SAMAA Celebrates Eid Milan 2011

Sep 25, 2011 by admin

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South Asian Muslim Association of Australia (SAMAA) celebrated Eid Milan on 11 Sept 2011 at Auburn Town Hall to mark Eid ul Fitr. A few parliamentarians, a large number of elderly, their families, and representatives from aged care industry, SAMAA members, volunteers and friends attended the event with much enthusiasm and joy. It was another event organised by SAMAA for the aged of South Asian Muslim community who keenly wait for SAMAA programmes as an opportunity to meet their contemporaries, learn from information sessions and enjoy cultural entertainment.

Hon Laurie Ferguson, the renowned labor politician and federal MP applauded SAMAA for engaging in an aged care programme at the right time, as the South Asian Muslim community’s aged are now maturing in numbers. He said some of the communities in the past did not act at an appropriate time and some of their elderly missed out on the opportunity of enjoying culturally appropriate care. He assured full support to SAMAA in all its endeavors.

Auburn MP and Shadow Minister for Ageing Hon Barbara Perry congratulated all for Eid and commended the work of SAMAA executives for their dedication in serving their community. She promised ongoing support to SAMAA and received loud applause from the audience for a very fine speech.

Ms Carol Jackson from Care Connect gave a brief presentation about their aged care programmes. Care Connect has several federal and state funded programmes, which support frail older people and arrange various services. Auburn councilor Melikeh Michaels spoke about a few developments in the aged care arena and encouraged the audience to participate in those programmes where needed. She also described the importance of elderly care in Islamic teachings.

SAMAA official Mr Zahid Jamil told the audience that SAMAA has travelled a long distance over the last year in meeting several of its objectives. SAMAA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with another nursing home in Lakemba viz Wallgrove Aged Care facility. Therefore SAMAA now has arrangements with two nursing homes which are able to provide culturally appropriate care to South Asian Muslim elderly. The other facility of Curie nursing home is located in Oatlands.

SAMAA has also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CareConnect, a major service provider who will be able to look after the elderly living at their homes. CareConnect is applying for funding in current Aged Care Approval Rounds for various regions of Sydney and NSW and depending upon the success of their funding applications, they will be able to provide various aged care services in various areas of Sydney with special focus on South Asian Muslims.

Mr Jamil spoke about the workshops being held by SAMAA and CareConnect this year which are a part of the Positive Ageing Grant 2011 of Ageing, Disability and HomeCare NSW. In total 10 workshops are to be held. Five have already been held at Blacktown, Brighton Le Sands, Hornsby, Campbelltown and Liverpool. He expressed great satisfaction as all the workshops have been extremely successful, attended by more people than expected. In each workshop, the main presentation is from Alzheimer’s Australia. SAMAA also engages a community doctor to speak on one more aged care related issue. Local Aged care product suppliers and product providers have stalls to exhibit their products and services. They also give brief presentations. The next workshop is to be held at the hotel Rydges in Wollongong on 30 Sept. Please visit the SAMAA website for full details of upcoming workshops.

Zahid Jamil informed the audience that SAMAA is now officially a public benevolent institution and donations to SAMAA are now tax deductible. He hoped that the South Asian Muslim community will come forward in making donations which will help SAMAA in strengthening its programmes. One of the major item needing donations is the building of a nursing home and a retirement village which needs huge sums of money. He said that the South Asian Muslims have donated big amounts for building the mosques and we now need to develop a belief that we must build a facility where our elderly can live as per their beliefs and practices and are able to have social interaction with their contemporaries and achieve some mental peace despite the difficulties of old age. He emphasised that building such a facility is an act of great sawab (reward in life hereafter).

He paid tributes to those SAMAA elderly who passed away over past few months. These included the senior most South Asian Begum Aliya Khatoon Siddiqui, Dr Badar Qadri, Mr Ali Hussein Siddiqui and Mrs Inayat Abdi.

He said that the Productivity Commission Report on inquiry into aged care, which included a submission from SAMAA and has been released a few weeks back, has recommended major changes in the Aged care industry. SAMAA will be informing the community about these changes through its newsletters. He thanked MLC Hon Shaoquett Moslemane for his speech in NSW Parliament to acknowledge SAMAA. He thanked other parliamentarians including Hon Laurie Ferguson and Hon Barbara Perry for their support and advice.

Moulana Nazir Thanvi presented Islamic perspective of serving the elderly. A renowned Pakistani singer Mrs Shagufta Zia thrilled the audience with a Hamd and a folk song and a few local Urdu poets recited poetry. MC Dr Mohammad Ali Khan engaged the audience in a professional manner to ensure the show continued to be interesting. The seniors also took part in an interesting quiz conducted by Sadia Siddiqui and won several prizes. They also enjoyed delicious sub-continental food and Eid sweets.

Mr Syed Afzal Hussain, in his vote of thanks, appreciated the efforts of SAMAA members and volunteers and thanked all the dignitaries, elderly and guests. The organising team members need to be congratulated for their very fine effort who included Mrs Mona Zahid, Mr Syed Afzal Hussain, Mr Mohammad Fazli, Mr Sahir Syed, Miss Sarah Syed, Dr Samiuddin Syed, Mrs Ayesha Ahmad, Mrs Shaheen Firdos, Dr Mohammad Ali Khan, Mr Faiz Ahmad, Dr Ahad Khan, Mr Zahid Jamil, Ms Syra Buksh, Mr Adil Saif, Mr Saif Ahmad, Mr Parmoon Shuja, Mr Omar Khan, Mrs Irmi Khan, Mrs Uzma Husseini, Mr Sharjeel Aleemullah, Mr Tabish Aleemullah, Master Adel Hussain, Miss Alia Hussain and Miss Simmi Zahid.