There were small signs that her son was changing: He prayed more and swapped jeans for traditional long tunics.
However, “I wasn’t worried. Not for one second did Syria enter my mind,” Fatima Ezzarhouni told reporters.
And yet, that is where the young man was headed in June 2013 when he left his home in the Belgian city of Antwerp a day after his 18th birthday to join militants.
Almost three years on, Ezzarhouni gets occasional telephone calls from her son confirming that he is still alive, but never revealing his exact location.
“I have this feeling that I will never see him again, but at least now I know I’m not alone anymore,” the 44-year-old said, fending off tears.
Ezzarhouni is one of the newest members of a global project that fights Muslim militancy not with soldiers, but mothers.
The so-called Mother Schools teach Muslim women how to spot early signs of radicalization in children or develop coping mechanisms if the intervention comes too late.
After completing the 10-module course, the graduates then go on to train other women.
The Vienna-based Women Without Borders (WWB) organization created the initiative in close cooperation with antiterrorism experts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, also headquartered in the Austrian capital.
Though independent, WWB receives funding from various Austrian ministries, the EU and the US Department of State.
“Women are so well placed to work in the security arena because this is a mission about safeguarding their families,” WWB founder Edit Schlaffer said. “They are in direct competition with recruiters, those toxic influences from mosques who step in when children reach adolescence and tell them: ‘You’re wonderful, glory is waiting for you, join us in building the caliphate.’”
Although there are other female-run programs targeting radicalization in various countries, the WWB project is the only truly global one.
The first school opened in 2012 in Tajikistan — a breeding ground for Muslim militants — before branches were rolled out in other nations plagued by violence, such as Pakistan and Nigeria.
In February, WWB organized its first training session for the new initiative in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population.
Although most practise a moderate form of the faith in Indonesia, the Islamic State has provided a potent rallying cry for radicals. Hundreds are thought to have joined the militant group in Syria and Iraq.
“We heard from other mothers whose children were recruited by extremists. We could see what their strategies are, which is very relevant,” Mother School participant Khotimun Susanti said in Jakarta. “Indonesian women are not used to speaking out ... so we learned that we need to develop this culture of openness.”
The project is now also taking root in Europe, where terrorists have been spreading fear with a string of attacks, the latest hitting Brussels on Tuesday last week.
While schools in Austria and Belgium are already up and running, new ones are to open in Britain and Sweden later this year.
Ezzarhouni said she first heard about the initiative from another Belgian mother, Saliha Ben Ali, whose 19-year-old son Sabri died in Syria three years ago.
“Sabri’s radicalization was very fast, it happened in three months and we didn’t see the signs,” said Ben Ali, a social worker from the city of Vilvoorde, near Brussels.
“Four days after he had left, he sent his first message: ‘Please mum, don’t be angry. I came here to help Syrian people because nobody helps them.’”
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