Muslim Twentysomething Challenges World to End Religiously Motivated Conflicts

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When Ajarat Bada first came to the United States in 2002, her life was set out for her, but God, the young Muslim woman says, had different plans.

“I used to say when I first came to America, I’m going to get my degree, then I was really going to be a doctor and go back home,” Bada, now 26, says.

Home was Lagos, Nigeria. Like many African parents with the means to do so, hers sent Bada, the youngest of 9, to study abroad. “I got on a plane at 17 and I came to the US. I had never been on a plane or anything. I can’t believe my parents let me.”

In the United States, she first studied nursing, then earned a master’s degree in public health from Loma Linda University. The next step was to be med school, but Bada didn’t get that far. Instead, she clicked on a Facebook posting about a program called One Young World.

“The idea was to bring together all these fabulous young people who had all these great ideas and finding solutions to kind of the problems in the world,” she says. “Kofi Annan, Desmund Tutu, all these fascinating people were going to be there.”

She applied, and in February 2010, Bada found herself in London with nearly 1,000 other young leaders.

"We had little discussions in and out and basically one of the discussions was what are we going to do now that we feel all empowered,” Bada says. “You go to a room, I don’t know if you’ve ever felt it but a room where like everybody is just as passionate about changing the world as you are. … I literally couldn’t sleep when I got home.”

In her sleepless nights, she had a realization: Her colleagues talked a lot about interfaith dialogue, but it was missing from the UN's discussion of development.

She emailed her new friends and the idea caught on. Soon the idea became an initiative and the initiative became a campaign: The Missing Millennium Development Goal. There's a website, t-shirts, flyers, an online commercial.

The commercial shows Bada explaining her project at the 2011 summit in Zurich. “At this time we're working on a platform to bring together the most influential representatives from the fields of business, media, academia, religion, politics, everybody to develop a blueprint, a call to action, to promote understanding between different faiths,” she explains.

At the London summit in 2010, Bada was in awe of the social justice celebs she saw. Now in Zurich, she and her project partners were attracting the attention. Desmund Tutu approached her backstage.

"He just signed my petition for the Missing Millennium Development Goal on stage so that was amazing,” Bada says. “He just finds me and just gives me this handshake and a pat on the back. And he’s just so nice and cool.”

“Having them listen to you and engage with you, just gave you that kind of you know, very kind of oomph,” she says.

In California, Bada stays connected to her new global network through Skype and email.

One moment The One Young World office checks in from London about another global campaign. A few minutes later, Bada discusses strategy with a colleague in Argentina. “I'd really like to have a call with (name) just kind of regroup,” she tells her friend. “I think it's important to stay grounded.”

“I think you should send an email with those exact words,” her friend replies.

Changing the world is slow, sometimes frustrating work. Bada hopes to find a Ph.D. program that will allow her to develop her interfaith initiative.

Before then, she wants to work, but her student visa expires in April and she needs a company to sponsor her in the United States. This global activist would love to stay in California. But she might have to find a new home.

“Even from a religious perspective, I think there comes a time when you must follow your passion and your purpose,” Bada says. “I think it would be a little tough to start up somewhere else, but like I said I’m more interested in my purpose and if it is in somewhere else, I want to be there as soon as possible.”

Bada knows something will work out. After all, she says, God is in charge.
(Photo in courtesy of One Young World)