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Shams Community: A grassroots organization that encourages community support
By Aisha Ahmed, Jordan News
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AMMAN — Shams Community was founded in 2011 by Saeed Abu Alhassan, a community builder and social entrepreneur. Shams Community is primarily looking to bring individuals together while encouraging dialogue and learning and using the knowledge acquired through these interactions to create change within their communities. اضافة اعلان
Saeed Abu Alhassan, founder. (Photo: Handout from Sam Sykes)
Shams Community is a social enterprise that aims to create a safe space for individuals to talk about social and personal issues. It does this through various gatherings such as workshops, dialogue sessions, visits to other social initiatives, and many other communication methods to facilitate these safe spaces.
“The idea of Shams Community started as a youth initiative that was known as Irbid Youth Volunteers based in the north of Jordan. between 2015 and 2016, the idea molded to what it is now,” Sam Sykes, the managing partner at Shams Community, said in an interview with Jordan News.
According to Sykes, the community was established in response to the growing distance and division between families and communities.
Sam Sykes the managing partner. (Photo: Handout from Sam Sykes)
She added: “there is a lack of safe spaces that bring individuals together to address the global distance and division created by many things such as technology and the borders that physically surround us, which manifest in racism, stereotyping, and many other things. These issues pushed us apart when they should do the opposite like encouraging us to talk, promote knowledge and cultural exchange.”
The community has four core values to move its mission forward. These values are creating safe spaces, promoting a culture of tolerance and cooperation in society, training and empowering youth to organize and lead grassroots activities that focus on social change with their communities and to raise awareness toward social issues, and inspire individuals to create innovative and sustainable actions within their communities.
“We also support local NGOs, social entrepreneurs, and social enterprises by connecting them with local communities,” Sykes said.
Sykes emphasized the vital role facilitation plays in the Shams Community, especially during their events, to ensure that the conversations progress productively. They also facilitate the interaction between local and international communities to understand each other’s perspectives better.
A photo collection of gatherings at the Shams Community in Jabal Amman. (Photos: Shams Community’s Facebook account)
Food is also used as a tool to break down barriers between participants that create a space that feels more open.
“Questions are a huge piece for our facilitation process, also, shifting space as taking people to nature is a tool to encourage them to move out their typical environment,” Sykes said. In addition, Sykes believes questions will encourage people to search and find answers and grow their self-awareness and skills to make a change.
Shams Community has hosted various events since its establishment. “One of the core events is Dinner and Dialogue, which is known as Shams Table; this is where we bring people together to enjoy a vegetarian meal and have a dialogue over it,” said Sykes.
The community also has held Virtual Shams Tables online to allow people from around the world to participate.
A photo collection of gatherings at the Shams Community in Jabal Amman. (Photos: Shams Community’s Facebook account)
The community also held hikes that are geared toward self-reflection and conducted NGO partnership events and community connection events such as “Hello Stranger,” which is an event that encourages people to make meaningful engagement with complete strangers.
Shams Community starts the conversation during the events by setting some ground rules and then encouraging people to focus on learning and understanding. The rules are set to ensure that everyone shows respect to conduct a healthy dialogue, shared Sykes.
Shams Community is primarily based in Jordan, and their events take place within Amman and the areas surrounding it. They have also organized international events, as they have members based in approximately 15 other countries.
Most recently, they have held events in Tukey, the US, the UK, and Norway.
“The biggest challenges we faced when we first opened our doors were that we had minimum resources, both financial and human, to hold events. In addition, it is not easy to talk about taboo topics … On occasion, this represented some challenges when we opened, and so did ensuring financial sustainability,” said Sykes.
During COVID-19, Shams Community left their space in Jabal Amman and moved towards holding online events to cope with the restrictions of the pandemic.
A photo collection of gatherings at the Shams Community in Jabal Amman. (Photos: Shams Community’s Facebook account)
Shams Community is looking to develop new programs and tools, including developing additional training and games to increase question-asking engagement in dialogue and make meaningful conversation more accessible.
