AMAL (which is the Arabic word for "Hope"), is a grass-roots community initiative run primarily by volunteers. It was conceived early in 2002 upon the realization that the Montréal Muslim community was lacking in social establishments that attended to the specific needs of women and children.
Initially, the project began with a handful of volunteers consisting of housewives, students and nurses, that met occasionally with the ardent desire of identifying how best to reach out and provide hope to other women that were experiencing difficulty and distress. For the first two years, these volunteers met with various Montréal-based women shelters and offered to provide assistance to women that had fallen victim to domestic violence. With the help of the community, “Care Baskets” containing prayer clothes, Qu’rans and other useful items were left at 14 different women shelters for use by Muslim women that had taken shelter there. Furthermore, in addition to supplying halal meat, AMAL was sometimes asked to provide translators to aid shelter personnel in communicating with the abused Muslim women they were trying to service
Despite its continued initiative to reach out to victims of violence, AMAL has since identified the need for other social services pertaining to the delicate necessities of women and children. These services include psychological counseling; advocacy; legal counseling; family and youth services; companionship for individuals with no social support network; meeting the basic needs for Muslims in distress (e.g. food, shelter, clothing); and a venue for social activities (e.g. Girls Club, etc). In an attempt to set-up these resources, an office space was rented in January 2004 and AMAL-Center for Women was established. In July 2004, AMAL-Centre Pour Femmes/Center For Women was officially registered with Registraire des enterprises Québec as an independent not-for-profit organization.
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