Hi! I’m Jamilah! I’ve been a Navy wife since 2006, after earning my Masters in Marriage & Family Therapy from San Diego State University. After relocating to other areas, I longed for a sense of community and resources–hence, I created Black Military wives! The goal of Black Military Wives (B.M.W.) is to create relationships between women who share similar cultural and family experiences, in relation to the military. B.M.W. also has a Facebook Group, which was established in January, 2016. The group now has more than 8,000 members–even though it’s a “secret” group! At the time of its creations, there wasn’t any other worldwide “Black Military Wives…” anything! Now, there are so many resources available to our community! Together, we are making a remarkable difference in building friendships and sharing resources between sisters all over the world, and I’m so thankful to be apart of this amazing sisterhood.
“You must not know ‘bout me. I can have another you in a minute.” Queen Bey sang this as an empowerment anthem for women in disintegrating relationships. I suppose it works in music videos and making hit music. But, if we’re talking about homemaking, and we are…no. You cannot have another me in a minute.
If life begins at conception, so does motherhood. I remember reading a post in which a woman introduced her family. She shared, “I have four children, which includes an angel-baby.” My heart melted. Her angel-baby wasn’t pictured in the family photograph near her other three kids, but spiritually, the baby was there! The child
Being a Muslim wife/family in the military…Ooh this is a heavy one. When I was first asked to write this, I was excited but also unsure, because I did not want to come off as negative. However, I do think it’s important to share my experience. I will preface this by saying of course I’m
“Are you ashamed of me, because I’m an Officer?” The question caught me off-guard. My heart sank. I just finished telling my husband about the wonderful posts on the Black Military Wives Facebook page, where many wives were celebrating their husbands’ promotions. “What?! I’m very proud of you!” He smirked at my claim, and said,
When someone says that his/her spouse is deployed, my empathy immediately goes out to the person left behind while also praying for their spouse’s safety. When it comes to the spouses who are counting down the days, I understand how challenging it is to be without their loved ones, especially if you’re raising children without additional support.
As a child, I didn’t have many Birthday parties. No, we weren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses. We–my siblings and I–just didn’t have many Birthday parties. As a pre-teen, I was in the Big Brother & Sister program, and was given an amazing “Big Sister” named Ada. Ada gave me my first Birthday party–she planned all of my Birthday parties, as a child, actually.