SAMAA Jashne Buzurg 2011

Mar 17, 2011 by admin

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South Asian Muslim Association of Australia (SAMAA) celebrated its annual event, Jashne Buzurg 2011, on 12 March at Auburn Town Hall. Nearly 300 people, including a number of parliamentarians, representatives from aged care agencies, representatives from Islamic and South Asian community organisations along with a large number of elderly & their families, volunteers and well wishers attended the event. Federal Minister for Ageing Hon. Mark Butler sent a video message while those in attendance included  Auburn MP and Minister for Mental Health  Hon. Barbara Perry, Minister for Industrial Relations, Commerce, Energy, Public Sector Reform and Aboriginal Affairs Hon.  Paul Lynch, Minister for Transport Hon. John Robertson to represent NSW premier Hon. Kristina Keneally, first Muslim in NSW parliament MLC Hon Shoquett Moslemane, The president of Muslim Australia (AFIC) Mr Iekbal Patel, The Vice president Mr Hafez Kassem, The president of The Muslim Council of NSW Mr Amjad Mahboob, Auburn Coucillor Sr Melikeh Michales, Director of Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital Professor Perminder Sachdev, Public Trustee Fellow in Elder Law at UWS Ms Sue Field, Mrs Yasmin Syed of SBS Melbourne, Mr Rehan Alvi of SBS Sydney, representatives from NSW TACS (Transcultural Aged Care Service) and HACC (Home and Community Care).

The event commenced with introductory remarks by MC Ayesha Ahmad and recitation of Holy Quran by Maulana Nazir ul Hasan Thanvi. The first segment featured the 100th birthday celebrations of the eldest South Asian Muslim, Begum Alia Khatoon Siddiqui. Alia Khatoon, lovingly called by many in the community as Ammi, was overwhlemed as her life story was told in brief by Mona Zahid and a slide show depicted some important events of her life from an early age. She was presented a flower boquet by Mrs Kaniz Fatimah and then crowned as the birthday girl who cut her 100th Birthday cake with a loud applause from the audience.

Hon. Mark Butler in his video message acknowledged SAMAA’s contribution in caring for the South Asian Muslim elderly. He spoke about our submission to the productivity commission, which had detailed specific issues relating to our community and has assured his support in SAMAA’s future endeavours. He spoke of Productivity Commission Draft Report published in Jan 2011 which included recommendations into Caring for Older Australians. He also spoke of value of Multicultural Australia and current government’s commitment to it. Hon Barbara Perry was very appreciative of SAMAA’s effort and guaranteed full support from her office in achieving the objectives of SAMAA. Hon Paul Lynch astutely pointed out that old age should be celebrated rather than looked at as a burden, while stressing the need for higher resources due to the rapid growth of our ageing population. Hon. Shoquette Moslemane spoke of the multicultural nature of the NSW society, explained the structure of the South Asian Muslim community and assured SAMAA of his support for the provision of culturally appropriate care to South Asian Muslims. Hon. John Robertson was pleased to represent Premier Kristina Keneally and spoke about the importance of multiculturalism and assured support to SAMAA from Premier’s office. MC Dr Muhammad Ali Khan engaged the audience through his comments over remarks by various parliamentarians. Hon. Barbara Perry also presented SAMAA’s volunteering awards to Aamina Un Nabi for excellence in service to an elderly, and to Saminah Ahmad and Rubinah Ahmad for their volunteer technical services to SAMAA.

The guest speaker, Dr Perminder Sachdev, delivered a captivating talk on Alzhiermers Disease, detailing various critical issues and highlighting the need for both medical and psychological therapies for the aged. Alzheimer’s Disease is a common neurological disorder, impairing memory and behaviour. It usually affects those over the age of 65, and early diagnosis is important. As the disease progresses, a high level of support and care is required, and therefore such facilities are paramount in making it easier for patients and their families to cope with its implications. Ongoing physical and mental activity, healthy diet, regular health checks, a healthy social life and developing good habits are key factors in reducing the risks. Ms Sue field drew the attention of the elderly to legal issues such as wills, Centrelink benefits and aspects of various kinds of aged care accommodations.

SAMAA official Mr Zahid Jamil briefed the audience about various SAMAA programmes and its efforts in accessing facilities for South Asian Muslims from various government departments. SAMAA is seeking support and is willing to cooperate with all departments, aged care agencies and organisations in developing aged care programmes for the Muslim elderly. It seeks to inform South Asian Muslim elderly about these programmes and about their rights and opportunities to partake in these and utilize their facilities. At the same time, SAMAA is also engaged in liaising with various aged care agencies and providers about the requirements more specific to the cultural and religious needs of South Asian Muslims so that they tune their services to suit the needs of our elderly.

