shelter for needy women and families in Penn Hills

Shelter for needy women and families in Penn Hills.

We are not for profit organization established in 1900.

Our Passion:

Education, knowledge, and true understanding of ourselves, human diversity, and the relevance of faith and tradition in our times.

Our Mission:

Reclaim our narrative by storytelling and sharing experiences.  We do this by:

  1. Educating  Muslims and Non-Muslims about the beauty and diversity of different faith traditions.
  2. Offering   SAFE  space for an open,  friendly, and non-judgmental discourse of life challenges facing old and young in our community.

Our Aims: 

  1. Support local women entrepreneurs by marketing and selling their products on the premises.
  2. Support the Muslim Women-owned shelter in Pittsburgh. The shelter opened in July  2015 and has (as of 2021) served approximately 250 needy families and women from all over the globe.

Our Team:

Sarahjameela Martin M.Ed.   MWAP Executive Director 

Sarahjameela a native of North Carolina and has adopted  Pittsburgh as her home.  She obtained her Bachelor’s degree at Central State  University in Education. She received two Masters in education at theUniversity of Pittsburgh in 1984. Since then, Sarahjemeela has been active in the Muslim and interfaith community. Sarahjameela is an amateur historian and has self-published about the history of African American Muslims in Pittsburgh from 1900-1972. She is a recipient of the Fullbright scholarship. As director of physical education in Pittsburgh Public Schools from 1966-2007, she held weekly outdoor activities for middle schoolers. She is happily retired.

 

 

Malak Bokhari MD, MPH

Malak is a native of the Arabian Peninsula.  She obtained her doctorate in Medicine from Dublin, Ireland, and completed two fellowships in Colon and Rectal Surgery. She obtained a Masters’s degree in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004.  In addition, Malak has been learning various topics in Islamic studies since 2015. She is a full-time student at Rabata and Kiflayn and is obtaining her Ijazah (certificate) in Tajweed.  Malak is the “books person” in the store.  Currently, Malak is assisting in translating the Al-Ghazali children’s book series into the Arabic language. Malak’s daughter is at U of M  and her son is in senior school.