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Muslim Views . October 2018
Shaping the future of learners for 40 years Husami Educare, under the auspices of the Cravenby Muslim Educational and Cultural Society is marking its 40th anniversary this year. This is an edited version of the address by the secretary of the Board of Trustees of CMECS, DR ENAYETULLA MOWZER, delivered on September 8, 2018, at a gala event to celebrate the milestone.
IN 1970, the Cravenby Muslim Educational and Cultural Society (CMECS) was formed by eleven Muslim residents of Cravenby with the intention of purchasing land from the City of Cape Town to erect a masjid to serve the needs of the community. The first eleven founder members and trustees were M S Janjirker (Bhawoodien), Imam Hamza Khan Dalwai, Sayed Ahmed Ismail, Abdul Wahab Kootbodien, Jaffer Khan, Omer Khan, Ahmad Mahmood Pathan, Abdul Kadir ‘KW’ Parker, Abdurahman Ebrahim (Ulday), Faizel Hassan Sungay and Sharif Mohidien (Gire). The first meeting was held at the Mohidien residence. In 1971, four additional members were added to the list as trustees. They were Abdullah Moosa Vallie, Sayed Abdurahman, Shaikh Abbas Mukaddam and Sayed Ebrahim Sayed Mahmood.
Staff and administrators of the Husami Educare at the institution’s 40th anniversary function. In the back row, from left to right, are Saeeda Khan, Zulaikha Sayed, Zeenat Mukadam, Jamiela Mohamed, Rehana Parker, Asiya Cassim and Mubeena Parker-Ismail. In front are Faiza Johnson, Zainab Vallie, Fowzia Rahim (the first principal), Jahangir Khan (Educare sub-committee convenor), Mumtaz Bapoo (current principal) and Dr Yusuf Lalkhen (educational Photo ABDURAHMAN KHAN psychologist).
Plans for the masjid were drawn up and, on June 16, 1976, the foundation of Husami Masjid was laid in the presence of dignitaries and the Muslim community of the area. The masjid was opened in 1978. By this time, the community had grown and the CMECS decided to open a nursery school in 1978, under the leadership of A W Kootbodien, Hasan Natha, Abdul Gaffoor Kagee, A M Vallie, S A Ismail and M S Janjirker. Four teachers, Farhat Parker, Sharifa Powan, Kamrunisa Faki and Mumtaz Bapoo (nee Rumaney) were employed. Mrs Mymoena Sayed and Mrs M Badrodien, of Habibia Nursery, assisted in establishing the nursery and conducted teacher training.
The nursery soon started to grow and employed more staff. Amongst them were the late Hawa Tambe, Mrs M Vallie, Nazlee, Zulaikha Sayed, Sabera Peerbhai, Zainab Vallie, Firoza Salie, Fatima Mohammed, Jamiela Mohammed, Mrs Hamdulay and Sumaya Muller. In 1989, due to the demise of a few members, a new nursery subcommittee was formed comprising Dr E Mowzer, Dr N A Mowzer, Mr A M Vallie and Mr S Janjirker. This sub-committee also coined the motto: ‘Success through education’. It was also decided to change the manner of tuition to a more structured approach and the nursery school was converted into an educare centre. For this transformation to be successful, it became
necessary to further the training of the staff. The Muslim Assembly conducted classes in this field and the teachers were enrolled to further their education and training. The late Mrs Shireen Khan and her brother, Hasan Khan, of Shireen’s Play Centre, also assisted the educare sub-committee in running the centre in a more professional manner. At this juncture we also employed our first trained educare teacher, Mrs Fowzia Rahim, as principal and helped in setting up our systems to be more professional and competitive in the field of educare. During all this, strong alliances were built with Muslim Assembly Educare, Shireen’s Play Centre and also Siddique Mosque Educare. Apart from a few joint activities, we started an annual inter-educare sports day, which was a resounding success and took place for quite a few years. To boost our teachers’ levels of education, some staff members were enrolled at training college to study for their N levels. Fowzia Rahim and Mumtaz Bapoo even went further and obtained their Bachelor of Education degrees at University of the Western Cape. After the departure of Mrs Rahim, in 2001, Mrs Bapoo became principal of Husami Educare. A position she still holds. Whenever teachers left, they were replaced by trained educare instructors.
Amongst them were Mrs Faiza Johnson, Rehana Parker, Zaida Sungay, Juwairiya Samodien and Delaire Kajie. Our current staff members are Mrs Bapoo, Zeenat Mukaddam, Aasiya Cassiem, Faldielah Toyer, Mubeena Ismail and Vanessa De Klerk. Our administration secretary for the past 22 years is Mrs Jamiela Mohamed. In 2001, we were pleasantly surprised by an official visit to Husami Educare by the late former president, Nelson Mandela, and the then premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool. This event will always feature as one of our highlights in the history of Husami Educare. With the introduction of Grade Rs a few years ago at some schools, the number of children enrolled at Husami Educare has dropped. However, for the past three years, our numbers are steadily increasing. This is due to the fact that we follow the syllabus of the Western Cape Education Department and enhance it with the Islamic ethos which we adhere to strongly. The current sub-committee consists of Mr J Khan (convener), Yousuf Atcha, Rafiq Sonday and Asif Bapoo. As the former convener of Husami Educare – a post which I held for 27 years – I would like to pay tribute to all those mentioned in this article and especially to our founder members and trustees.