Girls Summer Camp 2011 in Switzerland

The emotions were mixed in gate G of London Heathrow Airport, as the mentees met up for the first time. For some familiar faces, but for others a new experience altogether.

As the parents began to leave one by one, the odd teardrops could be spotted in the eyes of some mentees ; overall however, excitement outshone all emotions. Bags checked in, boarding passes in hand, plane boarded and we were off !

'Islam is a concept that has to be embedded in oneself, affecting the mind and actions' was the being of Sis. Saida Nasser’s intellectual and enlightening welcome speech. The speech then went on talking about the way us, as the young muslim should prepare our life and never forget  Allah (SWT) whatever the circumstances. The speech also included how we as a community should treat eachother as we will be living together for a week. This small speech left us, the mentees, pondering and fully enlightened on how this camp will benefit us in Ramadhan and the future.

A treasure hunt was also set up for us girls to get to know each other more and also to learn a bit about the house that we were staying in and about Switzerland itself. Clues were everywhere, but quite difficult to find. Everyone was rushing frantically up and down the stairs, occasionally getting in the way of others.

The answers to the clues were kept in extremely weird places such as the fireplace, the fridge and the barbeque, places no one would expect answers to be kept.

Overall, a really tiring and hardworking day for the girls ! Most wont have the chance to keep complaining though, tomorrow brings new challenges and time to get up at 8 :30 am, oh joy !

By Nayla Panjwani, Hena Master and Zahra Fazal

Day 2 Journal
Being waken at 8 :30 am by the mentors was followed by an amazing lecture on Ramadhan given by Saida Nasser.

This highlighted the fact that Ramadhan is like a ladder of spirituality that we must embark upon to gain closeness to Allah (SWT). 

We were told to look deep inside ourselves and see what goals we need to set for Ramadhan, be it not watch T.V 24/7. Sis. Saida gave amazing quotes and hadith, and told us how we should start respecting on ourselves. We learnt what Ramadhan is about, what the mind should be thinking and also what the soul should be doing. Furthermore, what questions we should ask ourselves, to reflect and contemplate. She said : ask yourself, « am I actually doing what I’m doing for my desire, or am I doing it for Allah swt ? » this was followed by « where am I in life ? Who am I ? » Ask yourself these questions and see what answer you come up with.  It was an extremly enlighting lecutre and made me think about this very much. With lunchtime complete and namaz approaching, the girls prepared themselves and brought their mussalahs out on the terrace.

This allowed the youngsters to not only have a peaceful and tranquil environment to pray in but also allow them to focus more on their relationship between themselves and Allah (SWT).

It was soon time for our first hike of the week. At first we were very apprehensive not sure how it would go. We got our gear on and set off to the journey ahead ! The crisp mountainious air entered our lungs which gave us the kick start we needed. The breathtaking views began instantly with a beautiful waterfall just seconds from our chalet.  As we ventured on, we stumbled upon a pile of sticks which we rummaged through in search of the best walking aid. We had no idea that our sticks (salmaan and sulaiman – the twins) would be the backbones of our adventure.  As our journey progressed we met Gulaam the pooping goat, who gave us quite a show ! upon reaching the halfway point, we were very kindly treated to ice cream which gave us the energy to carry on.

Finally we arrived at our destination and enjoyed the spectacular view on the ride in the cable car. When we reached the bottom we hastily scurried to the nearby pebble beach where we were amazed by the crystal blue water at our feet. Our time at the sea enabled us to master the skillful art of pebble skipping. After many failed attempts we finaly managed to grasp the correct technique and we could not have been prouder.  Looking into the water gave us a chance to reflect on how pure and clear it was, allowing us to appreciate how clear and pure we should be with ourselves so that we allow the light of Allah to shine from within us. We took a detour on the way back home to reminisce our childhood memories by rolling down the grassy hill.

Our evening began with a rather interesting session of Taboo… being split into 2 teams we had to decide on team names, being us we had to be called by rather interesting names : first being the ‘Chamchis’ which led to team 2 being called ‘Salis’ after a standard game of Taboo we had a twist  and made it Islamic Taboo. This made the game more interesting ! It was a close game but in the end by a small margin the ‘Chamchis’ became victorious ! In true team spirit the losing team had to serve the winning team dessert of biscuits, custard and fruit !

To further develop the girls’ perception on the meaning and aspects of social hijab, we were given the opportunity to use out intellectual minds and vast comunication skills, in a form of a fiery debate entitled « This house believes  hijab is an oppresion of women ». Of course the team debating against the motion won. After a long and eventful day we crashed into our beds for a good night’s sleep !

By Zahra Lalji, Nayla Panjwani, Shabneez Rashid and Sidiqah Kara

Day 3 Journal
Today unveiled many new adventures and challenges ! Our day began at 8:45, followed by breakfast. After that we were enlightened by a remarkable lecture by Saida Nasser in which we learnt about the different levels of fasting. By learning about the different levels of fasting we realised how each one of them can develop our souls more and help us fast for the sake of Allah swt.. Especially since the month of Ramadhan is fast approaching, learning the four different levels and how to achieve the highest, really gave us an understanding of the true meaning of one of the most important pillars of Islam.

As we discussed how to engage all of our  senses by looking at Rislatul Huqooq, we discovered the first chapter was written by Imam Sajjad a.s. This grounded our understanding of islamic rights and the justice behind its practices. Overall, we found the lecture very interesting and we left the room with determined minds !

