Government Scholarship and Religious Tolerance

Muslim family: The 37-year-old was born in Bangladesh, to a Muslim family, according to CBC. Later, she won a government scholarship and was selected to study abroad in Norway. The wife and mother of two has trail-blazed her way through social, cultural and academic barriers in pursuit of equality and peace. "What I am doing came from my own survival needs," Chapola said. "It came from my own life." Chapola said it was her own inter-religious marriage that pushed her to explore cultural understanding through community activities. "It created a lot of commotion in my life," Chapola said of her marriage. "If we do not have religious tolerance, cultural tolerance, or race tolerance, then how can we be advocates for peace, justice and solidarity " Jebunessa Chapola with her family. Chapola said it was during this time, working on her master in gender and development, that she met her husband who was from a Hindu family in Bangladesh. "In Norway, when I met my husband, I never cared about which religion he belonged to or what my religious beliefs were back home," she said. "I was very open-minded. Chapola said because of her marriage, people who once treated her with kindness and admiration were cruel. He was also a social justice advocate and I decided to marry him." "I used to cry, within my four walls too, but I was very resilient."- Jebunnessa Chapola Chapola said their marriage opened the floodgates to prosecution and intolerance. "Back home, it was a big issue — a Hindu and Muslim union," she said. "When my kids were born, I had to hear that my kids were 'haram'. In Islam, haram means illegitimate." Chapola said her marriage served as a flash point in her life for change and justice. "My life became so hard," she said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.