What we expect to achieve We want to identify effective ways to develop leaders who strive to build community. In these kinds of communities, people are valued for who they are and what they can do. We also want to describe action steps that we will carry out to provide opportunities for students to work in teams to address a community issue. The issue Building community often involves people with diverse needs who have wide-ranging skills and capabilities. This mix is difficult to handle, especially since many leaders-in-training are not provided real experiences to learn how to help people make joint decisions on the best course of action to take. Context We will look carefully at the leadership actions of some of the people who contributed to the success of the Underground Railroad. We will attempt to learn how they were able to create and operate a huge network of people spread out over large distances without being run by any single organization or person. The many people who were involved only knew of the local efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. From 1780 to 1862, it effectively moved more than 100,000 slaves northward. Attached to this description are short profiles of Harriet Tubman, Levin Coffin, Lucretia Mott, and William Still. Each profile highlights the kind of leadership provided under challenging circumstances. An example of how to involve a community organization in a service-learning project is also provided.
About the course This is an introductory course in using Excel to perform data analysis. It is designed to give you a working knowledge of how to use the tool to solve problems of interest to you. The course takes you from basic operations such as reading data into Excel and then preparing data for analysis. You will learn how to: Read data into Excel using various formats. Clean data. Format data into rows and columns. Filter data. Make line, bar, and pie charts. Identify trends in data. We will use the ShuraForAll tool to guide us in organizing and doing the work for this course. The benefits to be gained are: Learn how to help each other improve team and individual performance. Learn how to carry out assigned tasks and responsibilities. Learn how to use social skills like listening, communicating, and resolving conflicts as we work together. Please review the attached file named 'About Excel' to get an overview description.
What we plan to achieve We want to stimulate interest in high school and college students to actively participate in resolving social issues facing their communities. We also want to give them access to tools and other valuable resources that will help them sustain their efforts. Lastly, we want to build the broad community capability to solve its own problems in consultation with others. The problem Many communities around the world do not take the initiative to identify and build the capacities of individuals, families, and organizations within their own communities to solve their problems. The cause A significant number of complex social issues that affect communities stem from many years of deliberately harmful institutional behaviors that persist today. The social oppression that results from these behaviors can have a lasting effect. One of them is that we often think and act more like victims than problem solvers even when the oppression stops. Context This shura borrows heavily from the activities of the Social Work Community Outreach Service (SWCOS) at the University of Maryland Baltimore. This service concentrates its efforts in vulnerable communities with people who have been marginalized. Among the key efforts that have been identified are the following. Identify and build the capacities of individuals, families, communities, and community-based organizations to solve their problems; Demonstrate that the problems our society faces are solvable by creating, implementing, evaluating and publicizing model solutions; Demonstrate to the larger society that all of its members have something valuable to contribute to the problem solving process; and Remind people that inclusion and participation of all in problem solving will lead to more effective solutions. Although SWCOS works with university students in the School of Social Work, this shura seeks to construct an effective approach of engaging high school and university students in community development activities without regard to the students' focused areas of study. It may be more practical to initially work with students in the U.S. but the intent is to involve students across the globe.
About the Course Facilitator Adamu is one of the ShuraForAll Team members in Nigeria. He has hosted and trained many individuals and Business owners (free and paid) on how to use Microsoft Excel to work more efficiently. Some of his training are either online or physical. He can be reached at: Email: adamu.iliyasu@shuraforall.org Telegram: +2349084146359 Twitter: @adam_sarma Class Link: https://join.skype.com/AfaKkJ7eJvd3 About the Course If you are a complete beginner, want to polish up your skills, or want to create sophisticated super-efficient solutions for your business or personal life, this course will help you achieve that. All you need is a little time, and a willingness to learn. This course covers the skills you need for certification as a specialist in Microsoft Excel. Specifically, you will need to be able to complete tasks that demonstrate the following skills: Module 1-Learning to get familiar with the primary user interface of the Excel workbook. Module 2-Learning how to manage cells and ranges Module 3-Learning how to apply various ways of inserting Excel formulas The Objectives of this Course This course provides skills and knowledge for the trainee to work in teams. It will also help trainees "Develop the practice of asking questions that help understand how things work" and "Develop the practice of explaining findings in simple terms" to Learn MS Excel tools, Techniques and goal-seeking. A while ago I was employed as a filling station manager. The first thing I asked for was the records and I was given five books for different records. The books were in bad shape, some pages are missing and not enough information in them. It takes me a while to go through the records and understand them but I did. After that, I created an Excel document to make things easier for me and I added enough information to it. I have been sending my daily report using Excel to top management until one day I was called to a board meeting and was told to help other managers do their records using Excel also. Training Schedules Course Starting Date - 20th May 2023. Training Model - Online Virtual Duration - 6 weeks Schedule - Weekends Time - 10 am to 11:30 am NG time Target Trainees This course is for individuals responsible for creating, inputting and printing basic spreadsheets. PrerequisitesMicrosoft Excel Package, Basic Windows, keyboarding and mouse skills. ...looking forward to working with you.
