Young girls break their Ramadan fast at an iftar dinner in New Jersey.
A Multicultural Ramadan in America
Washington — The sun goes down, and in a mosque in one Washington, D.C., neighborhood, people eat dates and then begin the evening prayer. In an apartment in northern Virginia, friends gather for a meal. In restaurants, in college dormitory rooms and in homes across the metropolitan area, people come together to break the daily fast and observe iftar. Welcome to the month of Ramadan in Washington, where the area’s active Muslim community makes sure there are plenty of ways to celebrate their faith’s holiest time of year. “In D.C., there’s stuff going on every single night,” says Mannal Bakhsh, who has lived in the area her entire life. “You don’t have to go to a mosque. You can go to a friend’s house; you can go to a restaurant.” Ramadan began August 11 for the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. ...
President’s Forum with Young African Leaders
In August 2010, President Obama convened a three-day conference with more than 100 young leaders from a cross section of African life to examine how they see Africa’s future over the next half century, and to help craft innovative solutions to regional challenges. We invite you to share their journey.
President Obama: We want to ensure young people in Somalia are not shooting each other on the streets
Q Good afternoon, Mr. President, your excellencies. I am from Somalia. I came all the way here with one question, and that is, living in conflict in a country that has confused the whole world, and being part of the diaspora that went back to risk our lives in order to make Somalia a better place, especially with what we’re going through right now -- how much support do we expect from the U.S.? And not support just in terms of financially or aid, but support as an ear, as a friend, as somebody who hears and listens to those of us who are putting our lives and our families at risk to defend humanity. THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think you will have enormous support from the people of the United States when it comes to trying to create a structure and framework in Somalia that works for the Somali people. Now, the history of Somalia over the last 20 years has been equally heartbreaking, if not more so. You have not had a effective, functioning government that can provide basic services. It’s been rife with conflict. And now the entire region is threatened because of radical extremists who have taken root in Somalia, taking advantage of what they perceive to be a failing state, to use that as a base to launch attacks, most recently in Uganda. And obviously the United States expresses its deepest condolences to the lives that were lost in Kampala -- at the very moment of the World Cup. And it offered two contrasting visions. You have this wonderful, joyous celebration in South Africa at the same time as you have a terrorist explosion in Kampala. So we desperately want Somalia to succeed. And this is another example of where our interests intersect. If you have extremist organizations taking root in Somalia, ultimately that can threaten the United States as well as Uganda, as well as Kenya, as well as the entire region....
United States Condemns Kampala Attacks
The United States strongly condemns the attacks in Kampala targeting innocent spectators of the World Cup final. Our condolences and prayers go out to the victims, as well of their family and friends, for the heinous crime inflicted upon them. Al-Shabaab’s cowardly attacks –planned at the very moment Africa was shining on the world stage as people around the globe joined to celebrate a moment of global unity -- demonstrate once again that radicalization and terrorism pose to threats not just to Somalis but also to the region and the world at large. We commend the substantial Ugandan commitment to calmly bring the perpetrators to justice and to realize regional security within the Horn of Africa through its critical role in supporting the African Union’s peacekeeping efforts in Somalia.
