On the weekend of January 21-23, 2011, over 200 Muslimah from around New Zealand came together for the Annual Conference of the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) which was held this year in Hamilton at the University of Waikato and which was hosted and organised by the Women's Organisation of the Waikato Muslim Association (WOWMA) on behalf of the IWCNZ.

The Conference addressed the topic of Muslimah Living Active and Fulfilling Lives and included Islamic lectures, workshops and activities throughout the weekend, which focused on that theme.

Conference attendees came from diverse backgrounds and there was a good representation of all cultures including solid numbers from Africa, Arabia, the Pacific Islands, the South Asian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and other Western countries.

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Friday Evening Sessions

On the first evening, the Muslimah attended a presentation on "How to Support New Members to Our Communities including converts, immigrants and individuals who relocate," and a discussion forum on "Developing Relevant Programming for Our Communities." The sisters also participated in an hour of exercise by partaking in the "Sit and Be Fit" activity designed to keep women healthy with exercises they can do in their own homes. The "Sit and Be Fit" hour was run by a female instructor from Sports Waikato. Simultaneously, WOWMA Youth Leaders ran ice-breakers and a trash to fashion competition which permitted the younger sisters who attended the conference to get to know each other.

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Saturday Morning Workshops

During the Saturday morning, IWCNZ offered seven workshops of which participants could select two sessions to attend. The workshops included:

The Importance of Providing an Islamic Education for Our Children presented by Dr. Maysoon Salama

Settlement Issues in New Zealand - Legal Rights and Responsibilities- organised by the Fatimah Foundation;

What Makes a Good Story-A Youth Media Workshop offered by Sapna Samant

Optimism and Resiliency - Tips to Get Through Difficult Times addressed by Beverly Burns

Active Citizenship and Supporting the Community presented by Ann Dysart of the Ministry of Social Development

Parenting, Discipline and Taking Care of Self - Legal Rights and Responsibilities- offered by the Fatimah Foundation

The Means and How to Get Your Story Out-a Youth Media Workshop lead by Sapna Samant.

In between workshops, there were 15 vendors as well as Islamic organisations selling items and providing information to the conference attendees.

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Public Forum

Mid-day on the Saturday, IWCNZ offered a one-hour public forum as part of Da'wah (outreach) to the wider community in which non-Muslims from the local Hamilton area as well as embassies, government officials and organisations were invited to attend. The event was well received.

Government officials attending included:

Hamilton City Mayor Julie Hardacker

Deputy Mayor Gordon Chesterman

Sue Moroney (MP for the Labour Party)

David Bennett (MP for the National Party)

Dianne Yates (retired MP for the Labour Party)

Martin Gallagher (Councillor of the Hamilton City Council)

The United States Embassy sent its representative Pam Hamblett. New Zealand Ministries and organisations that also had representatives in attendance were the Ministry of Social Development, the Human Rights Commission, the Office of Ethnic Affairs, the Waikato Interfaith Council, Hamilton City Council, SHAMA Hamilton Ethnic Women's Centre, NZ Ethnic Social Services and the University of Waikato.

A Qur'an recitation of Ayat 4:36, which inspired the conference theme, opened the forum and then a remembrance of those in Christchurch that were impacted by the September earthquake with the recitation of Surah Al Zalzalah given by three Muslimah youth from Christchurch. Sr. Silma Ihram, an Australian convert, gave the keynote address at the public forum and discussed how Muslimah have lived active lives in the past and how they are presently doing so.

The following people also briefly addressed the public forum:

Nasreen Hannif, IWCNZ National Coordinator

Ismail Ghamadid, President of the Waikato Muslim Association (WMA)

Anwar Ghani, President of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ).

A presentation by Sr. Assil Russell from ICARE closed the event with a brief presentation of the free medical and dental assistance her organisation that provides to children in Iraq. A casual luncheon followed, and the sisters left to prepare themselves for the afternoon outdoor activities.

