Mini Mag Islamic Issue 2021

alt.cardiff If it’s offbeat and in Cardiff then it’s in here

SILENTLY SUFFERING How Covid-19 has forced mental health into the forefront of Cardiff Islamic community’s dialogue

December 2020 Issue 1

news COMMUNITY CHOIR PERFORMS ONLINE FUNDRAISER FOR MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY Superchoir’s rendition of Queen’s Thank God it’s Christmas will raise money for a charity at the heart of its community, by Anoushka Nawaz-Khan

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LGBTQ+ community support the church with Drag Christmas special

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The Drag Queens were initially apprehensive about

performing at church. Photo credit Tyler George

South Wales Makers Market hosts online event

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character

“I knew

what I wanted,

I knew the person I wanted to be, and I knew

I wanted

to be HAPPY”

Battling with anxiety won’t stop self-made cosmetics brand owner Becky Bolton keep her successful businesses thriving through lockdown, by Anoushka Nawaz-Khan

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a catalyst for

CHANGE 4

feature

Covid-19 has pushed mental health into the forefront of Cardiff islamic community’s dialogue, by Anoushka Nawaz-Khan

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hen we look back at the last year in the future, it will resemble, for many reasons, change. The spread of Covid-19 has terrorised communities across the globe, creating unprecedented difficulties that all manners of society have had to combat. For some, it has been the catalyst of discussions surrounding mental health that was only recently still seen as taboo.

The Welsh government published a response to the Covid-19 Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Socio-economic sub group report in September 2020, where Mark Drakeford acknowledged that “the coronavirus has had an adverse and disproportionate impact on people from BAME communities,” in its foreword.

BAME is a broad term, which consists of a variety of vibrant ethnicities that often become lost under such a generalisation, as so does Cardiff’s Islamic community. Wales’ capitol city is home to 19.8% of the countries BAME population, boasting the most diverse cultural mix across the board, according to government statistics. Cardiff’s 20 mosques, which is half the total number of mosques in Wales, closed their doors back in March 2020. This has taken a huge toll on the mental health of Cardiff’s Islamic community.

Qamar Ahmed is a part time primary school teacher at Cardiff’s Muslim Primary School in Cathays and is the secretary at the Al-Ikhlas community centre and mosque, Adamsdown.

“Having places of worship close during the first lockdown was a huge knock to the community,” she says, “the mosque is not only a place that fulfil spiritual needs, but also a place where the Islamic community get a sense of belonging which is a huge mental health outlet.” Qamar feels the closure of the mosques has worsened the Islamic community’s feelings of isolation and loneliness during the pandemic.

Qamar said that not being able to get together with family and friends during the months of Ramadan and to celebrate the two Eid’s that passed during the tightest restrictions of lockdown was extremely challenging for the Islamic community. She says, “My mother just couldn’t get her head around the fact that we couldn’t see each other.” Although rules were strict, two households were allowed to mix on Christmas day,

“We felt our sacred days were not acknowledged, nobody appreciated how much this meant to us.” and the Islamic community felt deeply ignored. “We felt our sacred days were not acknowledged, nobody appreciated how much this meant to us.” says Qamar.

The double-edged sword of the isolation society has felt due to lack of social interaction and the health anxiety that surrounds interaction when restrictions ease has been much more prevalent in the Islamic community. The Office for National Statistics December 2020 report exploring why Black and South Asian people been hit hardest by COVID-19 in England and Wales found that Asian people are more likely to be at risk of contracting Covid-19 due to their jobs putting them at greater risk; like taxi drivers and frontline workers, large households and a higher likelihood of living in deprived urban areas.

Qamar says a lot of her community in Cardiff are taxi drivers and shop owners, and the higher risk of contraction alongside the financial uncertainty of these industries has caused a lot of worry and anxiety.

ONS have reported a significant spike in anxiety and depression in the Islamic community, outlining that Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani citizens showed the highest score of deteriorating mental health from April 2019 to April 2020.

The Muslim Council of Britain published a report in November 2020 outlining that mental health within Muslim communities is often not discussed openly, particularly with older individuals.

Sabrina Thakurdas is the administrative assistant to the regional manager at MEND Cardiff, an organisation dedicated to tackling islamophobia, and has been working closely with Muslims in Cardiff struggling financially and mentally during the pandemic.

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feature “There is a generational stigma surrounding mental health in the Islamic community,” she says, adding that brushing these issues under the carpet has long been the norm.

“There is a generational stignma surrounding mental health in the islamic community” The stigma surrounding mental health in Islamic communities largely stems from ignorance and a lack of discussion regarding it. Hamid Nawaz-Khan, a 69-year-old Muslim living in Newport says that sadly mental health is still seen as madness by many in Islamic communities. “If someone does seek help, it’s kept very hush hush, and often people try and brave through to avoid this,” he says.

Sabrina believes that the effect Covid-19 has had on the mental health of Cardiff’s Islamic community has forced them to bring it to the forefront of discussion.

“It’s one of the good things that have come out of the pandemic,” she says, and is hopeful things are starting to change in and outside of Cardiff.

There are often peaks and troughs in the process of change, especially in situations when stigmas have been deep-rooted in social communities for many years. However, Covid-19 has sparked rumblings of discussion surrounding the ways in which mental health is tackled in Cardiff’s Islamic community, with organisations like the Al-Ikhlas community centre and MEND guiding the way, offering a supportive arm to lean on.

The Al-Ikhlas Centre and Mosque food bank The Al-Ikhlas Centre have been running a food bank since October 2019 to support anyone who needs support in their local area of Adamsdown, Cardiff. When they first set up, they were aiding 50 people a week, but during the height of the pandemic, Qamar reports that it was more like 200 a day. Qamar says that 80% of these people were from an ethnic background.

The Al-Ikhlas Centre is a Mosque and Community Centre in the heart of Adamsdown. Qamar says that the volume of people needing the foodbank became ‘bigger than them’.

The Foodbank saw up to 200 people a day during the height of the pandemic last spring/ summer. The Al Ikhlas centre will continue to be a support for those struggling in all aspects in the Adamsdown community

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