Sister Maryam Husamudeen
Sister Maryam Husamudeen is, to put it simply, a pillar of her community. In her interfaith work and her social justice work in Harlem and around Manhattan, Sister Maryam is a builder of bridges and a connector of people. This is her official roll, as a Peer Bridger for the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services currently. Additionally, she built bridges professionally previously as the program coordinator for SisterLink, the capstone program for Community Action for Prenatal Care (CAPC).
It is also her unofficial role in the countless service projects and community organizations she is a member of or participant in including the Community of Harlem Health Revival (CHHR), CONNECT, the Women’s Prison Association, Voices of Women, the Sisterhood of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, and as a Safe Horizon contact for women’s shelters, as well as a consultant for various substance abuse, domestic violence, and trauma programs. She has given presentations for civic and local agencies on how best to approach and handle difficult cases, such as immigrant women in abusive relationships and women with substance abuse problems, and is also personally and professionally involved in wellness and fitness training for Muslim women.
“If it’s about servicing people less fortunate than me,” Sister Maryam asserted, “I’m in.”
Sister Maryam has been “community focused and interfaith dispositioned” since a young age, participating in the Salvation Army starting at the age of six and only increasing her community outreach from there. Her work with those who she calls “untouchables,” based on how they are often treated by members of the wider community, stems from her desire to help everyone, without judgment or prejudice, feel like a whole, respected person. Her efforts often focus on the women of her community, primarily those deemed “high risk” or who are struggling with domestic violence and/or exploitation, but she also cares deeply for the children and elderly in her community. With the Interfaith Center, Sister Maryam has participated in Catholic-Muslim-Jewish Women’s Dialogue as well as several Marshall Meyer retreats, including a retreat on building interfaith partnerships for social action and a retreat on homelessness. She has long been interested in different religions and spiritual perspectives, and finds meaning in doing work in the community, between and among religions, to decrease the plight of people that is based in a lack of information and prejudice.
“I create bridges. I connect the dots. That’s my social justice. I never want anyone to feel like they don’t have anyone to turn to.”
