The Lebanese Muslim Association in Sydney recently completed a comprehensive six week school holiday program and officials are delighted with the amount of positive feedback they have received from participants and their parents.
The benefits that the participating youngsters gain from school holiday programs are many and varied.
Relieving boredom, keeping active both mentally and physically, making new friends (or catching up with old ones), learning new things and gaining new experiences in an Islamic environment are just some of the many benefits gained by the kids involved in the LMA’s boys and girls school holiday programs.
Making new friends is a very important benefit of these programs as not all young people make friends easily.
They may suffer from low self-esteem, shyness, loneliness or anxiety but the activities run by the LMA help them to gain confidence in a group environment, under the watchful eye of wise, experienced and caring mentors.
With separate programs for boys and girls with a strong Islamic focus, both itineraries offer ‘something for everyone’.
As the owner and caretaker of Lakemba Mosque, the LMA is in the unique position of being able to run Funeral Workshops.
Both the boys’ and the girls’ sessions were filled to capacity as LMA Funeral Services long-time head funeral director Ahmad Hraichie provided each group with a detailed insight and a tutorial on the Islamic funeral process and took participants on a tour of the funeral parlour.
These workshops cover all aspects of the Islamic funeral process including washing, shrouding, prayers and burial and were added to the school holiday program, owing to demand from the Muslim community.
As Muslims, all of us including the young should know about the funeral process and the LMA plans to make these workshops a regular event in the future.
Run by the LMA’s Lakemba Mosque Youth, the boys school holiday program commenced on Sunday 18 December when a highly successful FIFA World Cup Final Night special event was held overnight in the recently refurbished underground space of Lakemba Mosque.
Boys archery was also held in late December before the programs for both girls and boys really ‘ramped up’ in January and continued until final days of the holidays.
Activities for the young brothers included the Thunder Jet Boat ride, Escape Room activity, a trip to the movies, Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, Deep Sea Fishing, Indoor Sports and Barbeque (with the fantastic support of the GWS Giants AFL club), laser and ten pin bowling.
While the three-day Boys Camp at Stanwell Park was also a huge success.
Among the arts and crafts workshops offered to the girls were calligraphy and Turkish mosaic candle-making and the young sisters produced some beautiful artifacts.
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “teach your children swimming, archery and horse-riding”….and with this in mind, the LMA conducted Sunnah Sports school holiday programs for both boys and girls, with the males participating in horse riding, archery and wresting and the females horse riding, archery and fencing.
While delighted at the upsurge in numbers in all of the various activities and disciplines conducted as part of the school holiday programs, LMA officials are particularly elated at the level of interest shown in the Girls Sunnah Sports program.
“The boys activities are always strongly patronised but we are thrilled at the increased level of interest in the girls’ sessions, particularly during these school holidays,” LMA special projects officer Raiyan Ramadhan told AMUST.
Bronwyn Hadife, the organisation’s chief program officer, pointed out that the feedback the Association has received about the Girls Sunnah Sports program has been “nothing but positive”.
“All of the phone calls, emails and social media comments we have received from the girls who participated and their parents have been very complimentary and we are already fielding numerous enquiries about the next school holidays,” she said.
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