Donated vehicle, valued at R500 000, makes outreach to Mitchells Plain’s Muslim youth an easier task for Madrasah Tul Madina, thanks to the South African Muslim Charitable Trust
For Immediate Release: Monday 18 June 2018
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Steering the vulnerable, young Muslims of Mitchells Plain away from gangsterism, drugs and the murky depths of South Africa’s criminal underworld took a positive turn recently with a donation to Madrasah Tul Madina of a R500 000 vehicle to radically boost its outreach work amongst the youth.
Madrasah Tul Madina is a registered non-profit organisation actively working at grassroots level to encourage Islamic activities and the teachings of Islam in the face of massive social challenges in the Mitchells Plain area. Making the job somewhat easier, the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) recently donated a vehicle to assist the organisation’s staff reach youngsters across the length and breadth of an area devastated by poverty, the emergence of a drugs culture and an upsurge of gangland vices.
Presenting the new vehicle during an official hand-over function, Mr Faried Boltman, a representative of the SAMCT, said: “The activities of Madrasah Tul Madina, working with – primarily – the youth is most laudable, given the high poverty level and plethora of social ills blighting the area and having the effect of luring our young people away from the teachings of Islam. They might believe it possible to escape the poverty trap through involvement in gangs and dabbling with drugs, but nothing could be further from the truth.”
He maintained that the organisation’s outreach activities and the positive results they reap were so much better than any result a gang or the taking of drugs could possibly achieve.
“For the Muslim youth of Mitchells Plan, adherence to the teachings of Islam is the only way to make a success of their lives. It is, therefore, so very important that organisations, such as Madrasah Tul Madina, continue to reach out to our young people here, to share with them Islamic knowledge, to create widespread awareness of Islam and to remind the youth of their true faith-based roots here within the community,” he added.
Mr Boltman indicated that delivering the message of Islam was the easy part. The challenge lay in reaching the vulnerable young people across Mitchells Plain.
He stressed: “The dedicated staff of Madrasah Tul Madina clearly have the passion to interact with the Muslim youth here, they are clearly equipped with the tools to communicate with the youth here. What they lack – until now – is an effective means to reach youngsters here in Mitchells Plain. There can be no doubt that the vehicle we, of the SAMCT, are pleased to present today will go a long way to closing the loop on the organisation’s interactive outreach activities.”
“The SAMCT recognises and acknowledges the good work of Madrasah Tul Madina in influencing the young lives of Muslims across Mitchells Plain. We were, accordingly, very keen to make a contribution which would assist the organisation effectively and efficiently reach those in jeopardy of forsaking their beliefs for a world of gangsterism and drugs – a sure way into the murky depths of this country’s criminal underworld,” Mr Boltman said.
The SAMCT was created in 2008 to provide funding, services and other resources to improve the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. It has successfully delivered sizeable assistance solutions throughout the country, irrespective of race or religion and works to support needy organisations in the fields of health, social development, poverty alleviation and education.
Mr Boltman said of the Madrasah Tul Madina outreach initiative: “This was a perfect fit for our organisation and we were immediately drawn to the fact that we could assist in furthering Islamic belief amongst the young people of Mitchells Plain and to contributing towards efforts to encourage the youth to turn their young backs on the evils and immorality of gang-life, drugs, teenage pregnancy and the host of associated social problems historically disadvantaged young people must overcome in today’s South Africa. It is our fervent hope that this humble contribution will assist in the task of pointing our young men and women along the moral path to a better life, instead of allowing them to become mired on the path to darkness.”
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For more information about SAMCT or its Madressa Tul Medina donation, please contact: Rasheeda Motala: Social Responsibility Co-ordinator – Tel: 084 506 2280.