SAMAA Celebrates Jashne Buzurg 2015

May 4, 2015 by admin

South Asian Muslim Association of Australia (SAMAA) celebrated the annual event of Jashne Buzurg at Bowman Hall, Blacktown on Sunday 12 April 2015. Well over 300 people including several dignitaries, health experts, representative from aged care agencies and providers, community leaders and a large number of SAMAA elders, volunteers and community members  packed the hall and enjoyed the day with enthusiasm and joy. The longest serving parliamentarian Hon Philip Ruddock attended the event alongwith Hon John Robertson, former NSW labor leader, the Parliamentary Secretary Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells as a representative of Hon Scott Morrison, The Minister for Social Services and Hon Mehreen Faruqi, the first South Asian Muslim MLC in NSW parliament. Other guests included Mr Robert Oxford, CEO Hardi Aged care and Mr Talal Yassine, CEO Crescent Wealth, Caroline Collins, Deputy General Manager Operations, SummitCare,  Cecilia Milani, PICAC NSW/ACT Manager, Sarah Walton, Managing Director Mountainview ACF and Elizabeth Lenton – Compliance Manager Hardi Aged Care. Community organizations Islamic Sciences and Research Academy (ISRA), Young Australian Muslims, Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association (MDAA) sent their delegations. Representatives from Lebanese Muslim Association, Pakistan Association and Australian Kashmiri Association also attended the event.

The programme commenced with recitation of Holy Quran by Maulana Nazir ul Hassan Thanvi. The sheikh described the significance of serving the parents and elders in Islam. He emphasized that the donations to support programmes for services of elders would be a pious deed which would be rewarded in the life hereafter.

MC Mr Mohammed Ali Khan commended continued efforts by SAMAA members and volunteers in running its programmes. The famous Sydney singer Mr Riyaz Shah recited a beautiful Naat to honour the holy prophet.

A few important speeches captivated the audience. Hon Philip Ruddock applauded Australian multicultural character which has allowed communities from so many faiths, races, colors and cultures to live together happily.  He paid tribute to SAMAA for providing services to the community elders. Ms Concetta Fierravanti-Wells conveyed best wishes to SAMAA of the Minister Scott Morrison and  spoke about various aged care programmes relating to Culturally and Linguistically Diversified (CALD) communities. She assured support to SAMAA from the Minsiter’s office. Hon John Robertson, ex NSW labor leader, praised SAMAA for contributing to the community in such an important work. He was impressed by SAMAA’s effort in providing volunteering services, in negotiating culturally sensitive care with aged care providers and its efforts towards building its own aged care facilities.

Mr Zahid Jamil, representing SAMAA, spoke of various SAMAA programmes and sought support from the audience in fund raising at the event. SAMAA has been serving the elders of South Asian Muslim community for past 7 years.

Mr Jamil detailed the purpose of fund raising on the day. Firstly he requested the community members to sponsor services to an elderly person at $1000 per annum. For a two hours service, SAMAA incurs a total cost of $30 which includes $12 per hour of ex gratia payment to the volunteer and $6 as petrol expense. SAMAA expects elder to pay $10 and the rest $20 is paid by SAMAA. Thus at $20 per week, the total expense for the year comes to approx. $1000.

The second item for fund raising was to support Respite Care for families who care for their elders. SAMAA is keen to engage in Respite Care programmes and is seeking grants to offer this service. However, the government grants are generally available to those CALD communities who are able to contribute part of the cost.

In long run SAMAA aims to build its own aged care facilities. Building a retirement village would be a self funded project of the community as no government grants are available for such a project. SAMAA is seeking expressions of interest from interested elders and pre-retirees who would be willing to be part of such a project. In coming months, SAMAA intends to work on various options and reach out to community with the best suited offers.

Mr Jamil also spoke of grants received by two major Muslim communities for building high care facilities of Nursing Homes. Lebanese and Turkish communities have received grants of $10 million each for their projects subject to them able to contribute $10 million dollars each. Each of these projects would cost $20 million to build. Therefore Lebanese and Turkish communities have to raise $10 million each to fulfill their dream of building a high care facility. It is a huge challenge. SAMAA is in touch with these groups and would support efforts of building a facility for the whole Muslim community.

The fund raising began with an emotional presentation by two young children. Umrah El Syed described importance of serving parents and elders in Islam. Ali El Syed read a poem depicting the difficulties of old age in an extremely emotional manner which brought tears to many eyes.

