Sada-e-Watan Sydney ™
sadaewatan@gmail.com
More then 300 attended Indian Minority Education Society of Australia Inc Iftar event in Sydney
Indian Minority Education Society of Australia Inc (IMESA) held a fundraising
Iftar event on Sunday 26 March 2023. The Bowman hall in Blacktown Sydney
was filled to capacity with well over 300 people in attendance.
The program commenced with Quran recitation and Ramadan talk by Moulana Abeer ul
Hassan Thanvi, a locally raised Imam, educated in South Africa.
Soon after Iftar, Shaikh Abeer Thanvi spoke about the importance of acquiring
knowledge in Islam. He spoke about the great contribution to knowledge and
science during Islamic rule of nearly 1000 years. The Muslims cities of Baghdad,
Damascus, Cordoba etc were the largest centres of learning for the entire world
during Golden Age of Islam (7th-13th century), imparting knowledge and
undertaking research in all fields of sciences and philosophy. He emphasised the
importance of education for Muslim children and appealed for giving Zakat and
Sadaqat during the holy month of Ramadan.
Dr Nisa Sheriff
MC Dr Nisa Sheriff told the audience that IMESA aims to increase the educational
levels of poorest Muslim children in India. Indian Muslims, nearly 200 million
in number, are among the poorest communities, having below average levels of
education, and suffer from deprivation of their basic needs. Current political
environment is also not favourable. Education is the only tool which will
strengthen their socio-economic condition. She urged the guests to help this one
of the most deprived Muslim communities in the world.
A short film of IMESA showed the project details, the data on Indian Muslims and
how their weak socio-economic status had effected their lives, leaving them the
least educated and poverty stricken community in the country.
A mini-documentary of IMESA run classes from various parts of India was also
screened. In this documentary, a collection of clips, the poor students in
various cities, their parents, and teachers told their stories and experiences
and extended their gratitude to IMESA for the continued support .
IMESA has now been operating for a few years, continuously expanding its
programmes to more cities across various states of India. Currently IMESA
projects are running successfully in Vadodara in Gujarat, Shaheen Bagh in Delhi,
Saharanpur & Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Boisar in Maharashtra, Hyderabad in
Telangana, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Bangalore in Karnataka and Dinajput in West
Bengal benefiting hundreds of the poorest children and their families.
The fundraising call was very well received by the attendees who generously
donated to the cause. The fund-raising team consisted of Dr Nisa Sheriff, Mr
Taufeeq Shaikh, Mr Zahid Jamil, Mr Syed Aslam Shaheer, Mr Shahnwaz Ali, Mr
Parveen Jang and Mr Asad Farooq supported by a team of volunteers. Mr Zahid
Jamil applauded the patrons for their generosity and thanked the team members
and the volunteers for their tireless efforts.
IMESA seeks to improve the lives of these families through promoting education,
both encouraging children to stay in school, and encouraging parents of child
labourers to enrol their children in school. It is achieved through educational
campaigns, providing additional financial support for families (school fees,
uniforms, compensation for lost income of child labourers), and providing
after-hours study spaces and tutoring support.
By providing vulnerable children with an education, IMESA seek to improve their
future employment and economic opportunities, to improve their overall
socio-economic status, and ultimately pass on these benefits to their families
and the broader community.
Please visit https://imesa.org.au/ for more
details of the organisation and its activities.
Abeer ul Hassan Thanvi
