December 2022 Newsletter: Watch Ayaan’s opening remarks at the first CLARITy conference gathering Muslim dissidents and allies from around the world to combat Islamism

As 2022 draws to a close, I’d like to thank you for your help in making this a very special year for AHA Foundation.

We celebrated our 15th anniversary (watch our celebration video here) and revamped our mission to “preserving, protecting, and promoting Western freedoms and ideals.” We have looked back on the past while also preparing for the future. And everything we have done is thanks to your support over the years—our achievements are your achievements.

As our 15th anniversary year ends, I want to share two blogs with you that represent how our past continues to inspire us and how we are boldly moving into the future as disruptors of the illiberal status quo.

First, I’m proud to share with you the opening remarks I made at the first-ever CLARITy Coalition conference in Salzburg. You can find the video below and in our blog, where you can also read the transcript and view some photos from the conference, here. CLARITy, I feel, is the beginning of a revolution—one that is only possible because your generosity has enabled us to support it.

Many of my fellow attendees, including Muslim reformers, ex-Muslims, activists, and authors, were there with security personnel, which shows the risks they face every day. I am inspired and humbled by their bravery and dedication to exposing and opposing Islamism and standing up for secular, democratic values.

In our second blog this month, I’m proud to share the second part of Sara Tasneem’s story with you, in which she recounts how she healed from the trauma of her experiences and how she became a brave activist to end the abuse that is child marriage in the U.S. Read it here. (If you missed it, you can read part one of Sara’s story here.)

Our work with survivors like Sara demonstrates that we remain committed to the battles we have fought over the past 15 years to defend the rights of women and girls in the U.S. Our support of CLARITy shows that we are looking toward the future with our focus on defending Western democratic ideals.

In other news, I was thrilled and honored to hear that AHA Foundation, in association with the law firm Reed Smith, won LawWorks’ Best International Pro Bono Award 2022 for our work creating free legal guides for survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the U.S. Find out more about that here. Thank you, LawWorks, for inspiring the whole team at AHA Foundation to fight even harder to defend the rights of women and girls.

Finally, I want to remind you that our supporters are at the heart of our fight. You have an opportunity to help us get the next 15 years and more off to a great start. By giving a gift today, you can help us unlock $50,000 in matching funds pledged by a generous donor.

The future is both uncertain and exhilarating to anticipate. Please, if you have not had a chance to do so this year, stand with us today, so that together we can make a true difference as we move forward.

Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons,