Muslim mothers fight ‘toxic’ merchants of terror

There were small signs that her son was changing: He prayed more and swapped jeans for traditional long tunics.
“But I wasn’t worried. Not for one second did Syria enter my mind,” Fatima Ezzarhouni told AFP.

And yet that’s where the young man was headed in June 2013 when he left his home in the Belgian city of Antwerp, a day after his 18th birthday, to join militants.

Almost three years on, Ezzarhouni gets the occasional phone call from her son confirming he’s still alive, but never revealing his exact location.

“I have this feeling that I will never see him again,” said the 44-year-old, fending off tears.

But at least now I know I’m not alone anymore.”

Ezzarhouni is one of the newest members of a global project that fights jihadism not with soldiers, but mums.

The so-called Mother Schools teach Muslim women how to spot early signs of radicalisation in children or develop coping mechanisms if the intervention comes too late.

After completing the 10-module course, the graduates then go on to train other women.

– Race against recruiters –

The Vienna-based Women Without Borders (WWB) organisation created the initiative in close cooperation with anti-terrorism experts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), also headquartered in the Austrian capital.

Though independent, the WWB receives funding from various Austrian ministries, the European Union and the US State Department.

“Women are so well placed to work in the security arena because this is a mission about safeguarding their families,” WWB founder Edit Schlaffer told AFP.

“They are in direct competition with recruiters, those toxic influences from mosques who step in when children reach adolescence and tell them: ‘You’re wonderful, glory is waiting for you, join us in building the caliphate.'”

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/Muslim-mothers-fight-toxic-merchants-of-terror/


More to read on the link and more like this needs to be done

It's probably more useful than having a "programme" to prevent radicalisation. Unless someone would be proud of their son going to join ISIS, it's in their interest to spot the signs and do something about it. It'll be too late once they're killed or arrested for terrorism.