fluid but she estimated there are about 60 women currently participating.
“The first couple of years, we were slow [in growing]. We wanted to build up a core group,” she said. “People are really interested in the group now, so it’s more open for people to come in and join.”
IWPU is holding its international dinner fundraiser for the scholarship this Saturday, April 1, at the Grace Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.
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