The Guardians…an idea long overdue

On September 14, a group of seniors and elders of the community gathered at the Sanad Prep, the learning center established 3 yrs ago by the Sanad Trust Foundation. We intended to meet and talk about our needs and plan for future meetings.  It was decided to go ahead with the name chosen by Sanad Trust Founding Director, Rehan Mirza, and call our ourselves The Guardians.  To start the evening there was a brief introduction by Rehan.  This introduction included several Quranic quotes and hadith with reference to the regard needed to be shown to one’s elders. This was followed by input and discussion from the elders themselves.  Then was time for maghrib namaz, and of course we shared a very important item of the evening – dinner.  Now every one was ready to relax. It was time for some fun with a great quiz.  The trivia questions included Urdu poetry, American life and general knowledge.  The younger ones also seemed to enjoy this and did come up with a few answers.

Several ideas were put forward as to the future plans.  Most likely there would be something going on every two months.  Insha Allah, as you may have heard by now, we plan to have a picnic for The Guardians and families; everyone is welcome.  It will be on Saturday, October 19 at Miramar Regional Parkway Park.  Details are available by email, Facebook and personal contacts. The picnic of course will be a fun activity for seniors as well as younger ones.  Whenever grand kids and our own grown children are happy we are thrilled too.

However, on a connected note, it is all too clear that there are serious issues related to our age group., especially in reference to health, finances and social needs.  So, insha Allah the next meeting will be related to health issues.  Perhaps a session of physio therapy or an informal discussion with a medical doctor.  Once the day, topic and venue are finalized it will be announced on the Sanad website and by email. Perhaps  somewhere in the future we can take on matrimonial introductions between families, as there seems to be a need for that!

Let us hope we can continue this beautiful initiative by the Sanad Trust Foundation.  It is a show of respect for all elders.  As always, input of any kind is welcome and needed.  If you are able to volunteer for anything also please contact us at info@sanadtrust.org