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IWCNZ Conference 2012.
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Sisters at the 2011 IWCNZ Conference about to take a wagon ride.
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Asayal Abbad Almutairi from Timaru said that "Everyone was so welcoming and friendly - everyone shared their opinions and ideas and they were all welcomed." The experience, according to Asayal meant she is already looking forward to next year's event.
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Sara Alquran said the conference "was an amazing opportunity to make great friends and I've been keeping contact with everyone of my new friends".
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For Khatra Omar of Hamilton, "the conference was an educational weekend". Speaking to, and learning from wiser women was very helpful". Khatra added that the highlight of the conference for her was the lecture on identity. "It taught me how to find myself within God and to be proud to be a Muslim. I also enjoyed meeting youth from all around New Zealand. I got to connect with them in addition to talking about issues that we experience in our daily lives."
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Other Activities & Projects:
Teleconferences:
As decided at the AGM in Christchurch our first Teleconference was held on Sunday, 19 September 2010. The second one was held on Sunday, 5 December 2010. As the IWCNZ AGM was held in January 2011, the next teleconference will be held in March insha Allah. The conferences were used to discuss items on an agenda that was sent out beforehand. Each Teleconference lasted for an hour and turned out to be very productive and successful as sisters were able to discuss items on the agenda and quickly come up with some well thought out responses and suggestions.
Workshops for Muslimah in Wellington, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin:
Sr Aliya and Sr Anjum travelled to these centres to conduct workshops for Muslimah. The purpose for travelling to these centres was two-fold:
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To present a workshop to Muslimah about the rights and responsibilities of youth
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To share with sisters information about IWCNZ and its programmes, including the 2011 IWCNZ National Conference in Hamilton
Invitations to the conference were handed out at these workshops. Sr Aliya had conducted a similar workshop in Auckland in May 2010.
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Girls addressing IWCNZ Conference 2008.
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Competing at the 2012 Mac Qur'an Competition In Christchurch
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The workshop focused on Muslimah youth's responsibilities to themselves, their families and their community. The sisters who helped to organise the event put an excellent effort into bring everyone together. Christchurch and Wellington had a very good turnout and Dunedin and Palmerston North had a similarly good turnout based on the community size. All the feedback received from the workshops has been positive and the Muslimah youth seemed pleased and motivated by the workshop. Similarly, many of the Muslimah expressed interest in attending the conference, and this was reflected in the very good turnout at the conference. Overall these visits were extremely positive and added value to the communities and brought goodwill to both FIANZ and IWCNZ.
Consistent feedback was received from all the workshops that sisters would like a similar presentation given to the young men in the community. This feedback has been passed on to FIANZ.
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Invitation From The Office of Ethnic Affairs:
IWCNZ members attended a meeting with the Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs to discuss the Office of Ethnic Affairs Work Programme and Nominations Service. They were presented with an update on activities and plans for 2010.
Building Bridges Programme - Muslim and the Media:
In order to have a discussion on the importance of and the issues related to engaging with the media, OEA organised a small forum. A dialogue was held in the first half session amongst the Muslim community and then members from the media community joined the discussion. There were representatives from Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Maori TV.
Grant From The East Asia Pacific Development Programme:
The Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand's was successful in its application to the American EAP/PD Small Grant Scheme, with support from the American Embassy. The funds received will be used to organise workshops and seminars to educate Muslim families about their rights and responsibilities as New Zealand Citizens. The workshops will cater for women and their families. The programmes will focus on:
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immigration and settlement in New Zealand, and the stresses related to this.
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New Zealand law as it relates to the home, including the issue of discipline for children, and the Islamic rights and responsibilities of all family members.
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responsibilities around raising children, including the legal consequences of using violence as a form of discipline.
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self care and personal well-being, to ensure that the individual is healthy emotionally, physically and spiritually.
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This project was launched in January 2011 at the IWCNZ National Conference and will be implemented in Auckland (North, South, East and West), Wellington (for Wellington and Palmerston North), Christchurch and Dunedin. The project is scheduled to be completed in January 2012.
Farah Pandith's visit The U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton's Special Representative to Muslim Communities:
Ms Farah Pandith spent three days in New Zealand. On Wednesday, 8 December 2010 she met a group of women in Auckland at the premises of the Fatimah Foundation. From 4.30 to 6.00pm, sisters joined her for an afternoon tea. Ms Pandith has an interest in issues involving Muslim girls and women around the world. As well as meeting government representatives, members of FIANZ, local Muslim communities and students (she will meet students and staff of Zayed College in Auckland, and the WOWMA youth group in Hamilton) she also specifically asked to meet representatives of IWCNZ to see how recent U.S. State Department grants will help our ongoing work in the community. Christine Vivian from US Embassy in Wellington accompanied Ms Pandith.
Mediation For Women In Dunedin:
The sisters in Dunedin asked representatives from IWCNZ to mediate in a dispute with the some sections of the community. Two representatives met with the sisters and brothers at the Dunedin mosque. A follow-up this meeting was held with the President and Vice-President of FIANZ, in order to pass on the issues raised and to prepare some action points as a result. One of the action points has been to appoint sisters to the FIANZ Da'wah Committee, and to set up improved channels of communication in case further similar issues arise.
Netball Competitions:
Sisters in Auckland have completed a year of three monthly netball competitions. Teams attached to different centres and mosques around Auckland which include sisters under 15, 16 to 25 and over 25 consisting of mothers and grandmothers train regularly and play these competitive games. These netball competitions help our sisters especially the younger girls to socialise with other Muslim sisters and be physically active.
Counties Manukau Healthy Lifestyle Grant:
The sisters in Auckland have been successful in their application for Counties Healthy Lifestyle Grant of $10 000 for their netball project. This grant will be used for much needed training programme for coaches, referees, managers and teams. At the end of this programme we expect to have our own professionally trained netball personnel Insha Allah.
Prison Visits:
Sisters in Auckland have been visiting Muslim female inmates since August 2010. Some of these inmates have been there for several years and always look forward to these visits. For some inmates even receiving a packet of dates for aftari seemed exciting.
Christchurch Youth Camp:
A total of 60 happy campers attended Muslimah youth camp held 15 minutes north of Christchurch. The committee and few others put a lot of time and effort into the camp. With the grace of Allah this three day camp was a very successful one. The guest speaker was Sr Aliyah Danzeisen from Hamilton facilitated 4 workshops entitled "What is a Kiwi-Muslimah? Define Yourself!" "You Are Not The First!"...Muslims have lived in non-Muslim countries since the religion's inception and have been successful, "Integration Is Not Assimilation," "Soft Dawa'ah: How To Reach Out to Non-Muslims Without Confrontation." Islamic puzzle, Islamic question and answer session, Pizza and salad making competitions, abseiling, Crafts, Henna, Hijab dress up, Islamic scavenger hunt, fashion show, Swimming and funny acts were popular and new talents were discovered. A special powerful tathkira was given after each prayer and was received very well by the girls.
2010 was another year full of activities and events. Let us pray to Allah SWT to guide us through another successful year.
Ameen.
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Office Holders Appointed May 2012
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Sisters outside the Southland Muslim Association Community Centre
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Girls at the Southland Muslim Association Open Day
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