Challenges: The challenges facing societal progress include the absence of a clear and inspiring vision, inadequate communication between leaders and community settlers, unethical practices undermining effective governance, leadership contributing to societal division and conflicts, and prioritizing short-term gains over long-term sustainability. Contests: initiatives such as leadership development programs, communication enhancement efforts, anti-corruption campaigns, unity and inclusion initiatives, and recognition of long-term vision are crucial for addressing these challenges. Approaches: Approaches to take these issues involve investing in leadership training programs, establishing transparent communication channels, strengthening legal frameworks to combat corruption, promoting inclusive decision-making processes, and advocating for sustainable policies prioritizing long-term societal well-being.
This shura supports the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) Empowerment Initiative for emerging leaders. Comments and Questions After viewing the video that explains the purpose of the initiative and how ICIT plans to integrate it with ongoing activities, please submit your comments and questions. To accomplish this, select the Discuss phase of this shura and enter your text in the comment field. Responses will be provided by ICIT support and entered in the Discuss phase. The ShuraForAll tool will automatically send an email notification to all shura participants for each response.
About the Course Facilitator Adamu is one of the ShuraForAll Team members in Nigeria. Adamu is an excellent trainer and solutionist. After a few years of experience in Training development, he became a great trainer. His training has been followed by employees and Business individuals. About the Course Facilitator This training contains some technics you need to know to solve problems efficiently and innovatively. I show you how to approach challenges with the right mindset. You will learn effective strategies for analyzing the causes of problems and methods of working with a group to find the best solutions. You will also find practical examples and practical exercises to illustrate each point. Nowadays, problem-solving is a vital skill for success. Whether you are an employee or entrepreneur, you must be able to make decisions, analyze, reflect, and evaluate options. Most people find themselves immobilized. They fail to construct their ideas. There are reasons behind these situations, and there are also techniques to control them. Here are just a few skills you will learn in this training: Change your approach to problems and acquire the right mindset Learn to recognize and map out a problem Uncover methods to find solutions Learn to unshackle your creativity Assess and select the best solutions This is a practical course; you will work in terms of solving a problem. I will share techniques you can immediately apply to obtain results quickly. Throughout the training, you will find practical exercises to immediately apply what you learn. Training Information. Course Starting Date - 1st August 2023. Training Model - Online Virtual Duration - 6 weeks Schedule - Weekends Time - 10 am to 11:30 am NG time Email: adamu.iliyasu@shuraforall.org Telegram: +2349084146359 Twitter: @adam_sarma Class Link: https://join.skype.com/JfK0tuPRJu4Q
About the Course Instructor: Khalid is one of the members of ShuraForAll team in Bauchi State, Nigeria. He Graduated from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi (ATBU) with B. Eng (Hons) Electrical/Electronic Engineering and received his Master’s degree in Information Technology at the National Open University of Nigeria. He was a staff of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi as a Senior Programme Analyst dealing with the Repairs and Maintenance of all ICT related equipment in the Organization. He now works as a Solution Engineer/Technical Planning Engineer at Galaxy Backbone Ltd, which deals with providing solution to customer related problems concerning ICT Infrastructure. About the Course: Microsoft Visio remains the go-to tool for professional-looking diagrams, flow charts, and org charts. I will teach you how to use Visio quickly and effectively in this comprehensive Microsoft Visio 2013/2016/2019 online course for Microsoft beginners. We start by looking at how to use the Visio workspace before moving on to how to connect and resize shapes. After that, we look at adding text and images into Visio and how to use the Visio automation features as well as pan and zoom. We then move on to a deep dive into creating Organization Charts in Visio before looking at styles and colours in Visio. This course includes downloadable exercises so you can put into practice exactly what you learn. After taking this course, you will know: How to use the Visio Workspace How to connect and resize shapes How to add text to the Visio Workspace How to use Visio automation features and Pan and Zoom All about building Organization Charts in Visio How to use the Visio Backstage view About Themes, Styles, and Colors in Visio About working with pictures in Visio About Groups, Containers, Lists, and Cross-Functional Flowcharts How to align shapes in Visio The course is designed for individuals and office professionals who need to master the capabilities of Microsoft Visio 2013/2016/2019. Prerequisite to this Course: Must have any of the Microsoft Visio 2013/2016/2019 Application installed on their respective systems. Must have the ability to use a computer and be familiar with Windows 7/8/10. Training Schedules Course Starting Date - 27th May 2023. Training Model - Online Virtual Duration - 6 weeks Schedule - Weekends Time – 10:30am to 12:00 Nigerian time Email: ksb02@yahoo.com Telegram Contact: +2348061562941 Class Link: https://join.skype.com/DO0w8244ePQr
A course that gives you insights on how to write smart reports.
