Ireland Chair- September 2009

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Assalamualaykum wbt.

Alhamdulillah, we're over September. A month full of feeling-in-denial...: P in denial over the end of Ramadan, end of summer holiday, start of class and.........works. FOSIS Ireland committee Alhamdulillah slowly but happily welcomed ourselves to the work and amanah.
Upon reminder from the president-FaisaHanjra on weaning ourselves off our FOSIS and email addiction and concentrate on savoring the last bits of Ramadan especially the last 10 days, we limited ourselves upon concentrating on planning and tarbiyah during the 1st two weeks.

As Eid came and everyone opens up their houses for friends to visit and eat good food, killing off their soberness upon missing eid with family back at home...a lot of time was used to make up with friends and family- not to forget utilizing the endless eid parties to network and socialize. I don't know about the rest of the world precisely, but I know that Malaysians take Eid Fitr quite seriously- as in, every weekend, there would be open houses and parties with family, foods and friends until literally the end of Syawal. A bit unmoderate on the surface, but being one, I realized that for many of us isn't really about celebrating-the-success-of-going-through-a-month-of-tarbiyah anymore (this is honestly only felt at the 1st day) it's really about taking the spirit of the occasion to bring people together, harness the silaturrahim (brotherhood/ sisterhood bond) amongst us. And since we don't have families here, we do it amongst friends. While the trend was only followed by Malaysians, I am seeing people-the local and international students alike warming up to the idea-which is very sweet. For one, I learned that the best-liked food a Malaysian can cook for the rest of the world is Satay (a special BBQ on a stick), Nasi Impit (cube rice) andKuah Kacang (peanut sauce).

As Fresher's Fayre continue, the ISCC team tried to keep on top of everything with a lot of reminders and guides to ISocs regarding the importance of kick-starting well for the term by making the best out of Fresher's Week and the delivery of Fresher's packs. Overall, it was a huge plus for all the ISoc Stalls who had them Alhamdulillah. I have not yet been able to see pictures or reports from all ISocs on their stalls but have managed to go and visit one in RCSI. Subhanallah, talk about being opportunistic! Their stall won the best stall on the day! InsyaAllah we will have reports about it in due time.

As various societies and individuals take the hype of the week to relay it to the freshers of how they could and should do well and get the most out of their Uni life by offering advices, helping them out with accommodation, settling down (including showing how to use the water heater and radiators!), showing them around, sharing study tips, and convincing them to keep themselves sane the healthiest way- i.e. by getting involved...I thank the PPIMI, PMCSA and SU for allowing me various chances in their fresher's programme to offer my help to the freshers in all of the above-both on a personal and organizational level. I hope the freshers don't get bored of me talking bout being ‘ummatan wasatan' (nation of just and balance- Al Baqarah 143) again and again! LOL.

Last but not least, after a lot of chasing around for deadlines of budgets, proposals and action plans, Alhamdulillah we have managed to put into calendar everything we wanted to do this year, all stemming from and seeking to cater for the ‘bottom-of-the-ice-berg' underlying reasons why the Muslim students present with everything they present now that could-do-with-some-improvements. No more events for the sake of events and projects for the sake of projects insyaAllah.

With that, we welcomed the start of a new term with a Regional Council Meeting and Training in Dublin. Detailed report about the meeting may follow suit in the news section, but all I wanted to highlight from this is my gratefulness upon the passion for excellence that is beginning to show in many of the brothers and sisters in the ISoc sphere in Ireland. During the meeting and training we also had very god discussions which resolved into very positive outcomes, not forgetting a boost in our Iman and unity. Alhamdulillah.

A lot will be coming up, in the month of October, as a part of our FOSIS Community Project (FCP) Ireland, we'll next weekend be pinked with the Irish Cancer Society by hosting a social evening for the sisters- raising fund and awareness regarding Breast Cancer amongst the community. Sisters from various ISOCs will insyaAllah get together and while helping out with the evening present their cooking and baking skills! Next is of course, Charity Week which will be from 26th October to 1st November. Hopefully all will go well, please do take part and check out our website for more info. (although, on the sidenote, the website has just been newly upgraded, so it needs a huge makeover! Hopefully that will get sorted soon! J).

Not to forget, as Allah opened the hearts of more and more brothers and sisters into realizing the importance of ajamaah on campus a lot of ISocs are beginning to bud in various universities and institutes and as we should, we would insyaAllah be very keen on helping them with setting up their society. Hopefully, this becomes one of the best investment we make in FOSIS.

Munirah Hishamshah