Skyes also shared that they aim to create more resources to encourage connection between individuals and communities.
Read more Lifestyle
Saeed Abu Alhassan, founder. (Photo: Handout from Sam Sykes)
Shams Community is a social enterprise that aims to create a safe space for individuals to talk about social and personal issues. It does this through various gatherings such as workshops, dialogue sessions, visits to other social initiatives, and many other communication methods to facilitate these safe spaces.
“The idea of Shams Community started as a youth initiative that was known as Irbid Youth Volunteers based in the north of Jordan. between 2015 and 2016, the idea molded to what it is now,” Sam Sykes, the managing partner at Shams Community, said in an interview with Jordan News.
According to Sykes, the community was established in response to the growing distance and division between families and communities.
Sam Sykes the managing partner. (Photo: Handout from Sam Sykes)
She added: “there is a lack of safe spaces that bring individuals together to address the global distance and division created by many things such as technology and the borders that physically surround us, which manifest in racism, stereotyping, and many other things. These issues pushed us apart when they should do the opposite like encouraging us to talk, promote knowledge and cultural exchange.”
The community has four core values to move its mission forward. These values are creating safe spaces, promoting a culture of tolerance and cooperation in society, training and empowering youth to organize and lead grassroots activities that focus on social change with their communities and to raise awareness toward social issues, and inspire individuals to create innovative and sustainable actions within their communities.
“We also support local NGOs, social entrepreneurs, and social enterprises by connecting them with local communities,” Sykes said.
Sykes emphasized the vital role facilitation plays in the Shams Community, especially during their events, to ensure that the conversations progress productively. They also facilitate the interaction between local and international communities to understand each other’s perspectives better.
A photo collection of gatherings at the Shams Community in Jabal Amman. (Photos: Shams Community’s Facebook account)
Food is also used as a tool to break down barriers between participants that create a space that feels more open.
“Questions are a huge piece for our facilitation process, also, shifting space as taking people to nature is a tool to encourage them to move out their typical environment,” Sykes said. In addition, Sykes believes questions will encourage people to search and find answers and grow their self-awareness and skills to make a change.
Shams Community has hosted various events since its establishment. “One of the core events is Dinner and Dialogue, which is known as Shams Table; this is where we bring people together to enjoy a vegetarian meal and have a dialogue over it,” said Sykes.
The community also has held Virtual Shams Tables online to allow people from around the world to participate.
A photo collection of gatherings at the Shams Community in Jabal Amman. (Photos: Shams Community’s Facebook account)
The community also held hikes that are geared toward self-reflection and conducted NGO partnership events and community connection events such as “Hello Stranger,” which is an event that encourages people to make meaningful engagement with complete strangers.
Shams Community starts the conversation during the events by setting some ground rules and then encouraging people to focus on learning and understanding. The rules are set to ensure that everyone shows respect to conduct a healthy dialogue, shared Sykes.
Shams Community is primarily based in Jordan, and their events take place within Amman and the areas surrounding it. They have also organized international events, as they have members based in approximately 15 other countries.
Most recently, they have held events in Tukey, the US, the UK, and Norway.
“The biggest challenges we faced when we first opened our doors were that we had minimum resources, both financial and human, to hold events. In addition, it is not easy to talk about taboo topics … On occasion, this represented some challenges when we opened, and so did ensuring financial sustainability,” said Sykes.
During COVID-19, Shams Community left their space in Jabal Amman and moved towards holding online events to cope with the restrictions of the pandemic.
A photo collection of gatherings at the Shams Community in Jabal Amman. (Photos: Shams Community’s Facebook account)
Shams Community is looking to develop new programs and tools, including developing additional training and games to increase question-asking engagement in dialogue and make meaningful conversation more accessible.
Skyes also shared that they aim to create more resources to encourage connection between individuals and communities.
Read more Lifestyle