What we plan to achieve This shura is intended to illustrate how the ShuraForAll tool might be used to bring people together to figure out how to use a cash waqf to address key issues in their local community. It is not based on a real community. The problem Our community continues to suffer from the unusally high number of youth who don't go to school. They are joining gangs and causing trouble. We also have way too many adults who are unemployed. Many of our families don't have access to the means to make life better for ourselves. The cause Although we have not gotten the government support we need, in many cases we fail to work together to make better use of what we have. We lack confidence in our ability to work toward changing our condition. The solution approach Fortunately, there are people inside and outside of our community who have the resources and skills to help us collectively improve our situation. We have to build trust among ourselves through working on teams that tackle specific issues. And we have to hold each other accountable to follow through on doing what we say we will do. We have learned that setting up a cash waqf can help us solve many of the financial problems we are facing, and we want to try to set one up. Our intent is to use this shura to develop and implement a plan for using a cash waqf. All stakeholders (founders, donors, beneficiaries, business owners, volunteer workers, advisors, etc.) are encouraged to actively participate in the shura as we carry out our work. Context From the first centries of Islam, the institution of waqf has widely played a vital role in the betterment of society. A waqf is generally considered to function like an endowment, which is an income or form of property given to someone or organization for a well-defined purpose. Unlike the endowments that we might already know about, the income or property put in a waqf fund belongs to Allah. This means it is our responsibility to ensure that our waqf fund is designed, implemented and managed in a sustainable way. We want to establish a cash waqf because of its natural flexibility and its ease of operation. Anyone can contribute any amount of money to a cash waqf fund. Although we certainly would like to receive contributions from those who can give larger amounts of money, it is much more important to earn the trust of a growing number of donors without regard to the size of the individual gift. Please review the attached article on the basic operation of the waqf system to get a historical perspective of its use. Our objectives The following list represents work habits and personal characteristics we hope to develop during our journey on this shura: Develop the practice of patiently persevering while working through difficult problems. Develop the practice of giving full measure and weight with equity in dealings with others. Develop the practice of looking for better ways to get things done.
Challenge Discover ways that shura participants can help each other establish, promote, and sustain our business initiatives. Context Each of us are at various stages in trying to make our business efforts successful. We need to learn what are the needs of each person, the time expectation when the needs must be met, and how might we go about meeting these requirements. This shura aims to make it easier for us to identify and reach out to others who can help us think through and overcome the obstacles we face. We need their active involvement.
Challenge How might we assist in the process of identifying a real problem of suitable difficulty that serves as an opportunity for junior and senior secondary students to develop leadership skills? Context Learning to lead is a process of learning by doing. By focusing on a real-life problem, we intend to engage students in a set of activities that require them to work in teams to solve the problem. Figuring out what needs to be done, who needs to be involved, when should action steps be carried out, and how to do them provides the training laboratory for leadership development. Other stakeholders, including parents, teachers, administrators, and community leaders are planned to be part of the effort. This means that students will need to learn how to reach out to others to get help where needed. Approach All students will be introduced to a tool -- ShuraForAll -- that is designed to help them bring people together to decide on a course of action to take as they address an issue of importance to them. They will be provided an opportunity to learn how to use it to meet the challenge of this shura. Additionally, insha'Allah, they will be provided with resources to enable them to get access to a computer and the internet.
overview This Shura is created to bring students and teachers together to develop educational learning activities which includes all the stakeholders around the students, involving parents and the school management to enable the students have access to learning tools and computing devices.
This Shura is created to bring students and teachers together to develop educational learning activities which includes all the stakeholders around the students, involving parents and the school management to enable the students to have access to learning tools and computing devices.
This Shura is created to bring students and teachers together to develop educational learning activities which includes all the stakeholders around the students, involving parents and the school management to enable the students to have access to learning tools and computing devices.