The audience was advised of the upcoming workshops SAMAA has arranged to conduct in various Sydney suburbs over the next seven months. These workshops will be organised by a health care agency “Care Connect” with the support of SAMAA, and are funded by Ageing, Disability and Home Care NSW as part of the Positive Ageing Grant 2011. There will be no charge for the sessions. The workshops will be held at Richmond, Blacktown, Auburn, Bankstown, Campbelltown, Hornsby, Rockdale, Punchbowl and also in country centres such as Bathurst and Tweedheads. All South Asian Muslim elderly and their families are urged to attend these workshops which will enable them to have better access to all the facilities in the area. These workshops will also provide an opportunity to the elderly to inform aged care providers in their area about their specific needs, more particularly about their religious and cultural aspects.

Mr Jamil also mentioned about SAMAA having entered into arrangements with two nursing homes in Sydney to provide culturally appropriate care to South Asian Muslim elderly.  Curie Nursing Home at Oatlands would suit community members living in Western and North Western Sydney. Whereas Wallgrove Aged Care facility at Lakemba would suit the people living in South and South Western Sydney. At both these facilities, only halal food is served. They staff South Asian employees who speak some of our languages. They also arrange for namaz and wuzu and are willing to provide care to suit our cultural needs.

One of the pertinent challenges facing SAMAA is the building of its own facility. It is a very expensive exercise which would need fund raising from the community and grants from the government. SAMAA is willing to consider that various Muslim bodies join hands and a larger facility is built to accommodate all Muslims with subsections for individual ethnic groups to cater for their food/language needs etc. SAMAA officials and the president of AFIC, Mr Ikebal Patel, intend to work together to explore such opportunities.

Targeting the parliamentarians, Zahid Jamil drew attention to the lack of funding to SAMAA from aged care departments at both the federal and state level. While other aged care agencies, such as Care Connect, have received grants from the NSW government after their introduction to South Asian Muslims through SAMAA, SAMAA itself is yet to see those dollars from concerned aged care departments. Both Federal and State governments are urged to look at the South Asian Muslim community more favorably so that SAMAA is able to provide the aged of our community what they deserve.

Currently, however, the main challenge SAMAA faces is to reach out to all the elderly of the South Asian Muslim community. For this purpose SAMAA has been running a program ‘Senior Citizens Project’ having received a grant from the NSW Community Relations Commission. A community worker has been engaged in telephone campaigns for elderly and volunteer registration. It is requested kindly that the community help SAMAA to reach out to each and every elderly of the community.

Finally, Zahid Jamil emphasized that everyone in the community can play a role, and a kind donation to SAMAA is greatly appreciated. Without community support, it will not be possible to build our own facilities, since the government offers only partial grants.  SAMAA is in the process of applying for deductible gift recipient (DGR) status and if approved, it will make donations to SAMAA tax deductible.

Following this, a short film produced by Mobinah Ahmad depicted the issues faced by the elderly of migrant communties in a humurous manner. Actors Zia Ahmad, Masood Husseini and Abu Fateh thrilled the audience by their acting. This film will soon be available on youtuble under the title ‘SAMAA Buzurg Village’.

Mr Syed Afzal Hussein monitored the whole show to ensure order and quality to the programme. Mrs Mona Zahid, Mr Afzal Hussain and Mrs Ayesha Ahamd coordinated with volunteers in various arrangements and services.

The programme also included presentations from sponsors Muslim Aid, MCCA and Crescent Travel. Two beauitiful oil paintings donated by Mrs Sarwat Husseini were auctioned. Our World Travel of Wollongong donated a gift voucher for one week stay at Makkah and Medinah for umrah trip which was won by Meraj Hussain.

The gathering enjoyed delicious sub-continental cuisine. The evening concluded with entertaining songs and ghazals by an emerging Sydney artist Beetha.

A team of volunteers continued to look after all the elderly and provide them all they needed. At SAMAA we wish to specially acknowledge very fine efforts of  Mr Faiz Ahmad, Mrs Aamina Un Nabi, Mr Mansoor Ahmad, Mr Parmoon Shuja, Mr Omar Khan, Mr Fazal Fariwala, Mr Samiuddin Syed, Mrs Irmi Khan, Mrs Mahjabeen Khan, Mrs Uzam Husseini, Mehnaz Khan, Adnan Husaini, Danish Aleemullah, Sharjeel Aleemullah, Tabish Aleemullah, Ali Bukhari, Mobinah Ahmad, Adel Hussain, Aamir Ahmad, Alia Hussain, Simmi Zahid and Azeeza Hussain.

SAMAA members Mr Kazim Hussain, Mrs Kaneez Fatimah, Mrs Firdousi Obeidullah, Mrs Shaheen Firdose, Mr Mohamad Fazli and Mr Fasihuddin Khan contributed to specific tasks to make event ordely.