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Report of SND Activities for the first half of 2007 |
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The SND Committee, arranged a Ziyarat / Religious Educational trip to Damascus, Syria during the spring of 2006. The group comprised of 44 members (both male and female). All the Chapters participated in this Ziyarat programme.
The members took advantage of visiting all the Holy places including a trip to Aleppo. The Maulana accompanying the group provided all the religious services, recited Majalises and updated the group with all the historical backgrounds at every juncture.
Secondly, on 13th May 2007, quarterly gathering of the Seniors from all the Chapters. The Venue selected was Birmingham, whose President had kindly agreed to host. Approximately 300 members took part and various dignitaries from CoEJ and Birmingham Jamaat participated. The programme started with recitation from the Holy Qur'an followed by a welcome speech by the Chairman of SND Al Haj Mulla Roshan Versi after which the Vice Chairman, Al Haj Ramzan Dhanji presented an update of the SND activities. Various speakers were also given the platform to speak and amongst them were the President of CoEJ Al Haj Munawar Rattansey, Vice President of CoEJ Al Haj Hussein Jiwa and President of Birmingham Jamaat Al Haj Shabbir Rehemtulla. A lively question and answer session followed and after a vote of thanks the programme ended with a very welcome meal. Throughout the programme the SND secretary Al Haj Gulamabbas Kassam was very active as the M.C., looking after the recording and overseeing the smooth progress. Volunteers looked after the attending members very well.
On 18th May the Vice Chairman Al Haj Ramzanbhai Dhanji accompanied by Al Haj Bashir Rattansey and the Chairman of Milton Keynes Seniors Al Haj Qassamali Ravjani had an opportunity to visit Dubai and Karachi. They had the pleasure of meeting various members of the Jamaat and discussed the possibility of a joint Senior Citizens programme in the near future.
In Karachi, The Executive Council of the Seniors Citizens Association invited the group for a meeting and discussed various aspects of interest to Seniors and also put forward a suggestion of holding Seniors Summer Camp in Karachi. The subject of various participation and Seniors Brotherhood to be extended was also touched upon.
The E.C. of Pirai Jamat of Karachi also welcomed the group and arranged a luncheon meeting and followed it up later with a detailed sightseeing of the various projects undertaken by the Jamaat and their developments. The group was very much impressed with the current projects running such as Boys and Girls School from Montessori to University level. There is a high calibre of professionals employed and various needs of the community are being catered for. The Hospital project was extremely impressive and a high standard of services and modern equipments are installed with new ones being made available.
It was very heart-warming to know that the E.C. and other volunteers work selflessly in the interest of the community by enhancing the opportunities to the needy. This inevitably brings forward selfless donors to see the projects through. Many buildings and plots of land are made available to the Community by the such philanthropic donors.
The Seniors directory is now in a final stage, and should insha'allah be ready by end of July 2007.
Yours faithfully,
Ramzan Dhanji,
Vice Chairman. S.N.D. |