Overview of our Shura Introductory part : in this aspect, the teachers and student will be taken through the shurs platform so as to understsnd what shura is all about and how to learn using shura however, working with the platform in achieving we are planing to make the tool accessible to all stakeholders around the students(i.e) teachers,parents,administrators
ICIT’s Multimedia Hosting and Sales & Promotion of Tafsir The Problem: The sale and promotion of the Tafsir are not as good as would like. The same applies to our other books. YouTube has taken down our videos, main khutbahs by Imam al Asi. What we hope to achieve: To engage the people by making the Khutbahs by Imam al-Asi more accessible and intuitive via transcripts. To encourage a better understanding and the necessity of the Tafsir and the Sirah. And to supplement with other Major Works. Key Terms engage the people – all information is expected to be made available to the readers, by means of their membership level; to encourage their participatory in the decision process. accessible – An independent and better-hosting site; that means an autonomous and cost-effective web hosting site. khutbahs – the timely and contemporary khutbahs by Imam al-Asi is an asset that needs to be recorded in the most effective medium and distribution i.e. audio. transcripts – the khutbahs audio will be supported by transcript to ensure the documentation and clarity of message intended. Also, to facilitate discussions. tafsir – the most important and honored work of ICIT. The people should be able to access, navigate, enquire and purchase of the tafsir. sirah – another important and valuable work of ICIT. The people should be able to access, navigate, enquire and purchase of the Sirah. major works: Here any other ICIT’s Publications like Issues and Stages of Global Islamic Movement falls in. ICIT’ Media Hosting and Publications Due to the numerous challenges in delivering its services, ICIT needs to step back and look at its strategies. What are the tools available? What best method and practices to be adopted? The Reader’s participatory level? The pricing of the publications? Another way of looking at what we have as Projects/Products or Major Publications is by Creating a BRAND that will be the STAR of the FOUNDATION. And support it with PILLARS. The Foundation is generally the core business. What the Organization is built upon or is trying to sell or propagate to society. THE FOUNDATIONS Are 5: The Ascendant Qur’an The Power Manistipations of the Sirah Crescent International News Magazine Issues & Stages of Global Islamic Movement Khutbahs by Imam al Asi THE 1ST FOUNDATION The Ascendant Qur’an The Supportive Pillars: Audiobook, a powerful narration, a hired professional needed A Creative Platform, icit-digital is doing a great job [maybe a tweak or two won't hurt] Halaqahs Seminars/Events THE 5TH FOUNDATION Khutbahs by Imam al Asi The Supportive Pillars: Transcripts Streaming/Downloading iTunes Frame Width 640 x Frame Height 340. {e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64WPN_EgCII}. Highlighting points as the Subject is been discussed. Use high picture definition at the background with a slow transition. Any other enhancement is applicable. [Above is the subject, the shura, and the solution we’re hopingto achieve.Of course, this is the initial draft with it needs more fleshing out.Please endeavor to give your input, don't shy away.]
Challenge There is the need and desire to renovate and maintain Malali Housing Estate graveyard, in Kaduna North, Kaduna State, NIGERIA. How might we build steady support for improving and maintaining the graveyard in excellent condition? Context The graveyard has become a passageway, it has become a place for dumping refuse, and hideout for drug users. To make it worse it has become a shrine of evil activities. Since then, we are able to renovate the passageways, stop the illegal activities, also to that effect a gate has been constructed. Yet that will not be enough, we still need the active participation of the Muslim community, because there is a pond that needs to be refilled and other maintaining issues. In the near future, there is the desire to have a comprehensive database for the deceased persons to facilitate their lineage contact.
The purpose of this shura is to collaboratively develop a marketing strategy for ICIT. The approach here will concentrate, at least in the formative stages, on strategic thinking that will ultimately shape the specific planning directed to various target markets. Going forward, it is expected that once we identify our target markets, each of them will require a plan specifically tailored for a market's peculiar characteristics, but nonetheless shaped by and conforming to the key decisions we make in our strategy. Whereas plans will be differentiated by the individual markets they target, they will be unified by the considerations we codify in the overall strategy. In other words, our strategic approach to markets, media, and other venues — which could either utilize ICIT assets and services or publicize their availability — will be the same, but the way in which various types of media and available markets are penetrated and then saturated will differ pursuant to the challenge each offers to a new player in the domain. Therefore, even though it may be premature to draw this conclusion at this early point in our discussion, we should start thinking less in terms of numbers of volumes, bound books, e-books, audio books, and the like sold, or the number of hits on various pages of our web and social media presence, than in how we expect to initiate penetration and achieve saturation within a target market. The thinking here is that once penetration is achieved on the way to saturation, the numbers will begin to take care of themselves. And so, the question then becomes, how do we tailor ICIT services and assets to accomplish the above task and how do we measure our performance on the way to achieving this objective? To begin to answer this question, strategic considerations call for us to think in terms of how ICIT is positioned to reach out to its target markets. As ICIT moves expeditiously toward producing The Ascendant Qur'an translation, it has been projecting this translation as the gateway to The Ascendant Qur'an tafsir, meaning that the salient and distinctive features of this particular translation ought to motivate readers to seek more extensive explanations in the tafsir. But what is the gateway to the translation? There are already scores of other translations of the Qur'an available in the public domain, the media landscape, and on various Qur'an apps, easily accessible on desktop computers and smart mobile devices. Why should someone make a choice to look at The Ascendant Qur'an, especially one who is unfamiliar with ICIT's "progressive" and innovative thoughts on Islamic engagement in the world at large? More particularly, one of the target markets ICIT is very motivated to approach with its services and products is emerging leaders — and so, why should such people be interested in a new translation of the Qur'an? More fundamentally, as it is well-known that those who lead more effectively read more prolifically, how will they know that a new translation of the Qur'an — which brings to light the social consciousness