Shakur Tisekar, founder of Kokni Muslim Society of Sydney in Australia, received Community service award presented by Federal Environmental minister Hon. Tony Burke during the IDD celebration function held in Himalaya Hotel on 25th August 2012.
Shakur Tisekar moved to Sydney in 2003. Having done a lot of grassroot-level work to unite all Kokni families together, he formed Kokni Muslim Jamat (Society) in 2005. In 2007, he registered Jamat under Association Incorporation Act by the name, Kokni Muslim Society Of Sydney. The Jamat raises fund through membership fees which is spent on celebration of two Eid functions and one or two sports or outdoor activities. Children who fast for the whole month in RAMADAN receive quality certificates and trophies.
The Jamat is formed with the sole objective of helping Kokni Muslims living in Sydney. Majority of people don’t get decent job quickly when they migrate to Australia. New migrants are not eligible for unemployment allowance for first two years. In such situations, the Jamat helps the financially struggling new Kokni Muslim migrant by donating second hand white goods like, refrigerator, washing machine, sofa, TV, bed, chairs etc. The Jamat has been quite helpful to a few Kokni migrants after forming Jamat.
Basic necessities like need of teachers in their area to teach Islam to their kids, help in finding halal food shops or quality information on what is current best home loan plan in the market or whatever may be the need, the Jamat leverages on each other’s knowledge for the benefit of Kokni Muslims as Jamat has become repository of quality information hub.
Apart from helping Kokni Muslims in Sydney, Br. Shakur has been instrumental in raising Muslim grave yard issue in Sydney. A muslim burial costs around 15000 Australian Dollar and the existing muslim graveyards then were full. When Br. Shakur created awareness about this social issue at all levels, few Kokni members joined him for this cause. Br. Shakur & few other Kokni Muslims then fought very hard with the government to resolve this issue. They liaised with many Muslim organisations for collective efforts. They raised this issue at a very high government level. Eventually, the Australian Government released some plots for Muslim burial. In case of death in any family, the Jamat now takes care of grieving family for three days by providing food and resources for three days.
At the moment there are 30 Kokni Muslims residing in Sydney. By looking at the numbers, the achievements look very timid. However, it is not as easy as it seems especially in developed countries. Few attempts to form Kokni Muslim Jamat by few people before Br. Shakur Tisekar have been highly unsuccessful. The same is with 50 Kokni Muslim families in Perth, Brisbane & Melbourne too. However, with the Sydney Jamat being successful, it is expected that the Jamats in the other region will re-organize themselves to establish their unity.
In general, forming & joining exclusive Jamat for Kokni Muslims in Australia don’t appeal to majority of people, primarily because of social security benefits and less dependence on others. Pensions, Education allowance, Unemployment benefits etc. is taken care by the government in an organized and systematic way. Every family in other cities of Australia have their own little circle of friendships & everyone is happy with that. But the need of having a Jamat will still remain to keep people united. This is what Br. Shakur Tisekar has been successful and his success against this back drop is highly commendable. He is still a role model for those struggling societies who are away in a foreign land amongst a handful of families trying to preserve, culture, tradition and religious activities to support and care for their people.
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