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Outdoor Adventures

In coordination with the conference theme, outdoor activities were arranged for the participants. The ladies were permitted to choose from three adventures. The first option was horse riding and canoeing, the second was a Mystery Tour with sisters being taken to a surprise location, and the third was Waka Ama on the Waikato River and a rock-climbing activity.

Despite the first summer rainstorm occurring, the buses departed for the activities full. The sisters who went horse-riding and canoeing visited the Karamu Trail Trek site and all were allowed to ride horses in the area fields and received instruction on how to canoe and were given the opportunity to paddle around a lake. The Mystery Tour visited Pirongia Clydesdales and the sisters received a tour of the Pirongia Village by wagon and were allowed to visit a local cafe. The third tour headed to the Waikato River and Hamilton Skills Centre were the ladies were instructed on Waka Ama and then rowed single-hull wakas up and down the river. They were also given an opportunity to rock-climb in lieu of the high ropes course because of the slippery inclement weather.

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Evening Celebration and Awards Ceremony

On Saturday evening, WOWMA organised a dinner to celebrate women's achievements for the IWCNZ Conference. Once again attendance by the sisters was strong and diverse cultures were represented. The hall was decorated in an Islamic theme with a tent, brass lanterns and urns, flowers were on the tables and petal scatters around. Silma Ihram spoke once more and followed up her earlier speech with additional advice on how to be an active Muslimah.

Recitation of the Qur'an by Sr. Julie Webb of Christchurch occurred along with a speech by a young sister.

IWCNZ recognised the efforts of four sisters for their contributions to their communities. These sisters are Srs. Munira Khan, Leila Adam, Maysoon Salama and Qamar Rahman. A separate article detailing these sisters' efforts has been included in the 19 March Muslim News.

Dinner followed Maghrib prayer and then women performed nasheed and were permitted to share their culture with each other. It was a lovely and fun evening for the sisters to get together and celebrate.

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Sunday IWCNZ AGM

On Sunday morning, the Annual General Meeting was held with a report of IWCNZ's past activities for the year provided, elections taking place and plans for the upcoming year's activities proposed. Sr. Nasreen Hannif was re-elected at National Coordinator, Sr. Noolen Van de Lisdonk was elected First Assistant Coordinator, and Sr. Leila Adam was elected Second Assistant Coordinators. Sr. Anjum Rahman was elected at the IWCNZ media representative. Regional Associations are reminded to send the names of their female representatives to IWCNZ directly to Sr. Nasreen. Due to torrential rain, the scheduled morning outdoor activities were cancelled, so the conference closed slightly early with a prayer that all the sisters return safely to their homes and that the Ummah may benefit from this Conference.

Thank Yous and Acknowledgements

The Conference would not have been possible without the generous funding and support received from FIANZ, the Government of the United States of America, the Ministry of Social Development, WMA and WOWMA. Both IWCNZ and WOWMA thank all the presenters for their wonderful contributions and hope the attendees found the conference rewarding.

The effort of many individuals went into the organisation of this event and they should be acknowledged. The following sisters worked on behalf of WOWMA to support this year's conference and their contributions were invaluable: Aliya Danzeisen, Anjum Rahman, Sakina Bibi, Aisha Boulanouar, Qamar Rahman, Jannat Maqbool, Dr. Asma Rahman, Mominah Ahmed, and Zahrae Benaiche.

The WOWMA youth also contributed significantly including: Ayesha Ghani Aaminah Ghani, Radiya Ali, Eman Hepburn, Koyna Ali, Khatra Omar, Khatra Mohammed, Hasda Jama and Ifrah Awad.

The following individuals also provided support of the event and deserve a thank you: Br. Mubarik Ahmed, Br. Anwar Ghani, Br. Mohamed Feroz and his wife Yasmin, Br. Zakaria Boulanouar, Br. Ismail Ghamadid and Br. Musa Muhammed.