fabric of the Qur'anic ayat and challenges new leaders to adopt this directional course of prophets for transformative social change leading to social justice for all — is in the market to begin with? These are the type of questions that positioning is expected to tackle. Marketing strategy deals with positioning (how people, regardless of market, perceive ICIT as an organization); marketing plans deal with markets (how specific consumers perceive ICIT's products and services). ICIT has assets… but they are dormant: that is, its assets have potential, but no momentum; they have potency, but no leverage. If ICIT's most important asset is its thinking, which has been presented in various forms from Crescent International to the tafsir — and on various platforms — then it has done a poor job of leveraging its probing new ideas for producing transformative change, for shaping the behavior of emerging leaders, and for aligning them to an Islamic directional course. In short, even though ICIT's name (Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought) intimates the necessity to lead, it has not led. So far ICIT's approach has been to make large volumes of information available, and should elements of its target market fortuitously bump into it, then so much the better — basically a hit-or-miss approach. In a motivated sense, ICIT has not identified its target markets, gone after them with tailored products and services, and physically put its assets in their hands, as it were, so that they can use their own momentum and motivation to leverage this new knowledge and information for the purpose of positive Islamic change on the ground. Positioning the organization properly in the market space may begin to stir up this historical inertia. One thing that immediately comes to mind when we speak of positioning is that even though the print editions of ICIT products will have their importance, going forward will require us to put a much greater emphasis on the more kinetic forms of integrated media and the products that are tailored as such. An e-pub version of the translation that is liberally cross-referenced with the tafsir and other ICIT multi-media presentations will be much more useful to emerging leaders than a print version in which much of this is not possible, especially within fingertip reach of the user. To acquaint new consumers with ICIT's desire to persuasively position itself in the market with tailored products and services, it is expected that the Publisher's Foreword to The Ascendant Qur'an translation will have to be reworked to reflect what ICIT hopes to achieve with its marketing strategy. Putting together an e-book that employs state-of-the-art technology with animated graphics, timely hyperlinks, and easily accessible cross references to other ICIT material will require the services of professionals that are qualified in this area — services that ICIT cannot currently pay for. However, it is important to recognize that even though what we produce out of the box will have little resemblance to what these publications will look like ten years from now, they will have to be part of our vision today. As part of this vision, ICIT branding as well as cover design for the various versions of the translation (print, e-Pub, audio, CD, website, advertising, etc.), and other products and services to follow, will have to be tightly integrated to project a consistent brand, regardless of whatever product or service is being promoted in a particular market. ICIT will probably have to commission the services of an ad firm to properly accomplish this task. Despite the fact that a cash-strapped ICIT will need resources to execute on these details, it must realize that such resources invested today will produce tomorrow’s revenues. Even so, coming up with the financial resources as a first step is the wrong way to start. Unleashing our creativity and innovation will generate the resources we need… if we are careful to do things the right way, if we learn along the way, and if we are purposeful in avoiding shortcuts. More fundamentally, the liquid resources of tomorrow depend on our resourcefulness today. A second important thing that comes to mind as we think about positioning ICIT is the issue of censorship on social media platforms, in mass media, and in academia due to a narrative that associates our work with terrorism and hate speech. How do we position ICIT in the market space given that the nature of our work and ideas, and their exposition in the public domain, will antagonize the dominant power culture, which will rely on censorship as a means to prevent public consumption of said material? It is far better to deal with this problem strategically, than react to it as circumstantial exclusionary incidents begin to multiply on a regular and consistent basis when our media profile begins to attract more attention. Finally, by virtue of its name if nothing else, ICIT is expected to lead in whatever venue it chooses to enter. What’s more, why should emerging leaders pay attention to ICIT if it provides no evidence of its capacity to lead, demonstrable by real-time initiatives it took from conception to maturity? Currently, ICIT is in no position to lead in this marketing domain, but if it starts in a measured and considered fashion, it may give itself this chance within the larger domain of Islamic organizations and associations. For ICIT to be able to lead effectively in this domain, it will need clarity (seeing the way when no one else can) and credibility (the cachet to inspire confidence in the listener when ICIT speaks) — neither of which it has at the moment. Credibility comes from actually conceiving a solution to a problem, launching an initiative, and then putting it in the public domain to be challenged by the broader audience of actors and interested parties. Such challenges can only be welcomed by those who have no ego invested in their initiatives; they know that the best solutions to problems emerge out of the deliberative process that constantly challenges, tests, and reshapes until the best idea rises — a collaborative and complementary effort that would have been unachievable had it not been for public engagement on the issue. Clarity comes out of the acquisition of domain knowledge, the consideration of wisdom gained from experience in executing various domain initiatives, and filtering both through the Qur’an and the practice of the Prophet (pbuh) while keeping focus on the ultimate objective of the whole activity. In the end, all choices and decisions that are not subjected to an overall goal are meaningless. And so, for ICIT to lead in this venue or any other, its strategy moving forward must be founded on pillars of clarity and credibility. To get started in formulating a marketing strategy for ICIT, let us begin to acquire some domain knowledge and learn from the wisdom of those who have already tread this path before us. I believe that starting with somebody else’s insight will begin to unlock some of our own creativity, and then we can begin the process of tailoring what we learn to the solution of our own problem. Attached are two short articles about marketing and strategy; they are just teasers. But to really get our feet wet, I suggest that we read the book, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.
