Table Talk Thursday: Celebrating Ramadan As A Christian Nanny
Photo of the Al-Zaim family gathered for dinner to break the Ramadan fast. Adult Muslims are required to fast during daylight hours this month as a form of worship. (Justine Hunt/Globe Staff Boston.com)A Christian Nanny Working for Islamic Family Helps Celebrate Ramadan
Nannies: Would You Work for a Family of a Different Faith?
By Melissa Silvester, Nanny, New York, NY
I am a Christian who has been working as a nanny for a Muslim family with a six-year-old boy and twin infant boys for more than three years. I have been hired to help care for the boys as the mother volunteers for charity and the father works as a surgeon.
At at time when scared American citizens are protesting the building of a mosque in Manhattan, and since Ramadan begins at sundown tonight, I feel there is no better time to let other nannies know about my experience working with, and falling in love with, a Muslim family in America.
To read the rest of Melissa’s story please visit her article at the
Christian Nanny Working for a Islamic Family by Be The Best Nanny Newsletter and Melissa Silvester
Touching article at an important time. I feel Americans are forgetting all the wonderful Muslims living peacefully in this country.
The mosque near ground zero is a very emotional debate. I am so glad you are sharing this article.
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Anyone who has ever experienced any racism, classism, ageism, sexism knows how bad it feels to be criticized or harassed for who you are.
That’s how peaceful American Muslims feel after 9/11. They cannot worship peacefully anywhere without being harassed.
The mosque in New York City will have a basketball court and a culinary school. Two floors for prayer. The other eleven (11) will host movie nights, performances, group dinners, etc — it’s basically a Muslim YMCA, OPEN TO EVERYONE.
These moderate Muslims are doing everything we could ask of them.
They’re trying to build a bridge in the communities they live in, trying to show the world that Muslims are peaceful, interesting and diverse, and proving that being a Muslim does not equal being a terrorist.
This isn’t just a Manhattan problem. Right now, there is opposition to mosques in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Southern California, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, and dozens of other locations across our nation. Where would they move?
If public pressure can be brought to bear to take down the most high-profile Muslim community center in liberal NYC, then these other places don’t even have a chance, Ground Zero connection or not.
This isn’t about Ground Zero. This is about America. This is about freedom.
This is about peaceful, American citizens who cannot find a place to worship or gather without being harassed.
These peaceful Americans are far from extremists. Their goal is to spread peace.
The harassment has to stop, and that starts with you and me.
Moderate American Muslims are NOT TALIBAN, they are not terrorists! We are at war with Taliban, not peaceful American citizens trying to raise happy, healthy kids just like you and me!
Melissa,
Thank you for sharing your experience with this family. I do not know much about Ramadan. I think it is important for children and even the adults in their life to be knowledgeable of various cultures and celebrations.
As for the children not fasting, that is like when Lent comes around and children under the age of 14 don’t have to participate in no meat on Fridays etc.
I look forward to hearing more about the Muslim holidays from you in the future.