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Muslim Views . October 2017
AM’s leadership conference adds purpose to life AMINA WAGGIE
ACCIDENTALMUSLIMS.COM, a self-funded organisation that showcases current and future leaders, hosted their first major event, a leadership conference, on Saturday, September 30, 2017, at the Baxter Theatre, in Cape Town, with the hope of inspiring people to live with a purpose. Zaheer Parker and Khalil Aleker, co-founders of AccidentalMuslims.com, saw the need to inspire the youth, collate stories that are in the community and package it for people. They started by doing podcasts, which have been running for ten months. They also do meet ups, where they arrange a venue and a guest speaker who is invited to share his or her story. These meet ups are intimate and cater for about 30 to 40 people. ‘We found that we needed to put something together which can inspire the youth, and I think most people left with a positive message,’ said Parker. The conference featured a wide range of speakers, varying from different occupations to different religions, each of whom had a unique story to tell about their journey to how they have come to where they currently are. Zarina Ebrahim, an entrepreneur who was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which is a facial deformity affecting the jaw, ear, nose and eye areas, spoke about her perseverance and determination to reach success and not to be defined by her facial defect. ‘I underwent 26 operations. For
The inaugural AccidentalMuslims.com Live with Purpose Leadership Conference 2017, held on September 30, was a resounding success. The co-founders of AccidentalMuslims.com, Khalil Aleker and Zaheer Parker, attributed this success to the hard work of the entire team, which included a number of volunteers, from left, Wasfeeya Altalib, Razia Bawa, Mehboob Bawa, Yacoob Manjoo, Khalil Aleker, Zaheer Parker, Muhammad Osman, Shanaaz Ebrahim, Hasnain Abdullah and Nazeer Riaz Jamaal. Inset: Raeesa Jenkins, graphic designer. Photo SUPPLIED
many years, I let the facial defect define me and refused to go to weddings, family gatherings and basically any public spaces,’ said Ebrahim in her talk called ‘Goldenhar superwoman’.
‘People see doctors as these machines that are just working automatically, without feeling any emotion. After conducting my talk and explaining to the people about the life of a doctor, I feel like there was some recognition that doctors are humans, and they can be flawed. There are reasons behind specific behaviours, and people should look beyond just the outward appearance and see what’s going on inside,’ said gynaecologist Lamees Ras, the first ever person to receive a fellowship in Urogynaecology in South Africa. Photo NAZEER RIAZ JAMAAL
Besides the support from her close family, the one thing that kept her going was sport. She has been playing tennis since the age of seven, in addition to which she has taken up tenpin bowling and has represented South Africa, with Gold and Silver in the provincials. Moeghsien Aghmad Sulaiman, also known as ‘Minnie Menk’, a 12-year-old boy who aspires to be the Imam of the Great Mosque, spoke about bullying, its causes and the importance of communication between parents and children to avoid bullying. ‘There are kids out there that are being bullied on a daily basis. They would rather be hurt by a thousand of sticks and a thousand of stones than to hear one more nasty word aimed at them. Why is a bully a bully? Has that question ever crossed our minds? Parents need to talk to their children, in order to know what is happening in their lives,’ said Sulaiman. Yaaseen Barnes, award-winning comedian, gave an inspirational and uplifting talk encouraging the youth to live life and know that there are more options available than climbing the corporate ladder. In the society we live in today, people are supposed to grow up, study, get a job and are then expected to climb the corporate ladder. Barnes chose to step away from that stereotype and believes that the youth needs to know that that is an option. ‘I have the best job in the world because I love my job; everybody that was on the panel has their best job because they love what they do,’ Barnes exclaimed passionately. ‘This conference is so much bigger than anybody on the platform.
together with her husband Khalil Hendricks, on the topic ‘The Miracle’. She runs the Cape Town-based Zahraa Institute and has a BA in Media and Communication Studies. Bawa said that she liked the diversity that AccidentalMuslims.com presented and she feels that the nation needs a common voice for Muslims, especially Muslim youth, for them to feel connected and a part of Islam and not to shy away from their Islamic identity. ‘I like the idea that they (AccidentalMuslims.com) presented all of these different voices but the main element came through strongly in each of the people that they interviewed through the podcasts and in identifying the potential speakers, and that was to truly live with purpose and make a difference,’ said Bawa. After the conference, many of the speakers said Yaaseen Barnes introduced himself as ‘the guy that they would enjoy they get when they can’t afford Riaad Moosa’. working with AccidentalA tennis ball was given to each speaker after Muslims.com in the future they presented their speeches, which they then and would like to hold had to toss into the audience and whoever caught it won a prize. In typical comedian style, workshops as well as small Barnes quipped that the back of the crowd was intimate functional proundeserving of the ball because they chose to grammes with them. sit far from the stage so he threw it into the front rows. The rest of the speakers Photo NAZEER RIAZ JAMAAL were Fareed Behardien, It means so much to all of us, be- Mustaq Brey, Aslam Cassiem, cause we get to speak to people Hani du Toit, Moulana Khalil outside of our world, get to intro- Hendricks, MJ Li, Naadiya duce them into what we do and Moosajee, Shafiq Morton, Bilqees how we live our lives. We can Omar, Dr Lamees Ras, Saliegh speak to more people about the Salaam, Farid Sayed and Lois Strapassion we have for our jobs.’ chan. The MCs were Mehboob Radia Bawa-Hendricks spoke Bawa and Faizal Sayed.