We had a scrumptious lunch of homemade pizza and then prayed outside on the terrace, it was very peaceful, as we were surrounded by nature ; mountains, hills, rivers ans even a deer ! We finaly left for our « Great Adventure ». We headed towards the Rodelbahn- a self controlled « tobbogan » which links around the mountain. However, we ended up going on a long hike on a really uneven but beautiful moutnain terrain. The cable cars were different to yesterday as they were smaller and slightly slower, which allowed us to appreciate the breathtaking and beautiful scenery. Today’s entire adventure illustrated the outstanding teamwork between all members, especially when the going got tough - a true inspiration to everyone, including the passers-by !

Our mentors paired us up to have a younger or older sister for the week. Everyday we link hands with our sisters and form a circle to recite Dua e Wahdat. In the everning we worked on the projects that our mentors had assigned us at the begining of the week, which entailed designing a poster with our sister about the lessons we have learned and the sites we have seen on our trip.

Written by Sayyada Habib, Zahra Somani and Zohra Hussein

Day 4 Journal
Today was the day. The day three marvelous campers wrote the diary. An epic moment in CoEJ history. We know you were waiting. Well wait no more…

Dun dun neh nehhh*trumpet*
Well, here it goes…

We woke up to the smell of egg wafting into our bunkers and charged down to eat our hearty breakfast. The activities of the day began with a much awaited bus ride to the Floonzer Rodelbahn in Flumserberg ! All of the girls eagerly lined up to take the chair lift up to the toboggan departure zone. It was a good challenge to figure out what the guides were yelling at us. The activity was so riveting that some girls decided to try it again at a faster speed. « Wheeeeee » « Aaaahhhhhhh » Absolutely positively brilliant !

After a custom, an ice cream stop was in order. We then gathered in front of the sign to take a group photo, which a friendly foreign family took for us. The bus approached just as the photo was about to be taken and we all sprang up and dashed towards it. Shamim Aunty’s bellowing at us to stop echoed throughout the nearby mountain. It blended right in with the yodelling and the cowbells.

When returning to our humble abode, we plodded out the steep route to the chalet. Namaz time had arrived and food was ready to be served. Praying outside with the wasps was a great way to practice not to get too distracted. The lunch was a true swiss dish of alpine macaroni and cheese with a side of narial warro makai (coconut sweetcorn). Mmmmm delicioso !

Now to the serious stuff. Our lecture was a truly inspiring one today, as it called upon us to deeply ponder upon who we are, by creating our own duas. The mountainous scenery really encouraged deep spiritual thinking. It was a personal experience for each of us. Each to their own.

We lightened the mood by playing Rounders on the back field. The girls expressed their true athletic ability as the ball was shot out of the park numerous times. This really encouraged teamwork and participation. Some of the girls then took a realxing walk to the nearby waterfall and ventured off into the forest. Fluts, of course, accompanied them.

All of the physical activity worked up our appetite. We were ravished. We were greeted by warm chicken and fry. The room inspection results were just another example of everyone winning.
A beautiful recitation of Dua Tawassul followed namaz and JELLY followed that ! Tea time. And to a next time bloggers…

Saving the best until last- a truly inspiring and pure set of voices ended an absolutely spiritual day with their heavenly voices reciting « Aap Kya Jaane Fatima Kya Hai »… MashAllah ! Keep it up girls !

Day 5 Journal
Rain, rain and rain, it just kept going on and on. Today started with an early wake up call for fajr namaaz. With a couple hours of more sleep we woke ourselves up, so we could eat a lovely refreshing breakfast, which consisted of croissants, melon, toast, bread rolls, cereal and hot drinks. After tidying up we had to go and get ready for our lecture which was the conclusion of the spiritual lessons we have had over the  past week. These lectures were not only good for expanding our knowledge, but extremely enjoyable. We learnt all about the of coming month of Ramadhan , different levels of fasting . Also, we were introduced to the concept of deriving lessons from everything around us and the breathtaking scenery around us gave us the opportunity to put this particular lesson into practice. We concluded all of this by having a challenging quiz full of varied questions.  These insightful lectures had given us a very big appetite, so we had an amazing lunch cooked by Zinat Aunty.

After this, those of us who were brave enough went for another hike and the rest of us were given the innovative task of cooking! There were two groups for cooking. One group cooked Couscous whereas the other group cooked an original recipe which consisted of baked potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs and salad cream. So, all in all a very interesting meal! Those who chose to go on the hike had to walk down to the bus station, but as some of us were too slow we ended up missing the bus and had to wait another hour. From Bergheim alte post we went up to Tannebohden and chose to go to a lake that we had not yet seen. When we got there we first bought ice cream to build up our energy. 

The route on which we took was very bumpy, muddy and wet because of the rain throughout the day. The walk was quite long but we got there eventually, once getting to the lake we skipped some pebbles and found some frogs, with these we tried to carry them but only a couple of the small ones got held. But a problem had occurred, once again the rain started again and we found ourselves leaving to get back home. Along the way many mushrooms were found but could not be eaten as we weren’t too sure as to whether they were safe enough to eat. Along the way back the group took all different paces, so a couple of us were left at the end. We weren’t too sure as to whether to take the pavement path or the original bumpy path, so we took the bumpy path thinking it would be the shortcut. With going this way we got ourselves soaked in water, through all the holes that were in the grass. As usual we were going at a medium pace but figured the bus would come soon, so we had to run all the way to the bus.

Through this hike we walked through the clouds and a lesson was learnt, some of our sins can be covered but on the final day Allah will be able to see through it all. Once arriving back home we ate a scrumptious meal which consisted of lasagne, garlic bread and the other girls’ food. After a while we gathered for namaaz and after this we heard some beautiful recitations of  Dua Kumayl and Ziyarat-e-Waritha.

To conclude our final evening in Swizerland, we presented our posters that were made with our sisters.

Zahra Ladha, Hannah Kara, Aliya Sakina Rahemtulla