What we hope to achieve: To achieve a complete remission/cure of the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease in my wife, Naveela Saleem. Test subject: Naveela Saleem Naveela has suffered from Parkinson’s for 18 years now, and her condition had deteriorated to the point where she could not perform even the simplest functions (rising, lying down, grooming, eating, etc.) without assistance. While physical and muscular deterioration was severe, she had suffered negligible loss of mental faculties and ability to speak. She has never been on synthetic l-dopamine drug therapy or botulinum toxin to relieve muscle cramping. After trying several other alternative approaches, she initiated an approach developed by Dr. Hinz in mid-2017, that comes out of functional medicine. In addition to her exercising and walking every day, the therapy consists of her taking the following: Mucuna pruriens extract, 40% l-dopa powder (now at 8g, 2x/day) vitamin B6 – 100mg, 3x/day amino acids: l-lysine (250mg), 5-hydroxytryptophan (150mg), l-tyrosine (1500mg) – 2x/day amino acid: l-cysteine (1500mg) – 3x/day Over the course of six months on this therapy, she showed remarkable improvement in being able to conduct daily self-maintenance activities, which were completely out of her reach before the therapy was initiated. On her own, she was able to walk at a good pace for one hour and exercise on the rowing machine for 45 minutes; with the help of a caregiver, she was able to do her breathing and range of motion exercises. Her ability to feed herself was also improving, in that for two of three meals out of the day, she was able to manage the silverware on her own; and other activities were also showing improvement. The only noticeable side effect was a weight gain of some 40 pounds, but this could be related to improved nutrient absorption as a result of the therapy. Early on during the deterioration phase, the fingers in her right hand (though not her thumb) became hyperextended, and much range of motion was lost so that basically she was not able to use her right hand for any useful or meaningful activity. Dr. Hinz’s therapy did not make any significant impact on this aspect of the condition. To try to get the hand to open up a little bit, she has tried to squeeze chew toys (for pets) and hold rolled-up face towels in that hand; she has also tried brain games (Lumosity) and puzzles to improve the brain’s ability to manufacture new cells, in the hope of improving her overall condition. Sadly, however, over the course of the past several months (a couple of months before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States in 2020), it appears that the Hinz therapy has reached its limit in being able to provide additional benefits. In fact, the mucuna at the high doses Naveela has been taking has begun to produce side effects similar to those exhibited in patients who develop drug-induced Parkinsonism: dyskinesias, insomnia, dystonia, etc. Our goal has been to improve her body’s ability to produce the deficient neurotransmitters on its own and to revive any of the brain cells that may have lapsed as the deterioration process started, so that at some point she can taper herself off the medicine, while retaining all of the lifestyle adjustments. Unfortunately, in retrospect, I misapprehended the Hinz approach thinking that we would be able to taper her off the mucuna pruriens extract and replace that with amino acids; however the approach is intented for the patient to take the combination of amino acids and mucuna pruriens permanently. Articles in the medical literature suggest that the symptoms she is now experiencing due to drug-induced Parkinsonism (not the same as Parkinson’s Disease) may be permanent due to the damage done by high doses of mucuna on certain portions of the brain, chiefly the substantia nigra portion right above the brain stem. However, we live in hope that my misguided decision to employ this therapy three years ago (which is not a long time to have been on oral l-dopa) has not lasted a long enough duration to cause permanent or irreparable damage. We are hoping that Naveela’s brain can resuscitate the potentially damaged brain tissue, or perhaps her brain can compensate for what has been lost by activating other brain tissue. There is support in the literature for the latter, as the brain has been known to provide such compensation in stroke victims. As the drug-induced Parkinsonism symptoms are now being caused by the mucuna pruriens extract, a key element of the strategy moving forward is to gradually taper her off the mucuna pruriens powder in the amount of 100mg/wk/dose (she takes two doses/day). This equates to a 1g reduction in each dose every 10 weeks. At this rate, it would take some 60–80 weeks for her to be completely off the mucuna pruriens powder. We will have to make an assessment every 10 weeks to determine whether this rate can be accelerated or should be slowed down. Nonetheless, once reduced, at no point do we expect to increase a dose of mucuna powder. However, in order for us to have a chance at maintaining this pace consistently and regularly Naveela’s brain has to respond by replacing the potential oral dopamine with dopamine and other neurotransmitters that her own brain is producing. My own latest readings on the subject point to the notion that Parkinson’s Disease is symptomatic of a life that is out of balance mentally, physically, and spiritually. Such a life is often afflicted by fears, regrets, and negative self-judgement. Physiologically, this attitude puts the body and the brain in constant flight-or-fight mode, constantly firing adrenaline. The adrenaline pump in the brain turns off the dopamine faucet, and always being in flight-or-fight mode causes the dopamine producing centers of the brain to atrophy or misperform. And this also begins to affect other major organs of the body, particularly in Parkinson’s disease, the liver, the kidney, and the large intestine — hence, the constipation and frequent urination that is associated with Parkinson’s in addition to the rigidity and muscle spasms, which are an outcome of a liver not functioning to remove toxins from the