The fund raising was conducted by Br Hussin Goss, the president of Gold Coast Islamic society who has become popular at fund raising events for his exceptional skills. Mrs Shaheen Firdose, the MC for the second half, supported fund raising efforts in an effective manner. Mrs Ayesha Ahmad helped in auction as several art effects and memorabilias were auctioned. The attendees were generous in their donations to support SAMAA’s programmes . South Asian Muslim Association of Australia is listed as a public benevolent institution and donations to SAMAA are Tax Deductible.

A souvenir was  published to mark the event with the support of sponsors. Two seniors Dr Quazi Ashfaq Ahmad and Mr Ghulam Qutubuddin Siddiqui launched the souvenir to celebrate SAMAA’s seven years journey and achievements.

Mr Afzal Hussein thanked the sponsors including Arab Bank, Human Appeal international, Ampar Pty Ltd, Roshan Faishons, MEFF, other sponsors as well as Crescent Wealth, the main sponsor for the event. He invited Crescent Wealth CEO Mr Talal Yassine to introduce to the audience the first Sharia compliant Superannuation Fund. Mr Talal Yassine spoke about the progress Crescent Wealth made since its launch. Mr Yassine requested South Asian Community members to join the fund which offered ethical investment in consideration of Islamic principles. Mr Yassine also spoke of his personal interest in aged care programmes of Muslim community and about the grant LMA had received for building a high care facility at Lakemba.

There were three recipients for SAMAA’s annual Volunteering Awards this year. Dr Ahad Khan introduced Mr Robert Oxford, CEO, Hardi Aged Care who handed out the awards to Mr Riyaz Shah for his contribution to entertaining SAMAA elders over the years through his exceptional singing skills, Mrs Asima Baig Ali-Khan for her efforts in campaigning for SAMAA events and Mr Rizwan Khan for the outstanding volunteering of servicing the elders over past two years.

Dr Ahad Khan, in his vote of thanks, thanked sponsors, volunteers, guests and community members for their support to SAMAA. He thanked MC Mohammad Ali Khan, drama team lead by Saba Abdi, Mrs Firdousi Obidullah for her support to SAMAA in particular in negotiating arrangements with Hardi Aged Care, fund raising team members Faiz Ahmad,Shaheen Firdose, Fasihuddin Khan and Ayesha Ahmad and many others.

The event featured a short play ‘Ammi Tum Kahan Ho’ which received tremendous applause from the audience. It depicted the challenges, families face in caring for their elders and how charitable bodies such as SAMAA become helpful in providing relief to elders and their families. The script of the play was written by famous Sydney based Pakistani journalist, poet and writer Mr Ashsraf Shad and was produced and directed by veteran director Mrs Saba Zaidi Abdi. The cast included the famous Hindi poet Rekha Rajvanshi, the radio artist Aparna Vats, Nisar Sirguroh and Farjad Mahmood. The contributors to the play received token SAMAA gifts from the first South Asian Muslim MLC Mehreen Faruqi, who also applauded SAMAA for the service, it is providing to the community elders.

The audience enjoyed the South Asian cuisine. The event also provided elders an opportunity to meet their contemporaries and other community members.  Under guidance of Ayesha Ahmad and Mona Zahid, SAMAA volunteers were ever present in big number to cater for everyone’s needs. SAMAA wishes to thank volunteers Mrs Shaheen Aleem, Mrs Hasna Shahid, Mrs Lubna Qureshi, Mrs Aliya Qureshi, Mrs Naila Hassan, Mrs Rasheeda Fariwala, Ms Meraj Hussain, Mrs Asma Ahmad, Mrs Asima Baig Ali-khan, Ms Robina Yasmin, Mr Mohammad Aleemullah, Mr Fazal Fariwala, Dr Assad Zahid, Mr Sharjeel Aleemullah, Mr Tabish Aleemullah, Faisal Syed, Aadil Syed, Mr Ozair Kareen, Mr Bilal Qureshi, Mr Sufyan Qureshi, Miss Manaal Fatime, Miss Amina Ahmad, Mr Ali Ahmad, Miss Aalia Syed, Miss Nuha Fariwala, Miss Sumaiya Fariwala, Zainab Sadozai, Serwat Farrukh, Abu Bakar Sadozai, Munaza Ebad, Sadia Ali, Umrah Syed, Ali Syed and others.