Unchained is proud to honor two women who have worked tirelessly to help Unchained achieve its mission of helping women and girls escape arranged/forced marriages:
Christine has been advising nonprofit executives for some 20 years through her firm, Christine G. Brown Consulting; she also serves as a leadership consultant for CUMAC, a New Jersey nonprofit that works to alleviate hunger. So Unchained’s executive director and board members knew exactly how lucky they were the day in 2012 that Christine offered to donate her expertise to Unchained.
Four years later, Christine continues to donate her services, attending every Unchained board meeting as a consultant. She has trained Unchained’s board and staff on issues ranging from board responsibilities to fundraising. She has helped to recruit volunteers and board members and potential partners, and she has helped to spread the word about arranged/forced marriage and Unchained’s work to end it. And she has never expected payment or accolades in return.
Shehnaz Abdeljaber was Unchained’s first board president, back in 2011, helping to lay the groundwork for the national organization into which Unchained has quickly grown.
Shehnaz’s specialty has always been working with individual Unchained clients, showing them overwhelming generosity as they flee or resist a coerced marriage – even now that she is no longer a voting member of Unchained’s board. She once opened her own home to a young woman who had nowhere else to go, providing her shelter for several months. She insisted on buying lovely furniture for a forced-marriage survivor who was transitioning from a shelter to her own home. She has donated thousands of dollars of her own directly to clients in their time of crisis, and she has hosted parties and taken to Facebook to raise even more money for them.
And Shehnaz does not just help forced-marriage survivors with financial needs. She has mentored numerous Unchained clients, giving them the emotional support and warmth they need as they rebuild their lives.
In a Pakistani village, a young mother escapes with her 10-year-old daughter – and risks both their lives – to save the daughter from a forced marriage. A deadly hunt ensues, and mother and daughter must flee through the sweeping landscape of Pakistan in their quest for freedom and safety. View the trailer here.
Questions about Dinner and a Movie? Email info@unchainedatlast.org or call (908) 481-HOPE.