blood. Oral dopamine does not regulate the flow of adrenaline and dopamine in the way the brain does, and so the objective here is to employ whatever approaches and therapies we can to induce Naveela’s brain to produce its own neurotransmitters. To this end, we will implement the following approach to relieve Naveela of all the major stresses that are causing disease (that is, keeping her in adrenaline mode): chemical stresses — an appropriate healing diet physical stresses — the right kind of exercises emotional and psychological stresses — attitude adjustment Insofar as the diet is concerned, we started her on a ketogenic (paleo) diet on 9-1-2020. One of the benefits of this diet is that as the body gets used to metabolizing ketones instead of sugars, it will supercharge the production of mitochondria (energy producing organelle inside a cell) in the brain cells that seem to die off or are made dormant in Parkinson’s sufferers. We are hoping that the mucuna powder did not irreversibly damage these cells and that their performance can be recovered or compensated for. After two months on the diet, one of the benefits we have noticed is that Naveela is having a bowel movement almost every day of the week. We have not seen this in several years of trying to manage the constipation effectively. Additionally, we have a medical herbalist, Geo Derick-Giordano, supporting our efforts with certain herb formulations designed to rebuild and/or improve existing dopamine receptors in the brain, to reduce some of the tremors, and to help Naveela sleep through the night. Lastly, we expect to be using an ayurvedic laxative to help with relieving the constipation. As for the physical and emotional stresses, we are going to employ Howard Shifke’s Recipe for curing Parkinson’s Disease, an approach he discusses in detail in his book, Fighting Parkinson’s …and Winning, and on his website Fighting Parkinson’s Drug Free (www.fightingparkinsonsdrugfree.com). The physical part of the Recipe is designed to heal the organ systems most affected by Parkinson’s so that the brain is no longer burdened and free to produce dopamine and other neurotransmitters on its own. This concentrates on Qigong exercises for the liver-gall bladder, kidney-urinary bladder, and lungs-colon. This Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approach is designed to properly align the body’s electrical and magnetic fields so that it can properly conduct the electrical impulses driving healthy brain activity. The emotional and spiritual part of the Recipe focuses mainly on attitude adjustment in a way that self-affirmation replaces self-criticism; acceptance and forgiveness replace regret (the past is not a blueprint for the future); gratitude for what we have today replaces fear (that is, there is no such thing as a bleak future; such a view is just a mirage — or the future can be shaped by taking advantage of the moment we have today). In addition, we expect to improve neuroplasticity with brain games in Lumosity, and by doing physical exercises that involve the brain in a more hands-on fashion, such as Rock Steady Boxing, tai chi, and yoga. Notice that in the above strategy, I am trying to emphasize “cure” over “symptom management” going forward. That is why there is nothing in the above about giving Naveela a cocktail of drugs. This is because Parkinson’s is an electrical problem (brain circuitry) and not a chemical problem. TCM is well-positioned to address Parkinson’s Disease when looked at in this manner; and then the other aspects of our strategy above are designed to hopefully drive Naveela to full and vibrant health, and keep her in that state. To accomplish all of the above and monitor how we are making progress, the hope is to use this ShuraForAll forum to reach a decision on the strategy above, and then soon thereafter implement the healing process that Naveela has already embarked upon to some extent.
As ICIT (The Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought) moves closer to publishing The Ascendant Qur'an translation by Imam Muhammad al-‘Asi, there are a handful of important issues that need to be resolved before a publishable draft can be created. To be sure, there are other aspects of the translation that need to be readied before publication can take place, however the execution of these aspects is fairly straightforward, not requiring the thoughtful input of those who have been gainfully involved in giving feedback to the principals. We felt that in order to reach the most informed decision on these key issues, it would be advisable for us to open up the thinking and decision-making process to our reviewers and proofreaders. This Shura For All web forum will capture all of the views on these issues so that all parties involved in the decision-making process will be aware of the positions of their co-participants, and so that all will have an opportunity to see how the shura process will evolve into the ultimate decision-making phase. Please review the attached document to view the issues of concern along with a procedure of how to respond and move the process forward.
Challenge The Shura Team needs to develop training resources to help teachers transition to being facilitators who help students work in teams to learn cooperatively. Context We recognize that doing this is not easy. Many generations of teachers have been trained to concentrate mainly on content delivery to the whole class as a single group. Emphasis is usually placed on individual student performance, not on student team performance. Approach Our intent is to design "hands-on" experiences where teachers set learning objectives and construct action steps for student teams in their classes. For example, teachers will be given opportunities to use the ShuraForAll tool to work with "sample" student leaders where the teachers guide them through the process of adopting learning objectives. If the subject matter is Mathematics, teachers might use the learning objective: Apply number operations and algebraic thinking to help students identify the action steps needed to achieve this objective. The Shura Team would work with teachers to help them accomplish this.
