Zainabiya - A fragrance of Charity in our Community

It is with the great sense of pride and with a deep sense of gratitude to our community, that I have the pleasant task of writing the annual report of ZCSS once again. I am indeed fortunate to be at the helm of the organisation, in which the belief of our community has transcended into action and that has produced a fragrance of charity, by which many thousands of under privileged children of our community are benefiting.

In many ways the past year has been especially remarkable, we have managed to sponsor all the children who have applied to the scheme for normal sponsorship, although getting sponsorship for the higher education scheme has been more difficult. There are still a sizeable number of children waiting for sponsorship to go on the higher education scheme. With the help from Allah (s.w.t.) and members of the community we will find sponsorship for them soon.

This past year has also seen the launch of the Zainabiya Yatim and Asir Sponsorship Scheme. With the events in the world evolving in such a way that more and more of the population in the Muslim world is being displaced, ZCSS is unable to ignore the plight of Muslim children whose families have been afflicted by war. Therefore, to assist with the education of the children of refugees, captives and also the war orphans a new scheme was launched specifically for this category of children. I am happy to report that this has been a great success and the community has once again endorsed and supported the scheme, consequently many children of war refugees and orphans will now get free education. ‘ALHAMDULILLAH’ Zainabiya has already started to distribute this money amongst the Iraqi refugees in Iran. In fact a whole new school called the Al-Shaheed Al-Sedr run by Imam Murtadha Charitable Organization has been fully financed by the Yatim & Asir Sponsorship Scheme.

As far as the volunteers who work in the office at the WF for ZCSS are concerned, once again we have been extremely fortunate. We have had continuous support of youngsters who willingly give up their valuable time to help with administration work at the ZCSS. This year I am happy to welcome Ali Bachoo and Ali-Abbas Merali to the ZCSS team. Both these youngsters have already done some brilliant work in marketing the scheme and indeed the production of this document is largely due to their efforts. 

I am grateful to all the Councillors, Committee Members and Volunteers in all the Jamats who are liasing with the Sponsor Parents to make this scheme a success. I am grateful to all the Organisations in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Kenya, India, Iran, Pakistan and Thailand who are making sure the needy children get the help they require. I pray to Allah (s.w.t.) to reward them for their relentless efforts.

Looking ahead, I hope and pray that we will inshallah reach our aim when there will not be even one Shia child in the world who will miss out on acquiring knowledge just because of poverty, or war, or destitution. After all we are the community of Shias of Imam Ali a.s. and he has said that: ‘There is no greater affliction than ignorance’.

Mohamed Visram
December 2001

• During 2001, ZCSS has also successfully launched a new sub-scheme, specifically for orphans and children of war captives – Yatim and Asir Sponsorship Scheme.

• One of the objectives was to construct Zainabiya’s 5th school – Sheikh Mufid-e-Rahman school in Khujwa. The completion of the project was due in 2003. Fortunately the school is to be ready in February 2002.

• The building of teachers’ quarters in Khujwa is still in progress. This is very important, as it is the main support for the recruitment of teachers. This project, we hope will be completed by 2003. 

• Another of ZCSS’s important objectives was to take 45 new under graduate students. We have done better than this and the numbers of under graduates now exceed 70.

• A new aim this year is to build a whole complex in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The school is sponsored by ZCSS and is in association with The Mulla Asghar Memorial Fund. Donor for the primary school in this project has already been found.
  
  

  ZCSS IS CONTINUING TO SUCCEED IN COMPLETING ALL IT SETS OUT TO DO, WITH THE HELP OF THE COMMUNITY - ALHAMDULILLAH

  NEW PROJECTS ARE ALSO CONTINUOUSLY BEING INTRODUCED THANKS TO YOUR HELP

  YOUR GENEROSITY IS MUCH APPRECIATED

  “DO NOT BE ASHAMED OF GIVING ONLY A LITTLE,
  FOR SURELY THE ONE WHO IS DEPRIVED OF THAT HAS EVEN LESS”

  (Imam Ali a.s.)