Help OSI Fellow Dinorah Olmos establish communications with the parents of some students at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School to participate in her fellowship project. Through a series of educational workshops and parent engagement, Dinorah Olmos will establish La Escuela, sus Hijos y Usted: Empowering Latino Parents to Support Student Success as an initiative designed to educate, empower, and inspire Spanish speaking Latino parents to effectively engage in the parent-school community at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School. Olmos will offer five (5) sessions of the six-week workshops (all conducted in Spanish) for parents at the school. Each workshop will have ten (10) parent participants and they will be required to sign a contract committing to attending all six classes in the series. Dinorah’s goal is to reduce any socio-cultural barriers that exist and to: Build trust within parent-principal relationships; Increase parents’ knowledge; and Empower parents to be agents of change in their own lives, their children’s lives, and the larger school community. She hopes that in the long term, this reduces the dropout rates among Latino students, increases their graduation rates, and fosters greater post-secondary school success. “I want to help new immigrant parents, so they are better prepared to help their children succeed,” says Olmos. “This has been a lifetime project.”
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Challenge To purchase and build a Jumma'at Masjid located at Water Board Quarters, Bauchi Municipal in Bauchi State of Nigeria, West Africa. Context There is the need to purchase and build a Jumma'at Masjid from the existing Community Masjid which has been operating for more than two decades. Because there is no Juma'at masjid closer to the community, the Masjid committee decided to seek approval from the Government to operate as a Juma'at Masjid. After the approval was granted, it was observed that the Masjid cannot accommodate 80% of worshipers attending the Masjid for Juma'at prayers.Accordingly, the Masjid committee has entered into an agreement with the landowner opposite the Masjid, that he is willing to sell the land to the Masjid at the cost of 9 million Naira only. Presently, the Masjid has generated N2.1 million Naira for the purchase of the land. This shura aims to work with the Masjid Committee to help us think through and overcome the obstacles we face.
Youth have the power to be effective and impactful change agents in their local communities and the broader world if they understand the process to create change. With guidance from knowledgeable community leaders, youth in high school can learn the steps and processes necessary to be successful in changing their community in significant ways.
Challenge How to take the simulation experience and use it to create either a business or an employment opportunity? Solution Provide an interactive tool — ShuraForAll — where teachers, mentors, and students can consult with each other as they build a repository of ideas complete with recommended courses of action. They then iterate on action steps to try to create desired outcomes. The repository becomes an enduringcollection of learning experiences to be applied on an ongoing basis. Approach Use the Discuss phase to allow each team lead to set the expectations of their team. Team leads invite team members and initiate discussion by recommending a course of action for their teams and providing evidence to support their recommendation. They also help team members understand their roles and responsibilities within the team. Team members join the discussion and share viewpoints on what needs to be done. They also provide new recommendations and/or refine and improve existing recommendations, while providing supporting evidence. In the Decide phase each participant selects a preferred course of action to be adopted and implemented for the team the person is on. Emphasize teamwork by having students use the Deliver phase to document and carry out the action steps needed to perform the work of the team as they use the business simulation software. Artifacts that document work progress and outcomes are attached to relevant action steps. Each participant is expected to compile a portfolio that documents their challenges and successes during the course. The contents for the portfolio are derived from the various artifacts produced throughout the shura. Benefits Provides an effective way for teachers to build teamwork into the day-to-day routine of course participation. Makes creating student portfolios a by product of meeting the requirements of using the business simulation software. Creates a repository of artifacts that documents learning experiences that can be preserved over time.
The Muslim World generally speaking is in chaos. Likewise, the broader world is in deep turmoil and utterly misguided. As Muslims, we are responsible for building and sustaining civil societies that reflect Islamic universal values and principles. We have this responsibility because we are certain and confident in Islam's ability to guide and shape life in such a manner that all people - Muslim and non-Muslim - will benefit from what it has to offer. We need to prepare our youth for effective, principled engagement and dialogue with the broader world. Islam has an inherit appeal and rationale that when properly shared with others it resonates - makes good sense - in their spirit and mind. With this is mind we need to prepare our children - our youth - to assume selfless, service-oriented leadership roles at all levels of society and life.
CommonFolks (www.commonfolks.in) is an Online Book Store which is based on Chennai, a city in South part of India. We are mainly dealing books of our local language (Tamil) and some English books. It has been started on Ramadan 1438. Currently we have listed around 10000 books in our website. This Shura is for finding ways to increase the sales and profit.
The purpose of this Shura is to facilitate a discussion and subsequently discover appropriate course of action for the provision of stable electricity which is critical to our services at LearnOn ICT
BRIDGE Maryland is a congregation-based organization uniting communities across denominational, racial, geographic and socio-economic boundaries in the Baltimore Metropolitan area in order to create equity and justice by changing policies that perpetuate concentrated poverty and deep disparities between communities. The Criminal Justice Task Force of BRIDGE Maryland seeks to reform polices related to bail reform, gun possesion and juvenile justice.
This is first step to obtain funding for the project. All funding sources have indicated that buidling permit must be obtain prior to assising the project. Three courses of action currently being invaluated: Go with muslim architectual firm from Howard County Go with local architectual firm Try to piece it together ourselves
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